Kidoctr
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2005
- Messages
- 320
Hi everyone - I kept a computer journal while we were on our trip. We visited DL for 3 days then boarded the Magic for a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. Here goes (I will post the DCL portion to the DCL folder) - enjoy:
3 August 2005, Wednesday - OKC to LAX, Disneyland
We had abandoned our original plans for an overnight stay in Oklahoma City to catch our 6:50 am flight on American Airlines. There was just too much packing left to do even after the marathon packing (or more like gathering) session early yesterday morning when I was up until 1 am packing Rhys' clothes, then Amina's, then mine. Oh boy, I can't wait for the day when the kids can pack their own clothes and stuff. I was patting myself on the shoulder for cleverly packing our stuff - the kids clothes were planned and put in ziplock bags for easy (no thinking) prep in the mornings. All of our stuff that would be used on the cruise only went in to the garment bag and the huge suitcase - not to be opened until we physically get on the ship. A smaller suitcase to put all of my "cruise stuff" in like the over-the-door organizer, nightlight, extension cord, door decorations, pillow cases to be signed, extra batteries, laundry bag, suction cup hooks, etc, etc. Everything that I had read on the DIS boards and had carefully taken note of. The ONLY thing I seemed to have forgotten was the mailing tube to bring home undamaged copies of the navigators,etc. No time - ah well, I'll have to remember the next time. We left early for the airport - about 4 am. Actually more like 4:10 am since we couldn't find Linus the 24-toed cat and wanted to make sure he wouldn't be trapped in the house or the garage for a week. The kids rode in the van to the city (1.5 hours away) in their pj's. As we approached the airport, we changed them into their outfits. After checking-in on the computer at the airport, it turns out that the kids were assigned to seats in different rows - not with us. We had this fixed at the gate.
The flight to Dallas was very short - about 1/2 an hour. Both kids complained about their ears on the flight. Seth grabbed some breakfast and coffee for us as I stopped by the gift shop in Dallas to get some chewing gum. We dined on a cheese danish, large muffin, and so-so coffee (imo - Seattle's Best) waiting for our connecting flight. The story at this gate was the same - the kids were assigned to different rows from us. Unfortunately, our seat reassignments landed us in the LAST row of the airplane (DD, DS, and I with DH sitting in front of me) which means no reclining seats, people loitering around during the whole flight waiting for the bathroom to open up (not to mention the occasional smells), and the total lack of service from the flight attendants (we were lucky to get some juice). Ugh, not a good start to our trip. At least Amina napped on the plane - Rhys squirmed around in his seat for quite awhile until Amina woke up and then they watched Shrek 2 on my laptop. Thankfully, my battery held out until just as we were getting ready to land. I had even managed to finish reading two full issues of "Parents" magazine. The chewing gum helped as did the small activity books I had picked up at the UNM bookstore when we were in Albuquerque last weekend. Each kid had their own backpacks and I had filled them with activity books, coloring books, crayons, pens, pencils, their small battery operated personal fans (that light up - highly recommended), autograph books, a bottle of flavored water, small snack bag full of gorp, and decorated with a Captain Mickey keychain, Disneyland 50th anniversary luggage tag, and a DCL pin. They were styling.
We arrived at LAX a teensy bit early (about 9:40 am instead of 10 am) and retrieved our luggage after paying $3 for a baggage cart. The nice thing was that you could just swipe your credit card in the machine instead of fumbling around for change or cash. Our luggage arrived unharmed - though the big test will be to see if they arrive in our cabins on the ship after our last experience with lost luggage on a cruise (non-Disney). We located the Super Shuttle area outside on the other side of the street and checked in with a short plump woman who obviously hated her job. How sad. We watched a TON of blue Super Shuttle vans go by headed for different destinations. There are simply too many places to go in LA! LOL! It took almost 45 minutes for the "right" van to show up. The kids were getting waaaay ansy but were temporarily distracted with the gorp snacks in their backpacks. The van trip to the Grand Californian was longer than I thought it would be but not due to heavy traffic. I guess it was further from the airport than I thought. We had a nice conversation with the family in the van with us. They were from the New England area and staying for a few days before heading to Denver - 3 kids, all 6 and up.
We arrived at the GC at about 11:45 am after stopping at the gate and being given a green piece of paper with our name on it - we were a little disappointed. The hotel is gorgeous but we were expecting the same treatment we had received at the Grand Floridian last year. Surprisingly, there was NO porter to be found when our luggage was unloaded from the van. The kids had to carry their backpacks and each dragged a piece of luggage behind them (the smaller, lighter pieces), and I had my 2 carry on bags and the rolling garment bag, Seth juggled his backpack and 2 very large rolling suitcases. We stepped into the hotel lobby and made a bee line for the first open couch/arm chairs we could find - there was plenty of seating. While they waited with all the luggage, I got in line to check-in. The hotel was exactly as described - that wonderful Craftsman style that DH and I really love. A gigantic fire place with HUGE stones/boulders on either side. The lighting fixtures were wonderful. The CM at the reception area was very friendly and gave me some tips on how to get to the parks and where to grab a quick lunch as I waited in line. Check-in was unremarkable except that our room wasn't ready and there was a SEPARATE check-in area for the cruise portion of our vacation - so much for being checked into "everything" at the same time as I thought we would be. We got room keys - no Key to the World cards. We pawned our luggage off to the porters at the bell desk who did apologize for not getting our luggage upon our arrival to the hotel. 10 bags total went into a mysterious storage area. This happened so quickly that I didn't have time to really plan out what I needed to take out of my carry-on bags. I ended leaving my camera and grabbing some unnecessary (and heavy!) things that did not fit well into my small shoulder pack.
We headed to the White Water Snacks area for lunch. It was a little confusing because as you walk in, there are packaged items, fountain drinks, a fridge with other assorted items and drinks, etc and the menu for grill items is on the far wall near the cash registers. You can get some drinks etc but then walk across the room to decide what you want and order it first at the cash register. I had started to fill a cup with ice for one of the kids when we realized that we had to order the grill items. The kids' meals already had drinks included. You pay and take a number with you and sit as you wait for the food to be brought out. The food was ok - Seth and I shared a grilled chicken sandwich that had a poblano pepper and guacamole on it. It was little plain tasting but definitely big enough for the both of us to share. DD and DS had the kids' meals (chicken strips/fries and cheeseburger/fries) that came in take-home "lunchboxes". They could have easily shared just one lunch - the portions were very large and we wasted a lot of food. When we got everyone cleaned up, we headed out to the park. It was about 1 pm.
The exit to Downtown Disney was nearby. I guess I didn't realize that the hotel was smack dab in the middle of both DCA AND DD. Fortunately, the nice lady at the reception area had already told me to turn right to get to DL. We walked to the main gate and entered easily with no wait. We headed to Jungle Cruise first. I have to stop here and say that I had invested in Ridemax a couple months ago and played around with this computer program and had pre-printed some itineraries for each of the 3 days that we are here. I had at least 2 options for each day taking into consideration the rides that were similar to the ones at WDW we did last year (and that we probably wouldn't take the time to ride again) as well as the height restrictions (DS is 46"), and DD/DS' willingness to give the rides a "try". Both of my kids are pretty chicken-hearted when it comes to anything that might move fast or be scary. So, according to "option 3" on my grand plan that estimated our arrival at DL to be about 1:30 pm, we go to the Jungle Cruise first and just stick with rides in Frontierland, Adventureland, and Critter Country. We skipped the Tiki Room. The Jungle Cruise looked so UNcrowded and I commented to DH that there was "nobody" waiting. LOL - I had forgotten what the Imagineers at Disney can do to disguise a long line. The line wasn't too bad and the kids enjoyed the cruise which, to my recollection, was VERY close to WDW's version. The jumping pirahnas were funny. I had to chuckle that even though it's been a year and Rhys is now 6, he still grabbed my arm when something started to get a little too "scary".
We exited and went up and around Tarzan's Treehouse since we were ahead of my printed schedule. We picked up a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fastpass and walked over to The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The kids loved that one and wanted to go on it again which becomes a recurring theme in the next couple of days even though we told them over and over that there are SO many rides to go on that we probably won't have time to wait a second time. We were still ahead of schedule so we decided to go on the Davy Crockett canoes. Rhys didn't meet the age requirement to go without a life jacket so he unhappily put one on. That was a wet experience for me as I sat behind Rhys who was not exactly skilled with a canoe paddle. He flung that green murky water at me often. I finally gave up paddling because I was trying to coordinate my paddling with his and kept smacking the paddle of the person behind me. LOL. Neither DH nor I have ever done the canoes before and it's probably safe to say that we won't again. After canoeing - it was very obvious how tired Rhys was - everything was a trigger to start yelling or threaten a meltdown so we headed back to the hotel with either me or DH carrying him a good part of the way. We had called from the park on my cell phone to the number the reception CM had given to me to check on our room availability. Even though we had been issued room keys, we did not have a room number. After providing the "PIN" number ( the last 4 digits of the phone number you provide during check-in), we got our room number. It was about 2:30 pm.
We were in room 3156 which is to the right off the elevator on the 3rd floor. You take another right and walk down a LONG hall of rooms, and then ANOTHER right to about 3/4 of the way down the hall to get to the room. DH and I had just joked last weekend that the hotel we were staying at in Albuquerque actually gave us a room that was one of the first rooms near the entrance - we didn't even have to take an elevator. Now we were back to schlepping (sp?) down TWO hallways to get to our room which was reminiscent of our hotel stays in Las Vegas. The kids were out like a light (DH too) when we got to the room. The porter brought our luggage up to the room and I basically unpacked everyone quietly while they slept. I snuck out when I realized that we had not received any of our "freebies" for being Disney Visa Card holders. I went to guest services downstairs with the insert from one of my Visa card statements listing the "freebies" - a 50th anniversary tote bag, preferred viewing of the Snow White show and preferred viewing of one parade. The CMs checked for me and it turns out that my TA never added this on. Fortunately, they sent me to the Disney Travel Center in DD (not too far away), where I got there just before they closed (right before 5 pm) and they said "No Problem!" and gave me my freebies! Yay! The tote bag is really nice - dark blue with the 50th anniversary emblem on it. Lots of pockets - a much nicer bag than the plain carry-on I have. I will definitely be using it instead of my other square (standard) carry-on.
When I got back to the room, Amina was up and DH then woke up. Rhys was still out. Amina and I did a little shopping in DD while we waited for Rhys to get up. We checked out Libby Lu's first thinking it was like a "Claire's". Holy cow! We were wrong. What a dream store for DD - everything she touched she "wanted". LOL. The deal with the kids: they had each earned $50 Disney dollars and could spend that on anything they want. I had already explained to DD that they may only use $5 each of the 10 days that we are on vacation. She could buy something for $5 or less or, save it up and use $10 tomorrow, or $15 on Friday, etc. She "checked out" what she wanted and decided to come back later to make her "potions" - stuff like perfume, bath gel, nail polish, body glitter, etc. The store has "stations" set up and empty plastic containers for the girls to layer the various potion ingredients. It's kinda neat and there was even a little girl there having a birthday party for a few of her friends - maybe 5 or 6 years old. It was cute. We then walked down a little further and looked at the stuff on the outdoor carts. There was a cart with crystal/hand-blown glass stuff. More things for Amina to "want". A cart where you could get an airbrushed tattoo - definitely something Rhys wanted to do - heck, I'd even do something for the cruise. Another cart where you could get your hair wrapped. Too bad it wasn't for hair braiding. We then turned around and headed to the World of Disney store where we could pick up our free lanyards and pins stopping at Jamba Juice along the way (that was surprisingly good - I had never had one). The lanyards are dark blue and say Disney Travel and Happiest Celebration on Earth. The pin is a 50th anniversary pin. Got a call from DH that Rhys was starting to stir so we went back to the room.
