Saturday November 5th
We had early entry for this day, but decided after a full day the day before and having ridden all the rides available for EE that we would wake up when we woke up and just head over. That being said, we still ended up getting into the park around 7:40 in the morning. It was riding a few more rides and grabbing Haunted Mansion FPs and then over to CA. I walked over to Soarin to grab FPs for later as we had a brunch scheduled at Goofys Kitchen at 11AM.
We did have time to tour the animation building and made the 10:30 (first showing) at Turtle Talk with Crush. It was funny and amazing to watch. From there it was off to GKs which mean a long walk through DTD and to the lobby of the DLH. Before we got up to the hotel a member of Disney Security came over to us and asked if we had been approached by solicitors while making our way through DTD. We hadnt. I waited in line and finally was able to check-in. I was glad we had made PS weeks before. (HINT: If you are a CAA/AAA member, be sure to mention that as it gave us a bit of a discount). We got pictures with Pluto and then proceeded to wait to be called. There was a golden car from Autopia in the lobby which my daughter had fun driving while we waited. She even came to get my car keys so she could really drive it off. We were called to sit at our table and ate the buffet brunch.
Brunch to say the least was hot and at least decent. Watching my girl light up as each character came around was priceless. I wish I had removed her bibster for pictures, but oh well. We got pictures with Cinderella, Perla (who helped sew her dress), Pinocchio, Goofy (of course), and Donald Duck. We didnt get any with Gipetto or Alladin. One interesting thing is I know that costumed characters are not allowed to speak, but Perla saw me signing with my daughter and the character came over and signed that my daughter was beautiful. That made my day. So if any of you are ASL/SEE signers dont be shy you might get a character to speak to you. (My daughter is not deaf but we have been teaching her ASL using the Singing Time DVDs since she was four months old)
Oh one little note here. I had to use the little boys room and the closest one was near the registration area of the DLH. I have to say I walked into the Nastiest bathroom on earth. There were papers everywhere, it reeked and I had to make a hasty retreat. I did let someone at the front desk know, but did not check back to see if it was cleaned up.
From there we headed back to CA where my daughter and I walked to Screamin for FPs while my wife rode Soarin. DD is just under the 40 limit so we had to ride separately. I made it back and waited about five minutes while my daughter had crashed and then took my turn riding Soarin. I was in section B-1 and let me tell you it was an amazing experience especially for a private pilot. Makes me so want to start flying again.
We knew we wanted to go to the block party at 5:15 so headed back to the hotel to rest, soak in that wonderful Jacuzzi and just regroup. We did that and headed back to CA to stake out our spot for the Block Party. I had to ask a few times where the Monsters Inc. section would stop because DD just HAD to see Mike and Sulley. We got our spot staked out while Ms. Flagger went and rode Screamin. After the party we grabbed our second batch of park food something of the Mexican variety and grabbed two watered down frozen Ritas. From there it was time to head over to DL and stake out a spot (two and half hours early) for the fireworks.
We did that and Ms. Flagger and DD rode a few rides and drove the cars again. From my vantage point I did get to see the parade at night which was nice and still got chills when you heard Walts voice. Then it was time to watch the fireworks again. Not as special as seeing them for the first time the night before, but I was able to get better pictures because I knew what to expect and when! DD did great until the lasers for the section from Star Tours. It was late and we were tired so we decided that Fantasmic was not in the cards this trip.
My Mexican food desire had not been fulfilled, so after we left the park we drove to a Taco Bell so I could have Melted cheese out of a can Nachos. It was then to bed where I finally crashed around midnight.
Sunday November 6th
This is a quick short post as all we did this day was go to the PHD show in CA, visit the WOD again and head back home. We were beat and facing a 5.5 hour drive home.
I will have an epilogue to follow with some hints, tips and what we would do next time.
We had early entry for this day, but decided after a full day the day before and having ridden all the rides available for EE that we would wake up when we woke up and just head over. That being said, we still ended up getting into the park around 7:40 in the morning. It was riding a few more rides and grabbing Haunted Mansion FPs and then over to CA. I walked over to Soarin to grab FPs for later as we had a brunch scheduled at Goofys Kitchen at 11AM.
We did have time to tour the animation building and made the 10:30 (first showing) at Turtle Talk with Crush. It was funny and amazing to watch. From there it was off to GKs which mean a long walk through DTD and to the lobby of the DLH. Before we got up to the hotel a member of Disney Security came over to us and asked if we had been approached by solicitors while making our way through DTD. We hadnt. I waited in line and finally was able to check-in. I was glad we had made PS weeks before. (HINT: If you are a CAA/AAA member, be sure to mention that as it gave us a bit of a discount). We got pictures with Pluto and then proceeded to wait to be called. There was a golden car from Autopia in the lobby which my daughter had fun driving while we waited. She even came to get my car keys so she could really drive it off. We were called to sit at our table and ate the buffet brunch.
Brunch to say the least was hot and at least decent. Watching my girl light up as each character came around was priceless. I wish I had removed her bibster for pictures, but oh well. We got pictures with Cinderella, Perla (who helped sew her dress), Pinocchio, Goofy (of course), and Donald Duck. We didnt get any with Gipetto or Alladin. One interesting thing is I know that costumed characters are not allowed to speak, but Perla saw me signing with my daughter and the character came over and signed that my daughter was beautiful. That made my day. So if any of you are ASL/SEE signers dont be shy you might get a character to speak to you. (My daughter is not deaf but we have been teaching her ASL using the Singing Time DVDs since she was four months old)
Oh one little note here. I had to use the little boys room and the closest one was near the registration area of the DLH. I have to say I walked into the Nastiest bathroom on earth. There were papers everywhere, it reeked and I had to make a hasty retreat. I did let someone at the front desk know, but did not check back to see if it was cleaned up.
From there we headed back to CA where my daughter and I walked to Screamin for FPs while my wife rode Soarin. DD is just under the 40 limit so we had to ride separately. I made it back and waited about five minutes while my daughter had crashed and then took my turn riding Soarin. I was in section B-1 and let me tell you it was an amazing experience especially for a private pilot. Makes me so want to start flying again.
We knew we wanted to go to the block party at 5:15 so headed back to the hotel to rest, soak in that wonderful Jacuzzi and just regroup. We did that and headed back to CA to stake out our spot for the Block Party. I had to ask a few times where the Monsters Inc. section would stop because DD just HAD to see Mike and Sulley. We got our spot staked out while Ms. Flagger went and rode Screamin. After the party we grabbed our second batch of park food something of the Mexican variety and grabbed two watered down frozen Ritas. From there it was time to head over to DL and stake out a spot (two and half hours early) for the fireworks.
We did that and Ms. Flagger and DD rode a few rides and drove the cars again. From my vantage point I did get to see the parade at night which was nice and still got chills when you heard Walts voice. Then it was time to watch the fireworks again. Not as special as seeing them for the first time the night before, but I was able to get better pictures because I knew what to expect and when! DD did great until the lasers for the section from Star Tours. It was late and we were tired so we decided that Fantasmic was not in the cards this trip.
My Mexican food desire had not been fulfilled, so after we left the park we drove to a Taco Bell so I could have Melted cheese out of a can Nachos. It was then to bed where I finally crashed around midnight.
Sunday November 6th
This is a quick short post as all we did this day was go to the PHD show in CA, visit the WOD again and head back home. We were beat and facing a 5.5 hour drive home.
I will have an epilogue to follow with some hints, tips and what we would do next time.