Rhys was still sleeping when we got back - it was already after 6 pm. We tried waking him but he is soooo hard to wake up. His nap was going on 3 hours! He's done that occasionally at home but hunger usually drives him out of bed. It was basically 8 pm for him (home time) and DH was afraid he was "out" for the night. We got his shoes on and decided to carry him to DL for dinner. The line to get into DL was really long - it was almost 6:45 pm and I guess everyone was going back for the parade or because it had cooled off. It had probably been high 80's when we had left the park earlier. Rhys was finally up. We decided to see if any tables were available at the Carnation Cafe. I thought it was a long shot with priority res but there was only 2 families ahead of us in line. We actually got a table right before the parade started and were able to watch the parade from our table. That was pretty cool. Rhys had to stand on his seat to see, though. The food was pretty good - the kids ordered off the kids' menus (mac and cheese for DD and hot dog for DS) while I had the baked potato soup and 1/2 veggie sandwich and DH had some sort of steak sandwich. The kids ended up eating off our plates too - they especially like the baked potato soup and it was right then and there that we decided Amina didn't need to order off the kids' menu anymore. Our kids eat a variety of things and being limited to pizza, chicken strips, hamburgers, etc just seems like such a waste and shame. For dessert we had the anniversary cake which was a small round (like 1/2 a scoop of ice cream) cake with Mickey "ears" sitting on some sort of thin cookie bottom. It was good. I reminded the waitress after getting our bill that Disney Visa card members receive 10% off when using their Visa or Rewards card. There was confusion at first but we got our discount.
We headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our fastpass but the ride was being repaired so we headed back to the hotel instead and called it a day. Mousekeeping had left a few chocolate coins for the kids after turning down the beds. It wasn't even 10 pm when I was fast asleep.
4 August 2005, Thursday - Disneyland/California Adventure
I was up first at 5:30 am - just couldn't fall back asleep again for some reason. Maybe it was the time change and I woke up thinking it was actually 7:30 am. I took a shower as quietly as I could and when I was done, Amina was up. Then the rest of the crew got up at 6:30 am when my phone rang - an FP colleague who didn't realize we were on vacation and was calling for pediatric advice about his own 2 month old DD. LOL.
We decided on breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe right in the Grand Californian and got right in without PS which I thought was interesting. It was actually Chip and Dale's character breakfast which was a nice unexpected bonus. The kids got Chip to sign his and Dale's name in their autograph books for which I was totally unprepared and took a minute to pull out the autograph books and the Sharpies - good thing we had grabbed them before we left the hotel room. Dale was handing out big buttons that said "Chip and Dale's Character Breakfast....Storyteller's Cafe". Rhys stopped to get Dale's autograph without realizing that Chip had already done that. It was so funny because then Chip came up to us and pulled us along as our seating hostess was trying to lead us to our table. We thanked Chip for taking us to our table. Breakfast was a choice between the buffet or ordering a la carte. We chose the latter. The kids shared a Kids' Cheese Omelette, I had the fresh fruit with cottage cheese and carrot bread, and DH had a large bowl or oatmeal with a side of bacon. The fruit was delicious and hit the spot. The kids split up most of my carrot bread - it was quite good, very moist. The food was plenty for the 4 of us.
After breakfast, we took the monorail to Tomorrowland because it was early entry day into Fantasyland and we had special passes to attend the "Toon Town Morning Madness". We had seen the monorail pass by our hotel room window 3 times so we figured it was running. While waiting for the monorail, we asked to sit up front and were directed to the far end of the line. A teenage couple elbowed their way past us and when the monorail arrived, they moved up to the front of the monorail and asked to be seated there. They were the only really rude people we had encountered so far on this trip. We were quite late - it was almost 8:30 am when we arrived, the Morning Madness feature had started at 8 am. Just as we walked up, the whole "town" was taking the oath to become citizens. We chimed in. Afterwards, they were giving out "Toon Town Citizen" stickers but we didn't stick around to get one. The kids played a little in Toon Town and we snapped some pictures. We walked right onto Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin which the kids thought was very fun. Donald's boat, the Miss Daisy, was right next door and we played a bit on it. Amina was looking down at the winding staircase (that's blocked off) and one of her pins fell off her lanyard. We hurried downstairs to get it but it landed in a room behind a large net with no way to get to it. We asked a CM at Gadget's Go-Coaster for help but decided to just forget it - the pin was one of the ones that I had gotten in the Energizer battery packs when they were on super sale so it was no huge loss. We rode Gadget's Go-Coaster, explored Chip and Dale's Treehouse, and then Mickey's house. We ended up in some line for what I thought was a movie or show of some sort but it was actually the line to meet the Mouse himself and we decided to get out of line (it was very very long and very slow moving) so we could head to California Adventure which was opening soon. We had a schedule to keep, after all.
We got right into CA and headed towards Bug's Land. We waited for about 10 minutes until the CM brought the ropes down, an announcement was made, and then the CM advised everyone to walk, not run, and that California Screamin' was still out of service. I had heard they were still having technical issues after the crash a few days ago. We were the first ones on Heimleich's Chew Chew Train and it was until we had ridden this ride that I understood how the pudgy caterpillar got his name. LOL! Next we rode Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies which was basically incredibly slow moving bumper cars. Amina was tall enough to drive but Rhys had to sit with me. Then we picked up Soarin' Over California Fastpasses and Grizzly River Run Fastpasses. DH asked me how we could get fastpasses back-to-back like this. It's a glitch in the CA system that RideMax.com discovered - I can't remember if it's SOC or GRR that is "disconnected" from the Fastpass system but one is and that allows for more than one fastpass at a time. We then went to the Redwood Challenge Trail which was nice for the kids to get some of their energy out. We climbed the "jungle gym" and I had to laugh at how Rhys was clinging to the sides along the cargo rope courses getting mad at me if I made the ropes wiggle too much. It was fun but in the end, it was murder on my ankle that I had broken about 2 months earlier. It was pretty sore the rest of the day.
The kids enjoyed the climbing logs and the spirit cave where you could put your hand on the wall imprint and it looks like lightening bolts coming out of your hand and then you the hear the sound of what your "spirit guide" is. Amina's spirit guide was a wolf, mine sounded like a fish (just running water and splashing). Rhys refused to do it - it was too "scary" for him standing in a cave and having lightening bolts come out of his hand. Imagine that. We then went part way back up the rope course towards the entrance of the magic show - it was Koda and Kenai's Magic Show and had the apprentice of something-or-other trying to call up the spirit in the log with the help of Koda and Kenai, a couple other spirits (elephant, eagle) and the 2 moose from Brother Bear - can't remember their names but we think they are hysterical tacking on "eh" to the end of everything they say....eh. LOL. It was a cute show and the kids got to sit in the front row on a tree stump. I won't give away what the spirit in the log is though it's not tough to figure out. The "magic" was how they got the fire started, I guess. The apprentice enlisted the help of a little girl from the audience to blow on the campfire to light it and it started to smoke and light up. DS is still trying to figure out that one. We climbed through an old fallen tree trunk and stopped for a photo op then headed out of the Redwood Trail. We went on Grizzly River Run next using our Fastpasses and there was hardly any waiting at all. We got right on a raft with a few other people and after being asked to take a picture of 2 guys that sounded German, we were off. I had assured the kids earlier that there were no drop-offs on this ride but was mistaken. Rhys and I got very wet - DH had the best seat in the house and came off nearly dry. The kids thought the ride was pretty awesome and wanted to ride it again but, alas, no time and we had a schedule to keep to. We were running ahead of our schedule so far. We then went to see Whoopi Goldberg and the California Dream film which was very good. It was cool in the theater and Whoopi's face shows up on the huge statues on either side of the screen. The show was shorter than what my Ridemax schedule said. We rode Soarin' Over California next which was really really neat. Rhys looked a little pale and was very worried through the whole thing but in the end, thought it was awesome and wanted to ride it again. We were lucky and were seated in the very front row although I think everyone probably had great, unobstructed views.
We picked up Fastpasses for Mulholland's Madness and then looked for someplace to eat. For lunch, we tried the Wine Country Trattoria restaurant and again, without PS, we waited briefly and were seated outside as we had asked for "first available". It was mostly shady - my seat was the only one in the sun which was a little bit warm. DD and DH shared a chicken panini sandwich and the special corn bisque with croutons, I had the veggie lasagna, and DS had the pizza dog. It was hysterical when DS bit into his pizza dog - he got a mouthful of pizza sauce, mozarella cheese, and pepperoni. On the next bite, he got some of the hot dog and exclaimed excitedly that his pizza dog actually had a HOT DOG in it!! ROTFLOL ~ we asked him what he thought the pizza dog was and he said that he thought it was a pizza in the shape of a dog. Too funny. My lasagna was really good though the kids didn't like it - peppers, eggplant, etc. DD really liked her panini sandwich and DS ended up eating most of the corn bisque. It was a touch spicy. This was another restaurant where we were supposed to get a 10% discount with my Disney Visa Rewards card but the waiter said it only applied to the Disney Visa card. I didn't argue with him although I was almost 99% sure that he was wrong. After lunch we went back to the hotel for rest time around 2 pm. The kids were out like a light again (and DH too) - it was then that I started writing this trip report on my laptop.
Amina woke up first and got ready to go to the pool. We woke Rhys up enticing him with the word POOL and he sat up quickly and drowsily got his swim shorts on. It was already almost 4:30 pm. The pool was crowded - they only had the slide pool and the whirlpools open. The kids played briefly in the pool then got out to go up the slide. I went with Rhys first and nearly lost my sunglasses as I unintentionally went under water when I hit the pool. It was only 4 feet deep but the current is pretty strong and pulled me down before I could get my feet on the ground. Fortunately, one of the next few riders down the slide found my sunglasses for me. Amina joined us on the slides and I just waited at the bottom for the kids to come down. The are both experienced swimmers but I still worry a little about Rhys. After DD came down for the second time (and mentioned something about the life guard at the top of the slide saying that I needed to go back up and ride the slide with them the next time - ???), they blew the whistle and made everyone get out of the pool. We moved our stuff over to a couple of vacant loungers and they opened up the other pool (3, 4, and 5 feet deep - no slide). The kids played for another 45 minutes and then we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. DH was still asleep when we got back to the room!
We rinsed off quickly and then went for dinner. We had decided earlier to try the Napa Rose right at the Grand Californian. We went into the lobby of the restaurant and I asked sheepishly if shorts were ok. They said that "resort casual" was fine. I was hoping it wasn't quite as snooty as Victoria and Albert's at the Grand Floridian although I think it was the Grand Californian's equivalent to V&A's. The restaurant is beautiful and we were definitely feeling a bit under dressed. Most of the tables had no kids. I was pleasantly surprised that they did have a kids' menu which included things like beef tenderloin. The kids wanted to share the chicken quesadillas. They each also ordered the "apple cider" which came in a real champagne glass. They both proceeded to hold the champange glasses like brandy glasses with DS claiming he had seen other people do that on tv. LOL! DH and I decided to try the Prix Fixe menu and he opted for the 4 glass wine pairing after agreeing to let me mooch some wine off of him. LOL. There was no way I could get the wine pairing by myself and still walk in any normal fashion to the parade later that night. We had the chef's special olive platter which was yummy and were given a taste of the chef's special tomato "soup" (I can't think of the name for this special cold soup) which had cilantro in it that I didn't care for. The first course was the white fish which was delicious with a bit of caviar on top and some type of diced crunchy pickled vegetable underneath. It was YUMMY and DD loved it too. DH doesn't like fish much but he ate half and gave some to DD and gave me the rest. The wine was a Chardonnay which was quite good considering we don't like Chardonnays. The second course was a duck schnitzel on home made noodles with a cherry reduction sauce. That was even better and the kids really liked the home made noodles. DS liked the duck too. The wine was a pinot and delicious with the duck. At this point, DD declared she was already getting full and had not even gotten her order yet. The 3rd course was the main entree (or "entry" as Rhys put it) - beef tenderloin medium rare with green beans and pearl onions. DH said it was probably the most tender and juicy beef tenderloin he had ever had. It was very good and was paired with a merlot. Even the kids, who are not "steak" fans thought it was quite good. They had gotten their quesadillas along with our entrees and didn't eat much of them after trying all of our dishes so far. The dessert was a pound cake (home made - the edges were crunchy - just sinful) with a small scoop of almond ice cream and diced peaches. We all loved the dessert. After we recovered from the sticker shock of the dinner tab (knew it would be expensive) - DD declared that it was the best restaurant she has ever been in (it was). We couldn't use our Disney Rewards card - not enough on it but were able to use the 10% off coupon out of the California Funbook our TA had given us. That knocked over $20 off the total so you can guess how much the entire bill was.
After dinner, we headed back to California Adventure to ride the Mulholland Madness which the kids thought was really fun - especially the part that looks like the car is going to go right off the edge of the rooftop. After that, we got on the Golden Zephyr and DS was, for some reason, very scared the whole time we were on it. He had his face buried in my arm the whole time. It is a little scary as the rocket ship lifts up like a centrifuge. There are no doors on the entrance side - DS had to get in first and sit on the right side. The ride hangs out over the water as you loop around. It was about as exciting as the Dumbo ride but interesting that objects (and kids!) could just slip right out from between my legs and go overboard into the water. We walked quickly to the Preferred Seating area of the electrical parade with the special passes I had gotten the day before - it was located right next to Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage building. We handed our passes over and were let in behind a chain link rope where we sat along the wall with a great, unobstructed view of the parade as it passed in front of us and turned the corner which was the end of the route. Before the parade, the "Wave Riders" were playing old tunes from the back of a float including some Beach Boys hits, etc. Lots of kids were out in the street dancing. It was great entertainment until the parade started. The parade actually started from Paradise Pier so it took a little while for it to actually get to us. It was supposed to start at 8:45 pm but we didn't get to see it until almost 9 pm. The park lights were dimmed and the Sunshine Plaza waterfall was turned off during the parade. The electrical parade is one of my personal favorites and it just brought tears to my eyes to be able to share it with the kids. We had a great time and walked back to the hotel. We could hear the loud BOOMS of the DL fireworks as we turned in for the night.
5 August 2005, Friday - Disneyland
The night had been interesting. I awoke at about 3 am to hear DS asking DD to help him to the bathroom. I got up and helped him and we went back to bed. The next thing I know, a voice is standing next to me saying "My clothes are wet". At first I thought it was DD and remembered wondering what in the world it could be - it's been FOREVER since DD's had an "accident" at night. I reached up and felt the pj's and they were soaked. I got up and took what turned out to be DS to the bathroom for a change. The extra pj's were tucked away somewhere in the HUGE suitcase so I didn't even bother with that. I pulled open the small suitcase with my Cruise Stuff and got out the t-shirt that I was going to have autographed on the ship. I slipped it onto DS and didn't bother with more underwear, and sent him back to bed. I woke up again at 5:30 or so to see DD pulling the shades open. I hissed at her to close the shades again and go back to bed. We finally all got up around 7 this morning.
This was our last day at Disneyland and we had a full Ridemax schedule starting at when the park opened. We walked through DT Disney hoping the La Brea Bakery was open but it was just too early. We got in line at the gate at about 7:40 am waiting for the 8 am opening. DH ran back to the hotel to get us some coffee. I gave the kids some gorp for breakfast. Bad mommy, lol. We chatted with the family behind us and I gave them our passes for preferred seating at Snow White's Enchanting Musical since I knew we didn't have time for it. DH got back with the coffee (and even put the right amount of Splenda and hazelnut creamer in it) and I snuck a picture of the 50th anniversary logo in the grass just after the marching band arrived and the park guests were counting down...."THREE, TWO, ONE.....". I slipped back in line and we passed through the gates and headed for Fantasyland. We walked through the castle after a photo op and went on Peter Pan first with no waiting. We were a few minutes late already according to our schedule. The Matterhorn Bobsleds were next and the line was extremely short. We picked the right sided line which is the bobsled that goes through the water. DS was nervous about the Abominable (sp?) Snowman but I think he otherwise enjoyed the ride. We did Alice in Wonderland, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and the Storybook Land Canal Boats with almost no waiting. It was only about 8:45 am when we got done. We headed to the Astro Orbiter next about 5 minutes ahead of schedule but the wait was longer than what Ridemax predicted - more like 20 minutes instead of 8. I took a pic of DH and DS in their rocketship and a CM offered to take one of DD and I in ours. That was really sweet. I had agreed to ride with Amina about 2 rockets in front of DH and DS so I could take a picture of them. What a mistake. I had not been on Astro Orbiter in ages (didn't go last year when we were in WDW because DD didn't want to and wanted to stay on the People Mover about 5 times) and had forgotten that it moves at a pretty good clip. I got my camera out while we were up in the air and was afraid to lose it. I turned around to take a picture of DH and DS and was holding my camera so tightly that I acidentally turned it off. I turned back around, turned it back on, and turned back to take a pic. I snapped one quickly and when I was forward facing again, my head was spinning. Thankfully, DD hadn't touched the controls so were weren't going up and down and up and down while I was snapping the picture.
We headed for Space Mountain to pick up a Fastpass but the set up was very confusing. The entrance for stand by, fastpass, and the fastpass distribution were all mixed together. We walked past the long line thinking it was the stand by line and got to the top only to find out that the line WAS the fastpass distribution line! Unfortunately, Ridemax had no way of predicting this and we waited for a bit in line just to get a fastpass. The return time window was also later than what Ridemax had predicted and we couldn't pick up another fastpass for a while. At this point, we decided to split up as DH was wanting to check out the hotel's fitness center. I took the kids to It's a Small World where there was NO waiting and we got on a boat all by ourselves. We then caught the monorail (and got to sit up front this time) back to Downtown Disney. We stopped by our hotel room to grab the kids' money and to get our cruise docs. We hadn't checked in for our cruise yet because the times are a bit wacky. Mon -Thurs it's only 8 am to noon and I had called this morning to find out that check in was only from 8 am to 2 pm on Fridays.
Our first shopping stop was the tattoo cart where DD got a rose tattoo on her right ankle for $8. DS chose a dragon to go on his forearm. I had the same tattoo as DD's put on my right ankle as well. The kids paid for their tattoos with the Disney Dollars they had earned. We looked briefly in the Lego store next and took some cute photos of the kids sitting next to the Lego sleeping man (who was snoring), by the gigantic Lego giraffe, the Lego Darth Vader/R2D2 (who beeped and blipped), and the Lego DL sign. DS insisted on buying a Lego car kit which irks me knowing that we could have gotten one at home and probably cheaper. Ah well. Our last quick stop was at Libby Lu's where DD wanted to get the 3 bottle set in a cute little purse. For her first bottle, she made "perfume" which was kind of neat - she filled the bottle with "color" (blue), added sparkling "stuff" (don't know what it was called), and finally used a dropper to put the "princess" scent in. When she shook the bottle, it all combined together and looked pretty cool. Then the other 2 bottles she layered different colors of bath/body potions and body shimmer. DH then called to say that he was done working out and came over to meet us at Libby Lu. We almost went back to the park but remembered to go by the cruise desk in the lobby of the hotel to check in.
We gave our docs to the lady at the desk but had left our passports in the room safe. She said that was ok - just to let them check tomorrow before we board the bus. She tore out the docs that we needed to check in with and put them in an envelope and gave us the envelope with a letter that explained the procedure. The bus doesn't leave until about noon and we don't have to check out until 11 tomorrow morning. Apparently, there's a special line at the port for hotel guests to check in through. We still have not received our Key to the World cards. We are supposed to have our bags waiting by the door at 8 am for pick up. We are to meet at the conference center in the hotel tomorrow. I didn't realize we would have so much time on Saturday morning - now we can do some extra shopping. DH mentioned that he wanted to get a tattoo as well and that we could get matching ones. (Awwwww.......). I snapped a few pictures of the miniature Magic replica next to the check-in desk.
We went back to the park to make our 11:30 am PS res at the Blue Bayou. We got there a teensy bit late - about 11:34 am. We waited for a short while but had just missed the seating along the water front and would have had to wait an additional 30 minutes for those seats. We didn't want to do the waiting so we were seated in the row of tables just behind the water front seats. We could still see the boats pass by from where we were sitting. The kids' menus are pirate hats that can be worn - we got some cute pics of the kids wearing their pirate hats/menus. DH had the Monte Cristo sandwich, the kids shared the corn dogs with mashed potato, corn, and applesauce, and I ordered the jambalaya. After ordering, I scooted over to Buzz Lightyear to pick up fastpasses. I half walked/jogged and got out there and back in about 10 minutes. The food was already there and the kids/DH had already eaten some of my jambalaya. Now that was fast service. Amina also tried a mint julep which was pretty good. The Monte Cristo sandwich lived up to its reputation - it was delicious and the kids didn't leave DH with much to eat. He did eat half of my jambalaya since I had originally intended on ordering the portobello mushroom but compromised with him so he would order the Monte Cristo. We skipped dessert but the kids got a Mickey shaped jello dessert with whipped cream on top.
Our next stop was Space Mountain. DS complained all the way there and when we reached the place where we turn in our fastpasses, he started all out crying refusing to get on. I left with him and DH took DD to ride it. We waited at the exit for them get off and I intended on going with DD using our other fastpasses. DD didn't want to ride again. DH said that the ride was faster now that they changed it. Since our Buzz Lightyear fastpasses weren't usable for another 1/2 hour, I opted to ride Space Mountain alone. I got on to the ride with no incident, we got to the "top" and the countdown commenced, we then took off and rounded a few bends when the ride came to a complete stop and the lights turned on. They made an announcement that the ride would be delayed for a short period of time. It was very interesting sitting near the top of Space Mountain with the lights on. I kicked myself for giving my camera to DH. There were 4 other cars below us all pretty remarkably evenly spaced out. The CMs were climbing up and manually giving the cars a push when they were "cleared". Gravity just took the cars down. I was joking with the man sitting in front of me (I was in the last seat on the car) that this shoud be where they offer each of us a free season pass to the park. LOL. The CMs finally reached us and gave us a push after we were "cleared" and we coasted down the ride with the lights on. It was very unremarkable - at least the music came back on as we coasted back to the station. When we reached the station, people were asking us what happened. We had no idea except that we got to see Space Mountain with the lights on. The CMs asked if we wanted to ride again, with the lights off this time. Of course, we all said yes. The 2nd time around the ride was just awesome - much faster. There was a noticeable improvement in the cars from the last time we were in DL (about 15 years ago) with speakers right by the back of your head playing "fly-through-space music". There were parts where my bottom left the seat. That was an experience to remember though I'm not sure I would call it a magical moment.
We rode Buzz Lightyear next and noted the vast improvement in the laser pistols which you can lift out of the console and actually aim/shoot at the targets easily. DH scored over 100,000 points whereas my final score was about 21,000. DH was gloating. We took the monorail back to the hotel for rest time again at about 2 pm opting not to run over and pick up Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fastpasses. We did stop by and get Autopia fastpasses, though. While I'm thinking about it - almost all of our fastpasses were used outside of the time window for which they were issued. Universally, the CMs were fine with that and one of them said that fastpasses never really expire anyways.
I worked some more on my trip report as the kids and DH napped. Amina was up first then eventually Rhys woke up and the kids watched cartoons on tv until DH woke up. We had walked by the Uva Bar Restaurant in Downtown Disney earlier and looked at the menu - it was Spanish/Mediterranean food and had decided to try it for dinner. The kids ordered the smoothies - pineapple for DD and strawberry for DS. They were pretty good and were HUGE. We ordered the garlic fries with chili and cheese for an appetizer which was very good. You could definitely taste the garlic in the fries - tasted like more than just a little garlic powder. DS and I shared the cheeseburger which was ok. DH and DD shared the chicken quesadillas which DD didn't like. DH said they were ok. I think this restaurant was our least favorite in all of the parks.
After dinner, we went back to DL via the monorail. DH, DD, and DS sat up front with the driver and I sat in the first car to let a mom and her DD ride in the front since it only seats 5 and I had already ridden it once with the kids earlier. We rode Autopia which was hilarious as DS really has no idea how to drive a car and his reflexes are a little slow - turning left after we had already gone left and right after we had already gone right. Needless to say, it was quite bumpy. DH and DD were right behind us with DD at the wheel. We then went on Casey's Circus Train and the kids wanted to ride in the car behind the engine which only fits 3 people. DH rode in the cage car labelled "Wild Animals". LOL. Afterwards, we had wanted to stop by the Mad Hatter but it was almost 8:30 and we had reservations for the dessert buffet for Fantasmic so we headed towards Frontierland to find the area we were supposed to be at. After wading through the huge crowd and asking at least 3 CMs, we finally found the line we were supposed to be in. We waited until almost 8:45 before finally getting to the front of the line only to find out that we were supposed to have picked up our Fantasmic dessert buffet tickets at the front entrance! OMG! They didn't have a list of all of the people who paid for tickets. She offered to seat us for the 10:30 pm show but that would have been waaaay too late for the kids. DH was ready to just give up and ask for our money back (we paid $240 for it!) but I had him and the kids wait at the French Market while I literally RAN through the crowd to get to Guest Services. I got there out of breath and spoke with a CM named Ryan who called the front gate and found out that we did, indeed, have tickets there waiting for us. He realized that I wouldn't have time to go out, pick up the tickets, and come back into the park in time so he made me promise that I would stop by ticket booth 5 after the show/fireworks to sign for the tickets and instructed me to let the CM at the show know that I had spoken with him. I RAN back to the French Market through the crowds and grabbed DH and the kids and went back to talk to the CM at the viewing area. They quickly set up 4 seats near the buffet table and literally just as we sat down, the show started. Our seats weren't that great in retrospect - the kids and I had to stand up to be able to see over the first 2 rows of people in this viewing area. If we had had our tickets, our seats would have been better. We each ordered a Sprite which I was grateful for after running through the park.
The show was wonderful. Mickey kicked things off and there was movie animation projected on huge walls of water spray flanking the stage on either side. The princesses came by with their beaus on lit floats. Both the Columbia and Mark Twain boats were carrying characters and were lit up beautifully. DS found the part with Mickey "slaying" the evil witch as the dragon kind of scary. We could feel the heat from the fire on the water. It was thoroughly enjoyable and afterwards, DH commented on what a good idea it was to stay and watch the show. We helped ourselves to the buffet - there were huge chocolate covered strawberries, rice crispy treats in the shape of a Mickey head with chocolate and Mickey's face on top, frosted cookies (I think they were), macaroons, brownies, and a few other dessert bars of some sort. They passed out bottles of water and hot chocolate after Fantasmic was over. The fireworks then followed and we watched them for our seats. Disney really does have fireworks shows down to an art coordinating every light and sound to music. This firewords show included voices from the different rides in the park - thunder mountain railroad, haunted mansion, splash mountain, etc. While that creepy voice from the haunted mansion spoke ("Move to the DEAD center of the room......there's always MY way out.....bwah hah hah hah....."), DS got so scared he crawled into my lap and watched the rest of the fireworks from there. It's a good thing we didn't try to ride the actual ride with him. DS was pretty tired after the shows and we carried him most of the way back to the hotel. DH took them back while I sorted out the ticket issue. After I got back to the hotel room, we had to pack up all of our stuff as our luggage would be picked up for the cruise at 8 am. I finally got to bed around 11:30 after making sure all of our Disney Magic tags were on every piece of luggage that would be checked in (5 total).
6 August 2005, Saturday - Downtown Disney, Disney Cruise Line Embarkation Day
This morning was much more relaxed since we didn't have to check out until 11 am and would not be picked up for the cruise until after noon. We were up around 7:30 am and packed up the rest of our stuff to be checked in leaving the suitcases by the door (inside the room). Breakfast was at Storyteller's cafe which we had enjoyed that first morning. Many of the same characters were there with a couple of new ones - Koda instead of Kenai, and Meeko for instance. The funniest moment on the trip so far was when Rhys was examining the menu trying to decide what he wanted to eat and sat back stating "I want Beaver Eggs". (Keep in mind that he's just turned 6.) DH and I both looked at each other and couldn't remember seeing them on the menu last time but thinking that this was a frontier themed restaurant, Beaver Eggs seemed to fit right in. I asked Rhys to show me where the description was for Beaver Eggs and Rhys pointed them out to me...."See, right here......'Beverages'....it says Beaver Eggs!". ROTFLOL! Well, instead of Beaver Eggs, Rhys had the Toad in the Hole (hey, doesn't any more weird than Beaver Eggs) which is a fried egg cooked in the middle of a piece of toast on top of a piece of ham. Amina had the Mickey waffles which was 3 or 4 small Mickey head shaped waffles. DH had the bran something-or-other with a side of bacon and I had the fruit with cottage cheese and carrot bread again - that was just perfect for me last time.
After we finished breakfast and met with some of the characters, we headed out to Downtown Disney right before 10 am. Amina and I went into Club Libby Lu while DH and DS walked over to check out the Lego store and the "Star Wars" store (as DS called it) which was actually the store that sells old memorabilia and just happens to sell some Star Wars memorabilia too. Amina walked around in a daze picking up every other thing in the store trying to decide what she wanted and admiring the girls having their hair done. She had seen the little girls walking around the parks earlier sporting jewel stars on their faces, sparkling lip gloss, and wild hair do's and was in total envy. We asked the girls working at the store how much it was to be transormed into a rock diva and found out it was just $20. Amina rips her purse open and fumbles through it counting her Disney dollars to see if she has enough money to do it. LOL. I tell her that I will treat her to the up-do and we make our way over to the cash register to make an "appointment" after DD gives me a great big hug. The wait was only about 15 minutes and DD was given a large pink back sack and instructed to pick out 5 items from the Mix and Match section. She selected a small purse shaped make up case with a mirror, shimmer lip gloss, and a few fancy feather pens. Soon, it was her turn to be worked on and she sat down on the seat in front of the giant heart shaped mirror like the princess that she is and the Libby Lu gal applied eye shadow and shimmer lip gloss. DD had already had her nails done before we left for the trip so she turned down having her nails done again with glitter polish. Her hair was parted in rows and then twisted with the bottom ends flipped up like a fan along the back of her head. Glitter hair spray went flying everywhere, a black and silver earphone/microphone set was applied, and her transformation was complete. While I was waiting for DD to get done, I started chatting with an oriental woman next to me who commented on how cute the girls look. We were admiring a little oriental girl - probably about 2 years old - being done up and sitting so perfectly still for the Libby Lu gal. Each of us was thinking that little girl was the other's. Turns out her name was Linda and that she had 2 older boys, Kai and Lee, but no girls. She was commenting on how she would love to have a girl. We joked a bit about having more kids - neither of us were the least bit interested. I took a few pictures of Amina after her transformation and met rest of Linda's family including her DH, Doug.
DH and DS returned from the World of Disney with a pirate sword and cool Buzz Lightyear sunglasses. More pictures of the kids in their respective outfits. We walked over to the tattoo cart where the guy touched up both DD and my rose ankle tattoos at no charge. DH gets a multicolored dragon applied to his forearm. We stop by the jewelry cart and DH surprises me by purchasing a brown and tan tropical looking necklace. In over 10 years of marriage, I have NEVER seen DH wear a necklace. He's really gotten into this vacation now it seems. We have enough time to run back over to World of Disney and look around. I find a really cute golden sandal with crystal Mickey heads necklace, and a black Mickey head crystal toe ring while DH finds a Disneyland magnet (we always buy one when we travel for our fridge), DD gets a pair of sunglasses and a Sleeping Beauty locket necklace. It's getting close to check out time so DH and the kids head back to the room to get the remainder of our stuff while I make our purchases. I stop by the front desk to check out (which really wasn't necessary but I was just checking to make sure everything was in order since we had time) while DH and the kids wait in the same lobby seats that they waited in while I had checked in, stopped by the stamp machine for a stamp to put on the Cast Member appreciation card that I had made and addressed to Ryan at Town Hall Guest Services to thank him after the Fantasmic fiasco last night. I dropped the envelope off at Guest Services where they said it would be delivered as is (had to have a stamp on it though) with no other address other than "Town Hall Guest Services". Very cool.
We head over to the hotel's conference center front desk which is where we are supposed to meet for the bus to the port. We check in with the cruise CMs. It's strange and not very Disney but there were quite a few people waiting around this area and there were NO seats. Everyone was sitting on the floors around the front desk. We have about a 1/2 hour wait when they announce that we are ready to board the bus. Our luggage had already been picked up from our room and was on its way to the port ahead of us. The bus was very large - a luxury touring bus painted with Disney characters and "50th anniversary" all over it. We selected a few comfy seats and met our bus driver then we were finally off. I just can't describe how nice a feeling it was that even though the land portion of our vacation was over, we were not disappointed because we still had a week on the cruise to go so it wasn't sad to leave the Disneyland Resort. We watched a cruise promo video during the 40 minute bus ride to the port. As we cross over the bridge to the port we can just make out the smoke stacks of the Magic. I snapped a few pics of the the kids looking out the window of the bus and the Magic's red smoke stacks in the background........
3 August 2005, Wednesday - OKC to LAX, Disneyland
We had abandoned our original plans for an overnight stay in Oklahoma City to catch our 6:50 am flight on American Airlines. There was just too much packing left to do even after the marathon packing (or more like gathering) session early yesterday morning when I was up until 1 am packing Rhys' clothes, then Amina's, then mine. Oh boy, I can't wait for the day when the kids can pack their own clothes and stuff. I was patting myself on the shoulder for cleverly packing our stuff - the kids clothes were planned and put in ziplock bags for easy (no thinking) prep in the mornings. All of our stuff that would be used on the cruise only went in to the garment bag and the huge suitcase - not to be opened until we physically get on the ship. A smaller suitcase to put all of my "cruise stuff" in like the over-the-door organizer, nightlight, extension cord, door decorations, pillow cases to be signed, extra batteries, laundry bag, suction cup hooks, etc, etc. Everything that I had read on the DIS boards and had carefully taken note of. The ONLY thing I seemed to have forgotten was the mailing tube to bring home undamaged copies of the navigators,etc. No time - ah well, I'll have to remember the next time. We left early for the airport - about 4 am. Actually more like 4:10 am since we couldn't find Linus the 24-toed cat and wanted to make sure he wouldn't be trapped in the house or the garage for a week. The kids rode in the van to the city (1.5 hours away) in their pj's. As we approached the airport, we changed them into their outfits. After checking-in on the computer at the airport, it turns out that the kids were assigned to seats in different rows - not with us. We had this fixed at the gate.
The flight to Dallas was very short - about 1/2 an hour. Both kids complained about their ears on the flight. Seth grabbed some breakfast and coffee for us as I stopped by the gift shop in Dallas to get some chewing gum. We dined on a cheese danish, large muffin, and so-so coffee (imo - Seattle's Best) waiting for our connecting flight. The story at this gate was the same - the kids were assigned to different rows from us. Unfortunately, our seat reassignments landed us in the LAST row of the airplane (DD, DS, and I with DH sitting in front of me) which means no reclining seats, people loitering around during the whole flight waiting for the bathroom to open up (not to mention the occasional smells), and the total lack of service from the flight attendants (we were lucky to get some juice). Ugh, not a good start to our trip. At least Amina napped on the plane - Rhys squirmed around in his seat for quite awhile until Amina woke up and then they watched Shrek 2 on my laptop. Thankfully, my battery held out until just as we were getting ready to land. I had even managed to finish reading two full issues of "Parents" magazine. The chewing gum helped as did the small activity books I had picked up at the UNM bookstore when we were in Albuquerque last weekend. Each kid had their own backpacks and I had filled them with activity books, coloring books, crayons, pens, pencils, their small battery operated personal fans (that light up - highly recommended), autograph books, a bottle of flavored water, small snack bag full of gorp, and decorated with a Captain Mickey keychain, Disneyland 50th anniversary luggage tag, and a DCL pin. They were styling.
We arrived at LAX a teensy bit early (about 9:40 am instead of 10 am) and retrieved our luggage after paying $3 for a baggage cart. The nice thing was that you could just swipe your credit card in the machine instead of fumbling around for change or cash. Our luggage arrived unharmed - though the big test will be to see if they arrive in our cabins on the ship after our last experience with lost luggage on a cruise (non-Disney). We located the Super Shuttle area outside on the other side of the street and checked in with a short plump woman who obviously hated her job. How sad. We watched a TON of blue Super Shuttle vans go by headed for different destinations. There are simply too many places to go in LA! LOL! It took almost 45 minutes for the "right" van to show up. The kids were getting waaaay ansy but were temporarily distracted with the gorp snacks in their backpacks. The van trip to the Grand Californian was longer than I thought it would be but not due to heavy traffic. I guess it was further from the airport than I thought. We had a nice conversation with the family in the van with us. They were from the New England area and staying for a few days before heading to Denver - 3 kids, all 6 and up.
We arrived at the GC at about 11:45 am after stopping at the gate and being given a green piece of paper with our name on it - we were a little disappointed. The hotel is gorgeous but we were expecting the same treatment we had received at the Grand Floridian last year. Surprisingly, there was NO porter to be found when our luggage was unloaded from the van. The kids had to carry their backpacks and each dragged a piece of luggage behind them (the smaller, lighter pieces), and I had my 2 carry on bags and the rolling garment bag, Seth juggled his backpack and 2 very large rolling suitcases. We stepped into the hotel lobby and made a bee line for the first open couch/arm chairs we could find - there was plenty of seating. While they waited with all the luggage, I got in line to check-in. The hotel was exactly as described - that wonderful Craftsman style that DH and I really love. A gigantic fire place with HUGE stones/boulders on either side. The lighting fixtures were wonderful. The CM at the reception area was very friendly and gave me some tips on how to get to the parks and where to grab a quick lunch as I waited in line. Check-in was unremarkable except that our room wasn't ready and there was a SEPARATE check-in area for the cruise portion of our vacation - so much for being checked into "everything" at the same time as I thought we would be. We got room keys - no Key to the World cards. We pawned our luggage off to the porters at the bell desk who did apologize for not getting our luggage upon our arrival to the hotel. 10 bags total went into a mysterious storage area. This happened so quickly that I didn't have time to really plan out what I needed to take out of my carry-on bags. I ended leaving my camera and grabbing some unnecessary (and heavy!) things that did not fit well into my small shoulder pack.
We headed to the White Water Snacks area for lunch. It was a little confusing because as you walk in, there are packaged items, fountain drinks, a fridge with other assorted items and drinks, etc and the menu for grill items is on the far wall near the cash registers. You can get some drinks etc but then walk across the room to decide what you want and order it first at the cash register. I had started to fill a cup with ice for one of the kids when we realized that we had to order the grill items. The kids' meals already had drinks included. You pay and take a number with you and sit as you wait for the food to be brought out. The food was ok - Seth and I shared a grilled chicken sandwich that had a poblano pepper and guacamole on it. It was little plain tasting but definitely big enough for the both of us to share. DD and DS had the kids' meals (chicken strips/fries and cheeseburger/fries) that came in take-home "lunchboxes". They could have easily shared just one lunch - the portions were very large and we wasted a lot of food. When we got everyone cleaned up, we headed out to the park. It was about 1 pm.
The exit to Downtown Disney was nearby. I guess I didn't realize that the hotel was smack dab in the middle of both DCA AND DD. Fortunately, the nice lady at the reception area had already told me to turn right to get to DL. We walked to the main gate and entered easily with no wait. We headed to Jungle Cruise first. I have to stop here and say that I had invested in Ridemax a couple months ago and played around with this computer program and had pre-printed some itineraries for each of the 3 days that we are here. I had at least 2 options for each day taking into consideration the rides that were similar to the ones at WDW we did last year (and that we probably wouldn't take the time to ride again) as well as the height restrictions (DS is 46"), and DD/DS' willingness to give the rides a "try". Both of my kids are pretty chicken-hearted when it comes to anything that might move fast or be scary. So, according to "option 3" on my grand plan that estimated our arrival at DL to be about 1:30 pm, we go to the Jungle Cruise first and just stick with rides in Frontierland, Adventureland, and Critter Country. We skipped the Tiki Room. The Jungle Cruise looked so UNcrowded and I commented to DH that there was "nobody" waiting. LOL - I had forgotten what the Imagineers at Disney can do to disguise a long line. The line wasn't too bad and the kids enjoyed the cruise which, to my recollection, was VERY close to WDW's version. The jumping pirahnas were funny. I had to chuckle that even though it's been a year and Rhys is now 6, he still grabbed my arm when something started to get a little too "scary".
We exited and went up and around Tarzan's Treehouse since we were ahead of my printed schedule. We picked up a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fastpass and walked over to The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The kids loved that one and wanted to go on it again which becomes a recurring theme in the next couple of days even though we told them over and over that there are SO many rides to go on that we probably won't have time to wait a second time. We were still ahead of schedule so we decided to go on the Davy Crockett canoes. Rhys didn't meet the age requirement to go without a life jacket so he unhappily put one on. That was a wet experience for me as I sat behind Rhys who was not exactly skilled with a canoe paddle. He flung that green murky water at me often. I finally gave up paddling because I was trying to coordinate my paddling with his and kept smacking the paddle of the person behind me. LOL. Neither DH nor I have ever done the canoes before and it's probably safe to say that we won't again. After canoeing - it was very obvious how tired Rhys was - everything was a trigger to start yelling or threaten a meltdown so we headed back to the hotel with either me or DH carrying him a good part of the way. We had called from the park on my cell phone to the number the reception CM had given to me to check on our room availability. Even though we had been issued room keys, we did not have a room number. After providing the "PIN" number ( the last 4 digits of the phone number you provide during check-in), we got our room number. It was about 2:30 pm.
We were in room 3156 which is to the right off the elevator on the 3rd floor. You take another right and walk down a LONG hall of rooms, and then ANOTHER right to about 3/4 of the way down the hall to get to the room. DH and I had just joked last weekend that the hotel we were staying at in Albuquerque actually gave us a room that was one of the first rooms near the entrance - we didn't even have to take an elevator. Now we were back to schlepping (sp?) down TWO hallways to get to our room which was reminiscent of our hotel stays in Las Vegas. The kids were out like a light (DH too) when we got to the room. The porter brought our luggage up to the room and I basically unpacked everyone quietly while they slept. I snuck out when I realized that we had not received any of our "freebies" for being Disney Visa Card holders. I went to guest services downstairs with the insert from one of my Visa card statements listing the "freebies" - a 50th anniversary tote bag, preferred viewing of the Snow White show and preferred viewing of one parade. The CMs checked for me and it turns out that my TA never added this on. Fortunately, they sent me to the Disney Travel Center in DD (not too far away), where I got there just before they closed (right before 5 pm) and they said "No Problem!" and gave me my freebies! Yay! The tote bag is really nice - dark blue with the 50th anniversary emblem on it. Lots of pockets - a much nicer bag than the plain carry-on I have. I will definitely be using it instead of my other square (standard) carry-on.
When I got back to the room, Amina was up and DH then woke up. Rhys was still out. Amina and I did a little shopping in DD while we waited for Rhys to get up. We checked out Libby Lu's first thinking it was like a "Claire's". Holy cow! We were wrong. What a dream store for DD - everything she touched she "wanted". LOL. The deal with the kids: they had each earned $50 Disney dollars and could spend that on anything they want. I had already explained to DD that they may only use $5 each of the 10 days that we are on vacation. She could buy something for $5 or less or, save it up and use $10 tomorrow, or $15 on Friday, etc. She "checked out" what she wanted and decided to come back later to make her "potions" - stuff like perfume, bath gel, nail polish, body glitter, etc. The store has "stations" set up and empty plastic containers for the girls to layer the various potion ingredients. It's kinda neat and there was even a little girl there having a birthday party for a few of her friends - maybe 5 or 6 years old. It was cute. We then walked down a little further and looked at the stuff on the outdoor carts. There was a cart with crystal/hand-blown glass stuff. More things for Amina to "want". A cart where you could get an airbrushed tattoo - definitely something Rhys wanted to do - heck, I'd even do something for the cruise. Another cart where you could get your hair wrapped. Too bad it wasn't for hair braiding. We then turned around and headed to the World of Disney store where we could pick up our free lanyards and pins stopping at Jamba Juice along the way (that was surprisingly good - I had never had one). The lanyards are dark blue and say Disney Travel and Happiest Celebration on Earth. The pin is a 50th anniversary pin. Got a call from DH that Rhys was starting to stir so we went back to the room.
Rhys was still sleeping when we got back - it was already after 6 pm. We tried waking him but he is soooo hard to wake up. His nap was going on 3 hours! He's done that occasionally at home but hunger usually drives him out of bed. It was basically 8 pm for him (home time) and DH was afraid he was "out" for the night. We got his shoes on and decided to carry him to DL for dinner. The line to get into DL was really long - it was almost 6:45 pm and I guess everyone was going back for the parade or because it had cooled off. It had probably been high 80's when we had left the park earlier. Rhys was finally up. We decided to see if any tables were available at the Carnation Cafe. I thought it was a long shot with priority res but there was only 2 families ahead of us in line. We actually got a table right before the parade started and were able to watch the parade from our table. That was pretty cool. Rhys had to stand on his seat to see, though. The food was pretty good - the kids ordered off the kids' menus (mac and cheese for DD and hot dog for DS) while I had the baked potato soup and 1/2 veggie sandwich and DH had some sort of steak sandwich. The kids ended up eating off our plates too - they especially like the baked potato soup and it was right then and there that we decided Amina didn't need to order off the kids' menu anymore. Our kids eat a variety of things and being limited to pizza, chicken strips, hamburgers, etc just seems like such a waste and shame. For dessert we had the anniversary cake which was a small round (like 1/2 a scoop of ice cream) cake with Mickey "ears" sitting on some sort of thin cookie bottom. It was good. I reminded the waitress after getting our bill that Disney Visa card members receive 10% off when using their Visa or Rewards card. There was confusion at first but we got our discount.
We headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our fastpass but the ride was being repaired so we headed back to the hotel instead and called it a day. Mousekeeping had left a few chocolate coins for the kids after turning down the beds. It wasn't even 10 pm when I was fast asleep.
4 August 2005, Thursday - Disneyland/California Adventure
I was up first at 5:30 am - just couldn't fall back asleep again for some reason. Maybe it was the time change and I woke up thinking it was actually 7:30 am. I took a shower as quietly as I could and when I was done, Amina was up. Then the rest of the crew got up at 6:30 am when my phone rang - an FP colleague who didn't realize we were on vacation and was calling for pediatric advice about his own 2 month old DD. LOL.
We decided on breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe right in the Grand Californian and got right in without PS which I thought was interesting. It was actually Chip and Dale's character breakfast which was a nice unexpected bonus. The kids got Chip to sign his and Dale's name in their autograph books for which I was totally unprepared and took a minute to pull out the autograph books and the Sharpies - good thing we had grabbed them before we left the hotel room. Dale was handing out big buttons that said "Chip and Dale's Character Breakfast....Storyteller's Cafe". Rhys stopped to get Dale's autograph without realizing that Chip had already done that. It was so funny because then Chip came up to us and pulled us along as our seating hostess was trying to lead us to our table. We thanked Chip for taking us to our table. Breakfast was a choice between the buffet or ordering a la carte. We chose the latter. The kids shared a Kids' Cheese Omelette, I had the fresh fruit with cottage cheese and carrot bread, and DH had a large bowl or oatmeal with a side of bacon. The fruit was delicious and hit the spot. The kids split up most of my carrot bread - it was quite good, very moist. The food was plenty for the 4 of us.
After breakfast, we took the monorail to Tomorrowland because it was early entry day into Fantasyland and we had special passes to attend the "Toon Town Morning Madness". We had seen the monorail pass by our hotel room window 3 times so we figured it was running. While waiting for the monorail, we asked to sit up front and were directed to the far end of the line. A teenage couple elbowed their way past us and when the monorail arrived, they moved up to the front of the monorail and asked to be seated there. They were the only really rude people we had encountered so far on this trip. We were quite late - it was almost 8:30 am when we arrived, the Morning Madness feature had started at 8 am. Just as we walked up, the whole "town" was taking the oath to become citizens. We chimed in. Afterwards, they were giving out "Toon Town Citizen" stickers but we didn't stick around to get one. The kids played a little in Toon Town and we snapped some pictures. We walked right onto Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin which the kids thought was very fun. Donald's boat, the Miss Daisy, was right next door and we played a bit on it. Amina was looking down at the winding staircase (that's blocked off) and one of her pins fell off her lanyard. We hurried downstairs to get it but it landed in a room behind a large net with no way to get to it. We asked a CM at Gadget's Go-Coaster for help but decided to just forget it - the pin was one of the ones that I had gotten in the Energizer battery packs when they were on super sale so it was no huge loss. We rode Gadget's Go-Coaster, explored Chip and Dale's Treehouse, and then Mickey's house. We ended up in some line for what I thought was a movie or show of some sort but it was actually the line to meet the Mouse himself and we decided to get out of line (it was very very long and very slow moving) so we could head to California Adventure which was opening soon. We had a schedule to keep, after all.
We got right into CA and headed towards Bug's Land. We waited for about 10 minutes until the CM brought the ropes down, an announcement was made, and then the CM advised everyone to walk, not run, and that California Screamin' was still out of service. I had heard they were still having technical issues after the crash a few days ago. We were the first ones on Heimleich's Chew Chew Train and it was until we had ridden this ride that I understood how the pudgy caterpillar got his name. LOL! Next we rode Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies which was basically incredibly slow moving bumper cars. Amina was tall enough to drive but Rhys had to sit with me. Then we picked up Soarin' Over California Fastpasses and Grizzly River Run Fastpasses. DH asked me how we could get fastpasses back-to-back like this. It's a glitch in the CA system that RideMax.com discovered - I can't remember if it's SOC or GRR that is "disconnected" from the Fastpass system but one is and that allows for more than one fastpass at a time. We then went to the Redwood Challenge Trail which was nice for the kids to get some of their energy out. We climbed the "jungle gym" and I had to laugh at how Rhys was clinging to the sides along the cargo rope courses getting mad at me if I made the ropes wiggle too much. It was fun but in the end, it was murder on my ankle that I had broken about 2 months earlier. It was pretty sore the rest of the day.
The kids enjoyed the climbing logs and the spirit cave where you could put your hand on the wall imprint and it looks like lightening bolts coming out of your hand and then you the hear the sound of what your "spirit guide" is. Amina's spirit guide was a wolf, mine sounded like a fish (just running water and splashing). Rhys refused to do it - it was too "scary" for him standing in a cave and having lightening bolts come out of his hand. Imagine that. We then went part way back up the rope course towards the entrance of the magic show - it was Koda and Kenai's Magic Show and had the apprentice of something-or-other trying to call up the spirit in the log with the help of Koda and Kenai, a couple other spirits (elephant, eagle) and the 2 moose from Brother Bear - can't remember their names but we think they are hysterical tacking on "eh" to the end of everything they say....eh. LOL. It was a cute show and the kids got to sit in the front row on a tree stump. I won't give away what the spirit in the log is though it's not tough to figure out. The "magic" was how they got the fire started, I guess. The apprentice enlisted the help of a little girl from the audience to blow on the campfire to light it and it started to smoke and light up. DS is still trying to figure out that one. We climbed through an old fallen tree trunk and stopped for a photo op then headed out of the Redwood Trail. We went on Grizzly River Run next using our Fastpasses and there was hardly any waiting at all. We got right on a raft with a few other people and after being asked to take a picture of 2 guys that sounded German, we were off. I had assured the kids earlier that there were no drop-offs on this ride but was mistaken. Rhys and I got very wet - DH had the best seat in the house and came off nearly dry. The kids thought the ride was pretty awesome and wanted to ride it again but, alas, no time and we had a schedule to keep to. We were running ahead of our schedule so far. We then went to see Whoopi Goldberg and the California Dream film which was very good. It was cool in the theater and Whoopi's face shows up on the huge statues on either side of the screen. The show was shorter than what my Ridemax schedule said. We rode Soarin' Over California next which was really really neat. Rhys looked a little pale and was very worried through the whole thing but in the end, thought it was awesome and wanted to ride it again. We were lucky and were seated in the very front row although I think everyone probably had great, unobstructed views.
We picked up Fastpasses for Mulholland's Madness and then looked for someplace to eat. For lunch, we tried the Wine Country Trattoria restaurant and again, without PS, we waited briefly and were seated outside as we had asked for "first available". It was mostly shady - my seat was the only one in the sun which was a little bit warm. DD and DH shared a chicken panini sandwich and the special corn bisque with croutons, I had the veggie lasagna, and DS had the pizza dog. It was hysterical when DS bit into his pizza dog - he got a mouthful of pizza sauce, mozarella cheese, and pepperoni. On the next bite, he got some of the hot dog and exclaimed excitedly that his pizza dog actually had a HOT DOG in it!! ROTFLOL ~ we asked him what he thought the pizza dog was and he said that he thought it was a pizza in the shape of a dog. Too funny. My lasagna was really good though the kids didn't like it - peppers, eggplant, etc. DD really liked her panini sandwich and DS ended up eating most of the corn bisque. It was a touch spicy. This was another restaurant where we were supposed to get a 10% discount with my Disney Visa Rewards card but the waiter said it only applied to the Disney Visa card. I didn't argue with him although I was almost 99% sure that he was wrong. After lunch we went back to the hotel for rest time around 2 pm. The kids were out like a light again (and DH too) - it was then that I started writing this trip report on my laptop.
Amina woke up first and got ready to go to the pool. We woke Rhys up enticing him with the word POOL and he sat up quickly and drowsily got his swim shorts on. It was already almost 4:30 pm. The pool was crowded - they only had the slide pool and the whirlpools open. The kids played briefly in the pool then got out to go up the slide. I went with Rhys first and nearly lost my sunglasses as I unintentionally went under water when I hit the pool. It was only 4 feet deep but the current is pretty strong and pulled me down before I could get my feet on the ground. Fortunately, one of the next few riders down the slide found my sunglasses for me. Amina joined us on the slides and I just waited at the bottom for the kids to come down. The are both experienced swimmers but I still worry a little about Rhys. After DD came down for the second time (and mentioned something about the life guard at the top of the slide saying that I needed to go back up and ride the slide with them the next time - ???), they blew the whistle and made everyone get out of the pool. We moved our stuff over to a couple of vacant loungers and they opened up the other pool (3, 4, and 5 feet deep - no slide). The kids played for another 45 minutes and then we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. DH was still asleep when we got back to the room!
We rinsed off quickly and then went for dinner. We had decided earlier to try the Napa Rose right at the Grand Californian. We went into the lobby of the restaurant and I asked sheepishly if shorts were ok. They said that "resort casual" was fine. I was hoping it wasn't quite as snooty as Victoria and Albert's at the Grand Floridian although I think it was the Grand Californian's equivalent to V&A's. The restaurant is beautiful and we were definitely feeling a bit under dressed. Most of the tables had no kids. I was pleasantly surprised that they did have a kids' menu which included things like beef tenderloin. The kids wanted to share the chicken quesadillas. They each also ordered the "apple cider" which came in a real champagne glass. They both proceeded to hold the champange glasses like brandy glasses with DS claiming he had seen other people do that on tv. LOL! DH and I decided to try the Prix Fixe menu and he opted for the 4 glass wine pairing after agreeing to let me mooch some wine off of him. LOL. There was no way I could get the wine pairing by myself and still walk in any normal fashion to the parade later that night. We had the chef's special olive platter which was yummy and were given a taste of the chef's special tomato "soup" (I can't think of the name for this special cold soup) which had cilantro in it that I didn't care for. The first course was the white fish which was delicious with a bit of caviar on top and some type of diced crunchy pickled vegetable underneath. It was YUMMY and DD loved it too. DH doesn't like fish much but he ate half and gave some to DD and gave me the rest. The wine was a Chardonnay which was quite good considering we don't like Chardonnays. The second course was a duck schnitzel on home made noodles with a cherry reduction sauce. That was even better and the kids really liked the home made noodles. DS liked the duck too. The wine was a pinot and delicious with the duck. At this point, DD declared she was already getting full and had not even gotten her order yet. The 3rd course was the main entree (or "entry" as Rhys put it) - beef tenderloin medium rare with green beans and pearl onions. DH said it was probably the most tender and juicy beef tenderloin he had ever had. It was very good and was paired with a merlot. Even the kids, who are not "steak" fans thought it was quite good. They had gotten their quesadillas along with our entrees and didn't eat much of them after trying all of our dishes so far. The dessert was a pound cake (home made - the edges were crunchy - just sinful) with a small scoop of almond ice cream and diced peaches. We all loved the dessert. After we recovered from the sticker shock of the dinner tab (knew it would be expensive) - DD declared that it was the best restaurant she has ever been in (it was). We couldn't use our Disney Rewards card - not enough on it but were able to use the 10% off coupon out of the California Funbook our TA had given us. That knocked over $20 off the total so you can guess how much the entire bill was.
After dinner, we headed back to California Adventure to ride the Mulholland Madness which the kids thought was really fun - especially the part that looks like the car is going to go right off the edge of the rooftop. After that, we got on the Golden Zephyr and DS was, for some reason, very scared the whole time we were on it. He had his face buried in my arm the whole time. It is a little scary as the rocket ship lifts up like a centrifuge. There are no doors on the entrance side - DS had to get in first and sit on the right side. The ride hangs out over the water as you loop around. It was about as exciting as the Dumbo ride but interesting that objects (and kids!) could just slip right out from between my legs and go overboard into the water. We walked quickly to the Preferred Seating area of the electrical parade with the special passes I had gotten the day before - it was located right next to Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage building. We handed our passes over and were let in behind a chain link rope where we sat along the wall with a great, unobstructed view of the parade as it passed in front of us and turned the corner which was the end of the route. Before the parade, the "Wave Riders" were playing old tunes from the back of a float including some Beach Boys hits, etc. Lots of kids were out in the street dancing. It was great entertainment until the parade started. The parade actually started from Paradise Pier so it took a little while for it to actually get to us. It was supposed to start at 8:45 pm but we didn't get to see it until almost 9 pm. The park lights were dimmed and the Sunshine Plaza waterfall was turned off during the parade. The electrical parade is one of my personal favorites and it just brought tears to my eyes to be able to share it with the kids. We had a great time and walked back to the hotel. We could hear the loud BOOMS of the DL fireworks as we turned in for the night.
5 August 2005, Friday - Disneyland
The night had been interesting. I awoke at about 3 am to hear DS asking DD to help him to the bathroom. I got up and helped him and we went back to bed. The next thing I know, a voice is standing next to me saying "My clothes are wet". At first I thought it was DD and remembered wondering what in the world it could be - it's been FOREVER since DD's had an "accident" at night. I reached up and felt the pj's and they were soaked. I got up and took what turned out to be DS to the bathroom for a change. The extra pj's were tucked away somewhere in the HUGE suitcase so I didn't even bother with that. I pulled open the small suitcase with my Cruise Stuff and got out the t-shirt that I was going to have autographed on the ship. I slipped it onto DS and didn't bother with more underwear, and sent him back to bed. I woke up again at 5:30 or so to see DD pulling the shades open. I hissed at her to close the shades again and go back to bed. We finally all got up around 7 this morning.
This was our last day at Disneyland and we had a full Ridemax schedule starting at when the park opened. We walked through DT Disney hoping the La Brea Bakery was open but it was just too early. We got in line at the gate at about 7:40 am waiting for the 8 am opening. DH ran back to the hotel to get us some coffee. I gave the kids some gorp for breakfast. Bad mommy, lol. We chatted with the family behind us and I gave them our passes for preferred seating at Snow White's Enchanting Musical since I knew we didn't have time for it. DH got back with the coffee (and even put the right amount of Splenda and hazelnut creamer in it) and I snuck a picture of the 50th anniversary logo in the grass just after the marching band arrived and the park guests were counting down...."THREE, TWO, ONE.....". I slipped back in line and we passed through the gates and headed for Fantasyland. We walked through the castle after a photo op and went on Peter Pan first with no waiting. We were a few minutes late already according to our schedule. The Matterhorn Bobsleds were next and the line was extremely short. We picked the right sided line which is the bobsled that goes through the water. DS was nervous about the Abominable (sp?) Snowman but I think he otherwise enjoyed the ride. We did Alice in Wonderland, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and the Storybook Land Canal Boats with almost no waiting. It was only about 8:45 am when we got done. We headed to the Astro Orbiter next about 5 minutes ahead of schedule but the wait was longer than what Ridemax predicted - more like 20 minutes instead of 8. I took a pic of DH and DS in their rocketship and a CM offered to take one of DD and I in ours. That was really sweet. I had agreed to ride with Amina about 2 rockets in front of DH and DS so I could take a picture of them. What a mistake. I had not been on Astro Orbiter in ages (didn't go last year when we were in WDW because DD didn't want to and wanted to stay on the People Mover about 5 times) and had forgotten that it moves at a pretty good clip. I got my camera out while we were up in the air and was afraid to lose it. I turned around to take a picture of DH and DS and was holding my camera so tightly that I acidentally turned it off. I turned back around, turned it back on, and turned back to take a pic. I snapped one quickly and when I was forward facing again, my head was spinning. Thankfully, DD hadn't touched the controls so were weren't going up and down and up and down while I was snapping the picture.
We headed for Space Mountain to pick up a Fastpass but the set up was very confusing. The entrance for stand by, fastpass, and the fastpass distribution were all mixed together. We walked past the long line thinking it was the stand by line and got to the top only to find out that the line WAS the fastpass distribution line! Unfortunately, Ridemax had no way of predicting this and we waited for a bit in line just to get a fastpass. The return time window was also later than what Ridemax had predicted and we couldn't pick up another fastpass for a while. At this point, we decided to split up as DH was wanting to check out the hotel's fitness center. I took the kids to It's a Small World where there was NO waiting and we got on a boat all by ourselves. We then caught the monorail (and got to sit up front this time) back to Downtown Disney. We stopped by our hotel room to grab the kids' money and to get our cruise docs. We hadn't checked in for our cruise yet because the times are a bit wacky. Mon -Thurs it's only 8 am to noon and I had called this morning to find out that check in was only from 8 am to 2 pm on Fridays.
Our first shopping stop was the tattoo cart where DD got a rose tattoo on her right ankle for $8. DS chose a dragon to go on his forearm. I had the same tattoo as DD's put on my right ankle as well. The kids paid for their tattoos with the Disney Dollars they had earned. We looked briefly in the Lego store next and took some cute photos of the kids sitting next to the Lego sleeping man (who was snoring), by the gigantic Lego giraffe, the Lego Darth Vader/R2D2 (who beeped and blipped), and the Lego DL sign. DS insisted on buying a Lego car kit which irks me knowing that we could have gotten one at home and probably cheaper. Ah well. Our last quick stop was at Libby Lu's where DD wanted to get the 3 bottle set in a cute little purse. For her first bottle, she made "perfume" which was kind of neat - she filled the bottle with "color" (blue), added sparkling "stuff" (don't know what it was called), and finally used a dropper to put the "princess" scent in. When she shook the bottle, it all combined together and looked pretty cool. Then the other 2 bottles she layered different colors of bath/body potions and body shimmer. DH then called to say that he was done working out and came over to meet us at Libby Lu. We almost went back to the park but remembered to go by the cruise desk in the lobby of the hotel to check in.
We gave our docs to the lady at the desk but had left our passports in the room safe. She said that was ok - just to let them check tomorrow before we board the bus. She tore out the docs that we needed to check in with and put them in an envelope and gave us the envelope with a letter that explained the procedure. The bus doesn't leave until about noon and we don't have to check out until 11 tomorrow morning. Apparently, there's a special line at the port for hotel guests to check in through. We still have not received our Key to the World cards. We are supposed to have our bags waiting by the door at 8 am for pick up. We are to meet at the conference center in the hotel tomorrow. I didn't realize we would have so much time on Saturday morning - now we can do some extra shopping. DH mentioned that he wanted to get a tattoo as well and that we could get matching ones. (Awwwww.......). I snapped a few pictures of the miniature Magic replica next to the check-in desk.
We went back to the park to make our 11:30 am PS res at the Blue Bayou. We got there a teensy bit late - about 11:34 am. We waited for a short while but had just missed the seating along the water front and would have had to wait an additional 30 minutes for those seats. We didn't want to do the waiting so we were seated in the row of tables just behind the water front seats. We could still see the boats pass by from where we were sitting. The kids' menus are pirate hats that can be worn - we got some cute pics of the kids wearing their pirate hats/menus. DH had the Monte Cristo sandwich, the kids shared the corn dogs with mashed potato, corn, and applesauce, and I ordered the jambalaya. After ordering, I scooted over to Buzz Lightyear to pick up fastpasses. I half walked/jogged and got out there and back in about 10 minutes. The food was already there and the kids/DH had already eaten some of my jambalaya. Now that was fast service. Amina also tried a mint julep which was pretty good. The Monte Cristo sandwich lived up to its reputation - it was delicious and the kids didn't leave DH with much to eat. He did eat half of my jambalaya since I had originally intended on ordering the portobello mushroom but compromised with him so he would order the Monte Cristo. We skipped dessert but the kids got a Mickey shaped jello dessert with whipped cream on top.
Our next stop was Space Mountain. DS complained all the way there and when we reached the place where we turn in our fastpasses, he started all out crying refusing to get on. I left with him and DH took DD to ride it. We waited at the exit for them get off and I intended on going with DD using our other fastpasses. DD didn't want to ride again. DH said that the ride was faster now that they changed it. Since our Buzz Lightyear fastpasses weren't usable for another 1/2 hour, I opted to ride Space Mountain alone. I got on to the ride with no incident, we got to the "top" and the countdown commenced, we then took off and rounded a few bends when the ride came to a complete stop and the lights turned on. They made an announcement that the ride would be delayed for a short period of time. It was very interesting sitting near the top of Space Mountain with the lights on. I kicked myself for giving my camera to DH. There were 4 other cars below us all pretty remarkably evenly spaced out. The CMs were climbing up and manually giving the cars a push when they were "cleared". Gravity just took the cars down. I was joking with the man sitting in front of me (I was in the last seat on the car) that this shoud be where they offer each of us a free season pass to the park. LOL. The CMs finally reached us and gave us a push after we were "cleared" and we coasted down the ride with the lights on. It was very unremarkable - at least the music came back on as we coasted back to the station. When we reached the station, people were asking us what happened. We had no idea except that we got to see Space Mountain with the lights on. The CMs asked if we wanted to ride again, with the lights off this time. Of course, we all said yes. The 2nd time around the ride was just awesome - much faster. There was a noticeable improvement in the cars from the last time we were in DL (about 15 years ago) with speakers right by the back of your head playing "fly-through-space music". There were parts where my bottom left the seat. That was an experience to remember though I'm not sure I would call it a magical moment.
We rode Buzz Lightyear next and noted the vast improvement in the laser pistols which you can lift out of the console and actually aim/shoot at the targets easily. DH scored over 100,000 points whereas my final score was about 21,000. DH was gloating. We took the monorail back to the hotel for rest time again at about 2 pm opting not to run over and pick up Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fastpasses. We did stop by and get Autopia fastpasses, though. While I'm thinking about it - almost all of our fastpasses were used outside of the time window for which they were issued. Universally, the CMs were fine with that and one of them said that fastpasses never really expire anyways.
I worked some more on my trip report as the kids and DH napped. Amina was up first then eventually Rhys woke up and the kids watched cartoons on tv until DH woke up. We had walked by the Uva Bar Restaurant in Downtown Disney earlier and looked at the menu - it was Spanish/Mediterranean food and had decided to try it for dinner. The kids ordered the smoothies - pineapple for DD and strawberry for DS. They were pretty good and were HUGE. We ordered the garlic fries with chili and cheese for an appetizer which was very good. You could definitely taste the garlic in the fries - tasted like more than just a little garlic powder. DS and I shared the cheeseburger which was ok. DH and DD shared the chicken quesadillas which DD didn't like. DH said they were ok. I think this restaurant was our least favorite in all of the parks.
After dinner, we went back to DL via the monorail. DH, DD, and DS sat up front with the driver and I sat in the first car to let a mom and her DD ride in the front since it only seats 5 and I had already ridden it once with the kids earlier. We rode Autopia which was hilarious as DS really has no idea how to drive a car and his reflexes are a little slow - turning left after we had already gone left and right after we had already gone right. Needless to say, it was quite bumpy. DH and DD were right behind us with DD at the wheel. We then went on Casey's Circus Train and the kids wanted to ride in the car behind the engine which only fits 3 people. DH rode in the cage car labelled "Wild Animals". LOL. Afterwards, we had wanted to stop by the Mad Hatter but it was almost 8:30 and we had reservations for the dessert buffet for Fantasmic so we headed towards Frontierland to find the area we were supposed to be at. After wading through the huge crowd and asking at least 3 CMs, we finally found the line we were supposed to be in. We waited until almost 8:45 before finally getting to the front of the line only to find out that we were supposed to have picked up our Fantasmic dessert buffet tickets at the front entrance! OMG! They didn't have a list of all of the people who paid for tickets. She offered to seat us for the 10:30 pm show but that would have been waaaay too late for the kids. DH was ready to just give up and ask for our money back (we paid $240 for it!) but I had him and the kids wait at the French Market while I literally RAN through the crowd to get to Guest Services. I got there out of breath and spoke with a CM named Ryan who called the front gate and found out that we did, indeed, have tickets there waiting for us. He realized that I wouldn't have time to go out, pick up the tickets, and come back into the park in time so he made me promise that I would stop by ticket booth 5 after the show/fireworks to sign for the tickets and instructed me to let the CM at the show know that I had spoken with him. I RAN back to the French Market through the crowds and grabbed DH and the kids and went back to talk to the CM at the viewing area. They quickly set up 4 seats near the buffet table and literally just as we sat down, the show started. Our seats weren't that great in retrospect - the kids and I had to stand up to be able to see over the first 2 rows of people in this viewing area. If we had had our tickets, our seats would have been better. We each ordered a Sprite which I was grateful for after running through the park.
The show was wonderful. Mickey kicked things off and there was movie animation projected on huge walls of water spray flanking the stage on either side. The princesses came by with their beaus on lit floats. Both the Columbia and Mark Twain boats were carrying characters and were lit up beautifully. DS found the part with Mickey "slaying" the evil witch as the dragon kind of scary. We could feel the heat from the fire on the water. It was thoroughly enjoyable and afterwards, DH commented on what a good idea it was to stay and watch the show. We helped ourselves to the buffet - there were huge chocolate covered strawberries, rice crispy treats in the shape of a Mickey head with chocolate and Mickey's face on top, frosted cookies (I think they were), macaroons, brownies, and a few other dessert bars of some sort. They passed out bottles of water and hot chocolate after Fantasmic was over. The fireworks then followed and we watched them for our seats. Disney really does have fireworks shows down to an art coordinating every light and sound to music. This firewords show included voices from the different rides in the park - thunder mountain railroad, haunted mansion, splash mountain, etc. While that creepy voice from the haunted mansion spoke ("Move to the DEAD center of the room......there's always MY way out.....bwah hah hah hah....."), DS got so scared he crawled into my lap and watched the rest of the fireworks from there. It's a good thing we didn't try to ride the actual ride with him. DS was pretty tired after the shows and we carried him most of the way back to the hotel. DH took them back while I sorted out the ticket issue. After I got back to the hotel room, we had to pack up all of our stuff as our luggage would be picked up for the cruise at 8 am. I finally got to bed around 11:30 after making sure all of our Disney Magic tags were on every piece of luggage that would be checked in (5 total).
6 August 2005, Saturday - Downtown Disney, Disney Cruise Line Embarkation Day
This morning was much more relaxed since we didn't have to check out until 11 am and would not be picked up for the cruise until after noon. We were up around 7:30 am and packed up the rest of our stuff to be checked in leaving the suitcases by the door (inside the room). Breakfast was at Storyteller's cafe which we had enjoyed that first morning. Many of the same characters were there with a couple of new ones - Koda instead of Kenai, and Meeko for instance. The funniest moment on the trip so far was when Rhys was examining the menu trying to decide what he wanted to eat and sat back stating "I want Beaver Eggs". (Keep in mind that he's just turned 6.) DH and I both looked at each other and couldn't remember seeing them on the menu last time but thinking that this was a frontier themed restaurant, Beaver Eggs seemed to fit right in. I asked Rhys to show me where the description was for Beaver Eggs and Rhys pointed them out to me...."See, right here......'Beverages'....it says Beaver Eggs!". ROTFLOL! Well, instead of Beaver Eggs, Rhys had the Toad in the Hole (hey, doesn't any more weird than Beaver Eggs) which is a fried egg cooked in the middle of a piece of toast on top of a piece of ham. Amina had the Mickey waffles which was 3 or 4 small Mickey head shaped waffles. DH had the bran something-or-other with a side of bacon and I had the fruit with cottage cheese and carrot bread again - that was just perfect for me last time.
After we finished breakfast and met with some of the characters, we headed out to Downtown Disney right before 10 am. Amina and I went into Club Libby Lu while DH and DS walked over to check out the Lego store and the "Star Wars" store (as DS called it) which was actually the store that sells old memorabilia and just happens to sell some Star Wars memorabilia too. Amina walked around in a daze picking up every other thing in the store trying to decide what she wanted and admiring the girls having their hair done. She had seen the little girls walking around the parks earlier sporting jewel stars on their faces, sparkling lip gloss, and wild hair do's and was in total envy. We asked the girls working at the store how much it was to be transormed into a rock diva and found out it was just $20. Amina rips her purse open and fumbles through it counting her Disney dollars to see if she has enough money to do it. LOL. I tell her that I will treat her to the up-do and we make our way over to the cash register to make an "appointment" after DD gives me a great big hug. The wait was only about 15 minutes and DD was given a large pink back sack and instructed to pick out 5 items from the Mix and Match section. She selected a small purse shaped make up case with a mirror, shimmer lip gloss, and a few fancy feather pens. Soon, it was her turn to be worked on and she sat down on the seat in front of the giant heart shaped mirror like the princess that she is and the Libby Lu gal applied eye shadow and shimmer lip gloss. DD had already had her nails done before we left for the trip so she turned down having her nails done again with glitter polish. Her hair was parted in rows and then twisted with the bottom ends flipped up like a fan along the back of her head. Glitter hair spray went flying everywhere, a black and silver earphone/microphone set was applied, and her transformation was complete. While I was waiting for DD to get done, I started chatting with an oriental woman next to me who commented on how cute the girls look. We were admiring a little oriental girl - probably about 2 years old - being done up and sitting so perfectly still for the Libby Lu gal. Each of us was thinking that little girl was the other's. Turns out her name was Linda and that she had 2 older boys, Kai and Lee, but no girls. She was commenting on how she would love to have a girl. We joked a bit about having more kids - neither of us were the least bit interested. I took a few pictures of Amina after her transformation and met rest of Linda's family including her DH, Doug.
DH and DS returned from the World of Disney with a pirate sword and cool Buzz Lightyear sunglasses. More pictures of the kids in their respective outfits. We walked over to the tattoo cart where the guy touched up both DD and my rose ankle tattoos at no charge. DH gets a multicolored dragon applied to his forearm. We stop by the jewelry cart and DH surprises me by purchasing a brown and tan tropical looking necklace. In over 10 years of marriage, I have NEVER seen DH wear a necklace. He's really gotten into this vacation now it seems. We have enough time to run back over to World of Disney and look around. I find a really cute golden sandal with crystal Mickey heads necklace, and a black Mickey head crystal toe ring while DH finds a Disneyland magnet (we always buy one when we travel for our fridge), DD gets a pair of sunglasses and a Sleeping Beauty locket necklace. It's getting close to check out time so DH and the kids head back to the room to get the remainder of our stuff while I make our purchases. I stop by the front desk to check out (which really wasn't necessary but I was just checking to make sure everything was in order since we had time) while DH and the kids wait in the same lobby seats that they waited in while I had checked in, stopped by the stamp machine for a stamp to put on the Cast Member appreciation card that I had made and addressed to Ryan at Town Hall Guest Services to thank him after the Fantasmic fiasco last night. I dropped the envelope off at Guest Services where they said it would be delivered as is (had to have a stamp on it though) with no other address other than "Town Hall Guest Services". Very cool.
We head over to the hotel's conference center front desk which is where we are supposed to meet for the bus to the port. We check in with the cruise CMs. It's strange and not very Disney but there were quite a few people waiting around this area and there were NO seats. Everyone was sitting on the floors around the front desk. We have about a 1/2 hour wait when they announce that we are ready to board the bus. Our luggage had already been picked up from our room and was on its way to the port ahead of us. The bus was very large - a luxury touring bus painted with Disney characters and "50th anniversary" all over it. We selected a few comfy seats and met our bus driver then we were finally off. I just can't describe how nice a feeling it was that even though the land portion of our vacation was over, we were not disappointed because we still had a week on the cruise to go so it wasn't sad to leave the Disneyland Resort. We watched a cruise promo video during the 40 minute bus ride to the port. As we cross over the bridge to the port we can just make out the smoke stacks of the Magic. I snapped a few pics of the the kids looking out the window of the bus and the Magic's red smoke stacks in the background........
