Eeee-va's Super-Historic Christmas Season Trip! Completed 10/10/12

[TokyoDina]

wow your trip looks great so far! Haha I wouldn't call that little thing a lake and I'm from AZ.

I can't wait to go again. I think next year or maybe right before my DH leaves for training if I can con him into it. Right now we are planning for WDW. Which is a big trip but since we only live 6 hours from San Diego it's not really that hard of a trip to make to DL.

Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[Eeee-va]

Dear TokyoDina,

Thank you! Are you planning a trip to Disneyland yet?

Dear DISboards,

I'm sorry it's been so long! I haven't been super-busy...well, I guess more busy reading about Disneyland than remembering the good times.

So on Thursday morning, 12/10, we arrived before opening. Mom loved this picture.

I think this is the day when we were in line and there was totally a line open next to us, but no one would dare get in it--everyone seemed to be thinking that, since no one was in it, it wasn't a line. We weren't terribly far back in line, and I'm shy, so I did not want to go ask if it was really a line.

A little boy kept trying to get his mother to get in the non-line line but she wouldn't...finally he went up and asked the Cast Member and yes, the line that no one was in was really a line! (So we got in after their party, which didn't save us all that much time, granted.)

Though it was a Magic Morning day, getting in at opening wasn't too bad--crowds were low on Main Street, of course, and pretty low elsewhere.

Except for Peter Pan's Flight, which we bypassed in favor of one of the few things we hadn't done on Wednesday that we needed to, which was...

Oh my! Look who stowed away with me today!

I have a few American Girl dolls ( http://www.juliestudio.com/kirsten ) and I have a lot of fun with them. May is a "Just Like You" doll that I decided is from the 1920s, so she is very VERY excited about Princess Tiana! (As am I. ) We hadn't seen the movie yet but she still wanted to meet Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen, and I honstly thought it might be kind of awkward, but then got the idea to make her a dress like Princess Tiana has at Disneyland, which would make for better photos anyway.

I made the dress out of scrap fabric I had lying around. There are some Tiana dresses on Etsy now but I think this may have been the first handmade Princess Tiana dress for AGs.

ANYWAY, no one was at Small World Holiday, so we got a boat all to ourselves! I kind of edged back in the boat to let May sit down and we got a few pictures. (There basically weren't any people on the ride near us so I suppose I should've used a flash, but oh well.)

After that, we went on Pinocchio. The CM told us to say hi to Pinocchio for him. I wanted to come back to the CM and ask if his name was "Diddly Dee", since Pinocchio said "Hi, Diddly Dee." Do you think he would've found that funny?

Do you like Pinocchio's ride? I don't. It's so sad! When I went on it in June I'd forgotten all about the donkey scenes (those poor foolish little boys!). Plus I LOVE Coney Island and it looks like Pleasure Island was heavily inspired by it. Booo.

The only good thing is that I adore winged unicorns, so there's one happy thing in the ride. (Besides the pretty Blue Fairy.)

Snow White was deserted too.

We doubled back and hung out to admire Snow White's Grotto for a bit (blast; should've gotten some pictures with my little Princess May!). Then we went to my favorite ride, Space Mountain. At 9:30 it was basically walk-on...sweet!

At that point Miss D wanted to go on the Astro Orbiter, as the wait was supposedly only 5-10 minutes. (I think 10 or even 15 was more accurate.) I'm honestly not a fan of the Astro Orbiter anytime, and certainly not when I have a little charge to take care of. (I wasn't so keen on taking her through Space Mountain either, except Space Mountain is TOTALLY AWESOME! so I had to!) Anyway, I decided not to go and after waiting bored for a minute I figured out what I could/should do!

I did double back and caught Miss D trying to take pictures of herself on the Astro Orbiter as it was still being loaded, so I tried to do better for her. I took a ton of pictures, a few of which turned out OK, but most of which turned out more like this.

Then it was in the ballpark of 10 so we decided to go to the Princess and the Frog meet and greet!

Frankly, I was still a little nervous, not having met a character since I think the late 1990s...I'm just not good with strangers and I'm not a good actress, so I figured I'd be awful at playing along with them too. I normally don't like getting my picture taken, either, but since I was sure I'd love Princess and the Frog (and I did!), I really wanted to get my picture taken with the characters, since I didn't know how long the meet and greet would be around anyway!

A friendly CM, who had beautiful red hair and was impressed by May's dress, assisted me with getting a picture.

We had a bit of a wait--Prince Naveen came out and explained that there was an accident in the kitchen with the chickens, and there were feathers EVERYWHERE, but Tiana would be down soon. Eventually she showed up and we waited a few minutes to meet her! But finally, we got some photos! (Miss D took the non-bordered ones, which was very nice of her.)

Naveen saw that there was a doll dressed like Tiana and jumped out of the picture, not wanting to get in the way.

But then I told him that he should be in the picture too. He seemed more impressed by May's dress than Tiana was, to be honest. He was so charming!

Then Tiana asked me in her drawl, "Do you want to be in the picture too?"

Actually, I had a whole 1920s-inspired outfit I was going to wear, but my shoes would have been HORRIBLE had it rained (and I feared my feet would get tired even though they were flats), plus it was cold. So I just wore my hat and my jacket (bought from Savers; I LOVE it!) and did my lipstick, which I thought would look OK in pictures. (And I looked fine 'til I took those the hat off and got some Photopass pictures but forgot about my pseudo-bee-sting-lips lipstick....sigh. )

ANYWAY. Yes, yes, I did want to be in the picture too.

Then the Photopass guy took a couple with all of us, including Miss D. Most of the Photopass pictures were really bad and I didn't know where to look so a lot of Miss D's pictures came out awful too, but it was a lot more fun than I had expected!

Then we all went to Indiana Jones...

...and then May decided she was tired from such a long day. Well, it was probably before 11 AM, but I'm sure she'd stayed up all night because she was so excited, poor girl! So I booked her a tiny room on Main Street at the rate of $10 or so for the day. I let her have my jacket as a pillow/mattress and then Miss D and I headed out to DCA, which we hadn't yet visited this trip. (To be honest, though, at this point we had done I think ALL of the big things I had hoped to do, and we'd spent less than a full day in the parks!)

Oh dear; I think I'm running out of paper again. I'll catch up with you soon! Hope all of your Disney dreams are coming true!

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[tksbaskets]

Great installment! I can see the princess was most impressed with you AG Looking forward to more when you find more paper.

 

[Eeee-va]

Dear tksbaskets,

Sorry for the delay. Darned paper shortage. But thank you!

Dear DISboards,

After we left our little companion in her hotel on Main Street at 11:19 AM, we got a homely photo by the Mickey flowers at the Disneyland entrance, then hopped like bunnies to DCA. (Arrival at Hollywood area around 11:30 AM)

I told you I was afraid to go on Tower of Terror, right? Do you think I was brave enough to do it at last?????

No, not really. I went in with Miss D to enjoy the scenery, then I walked right through the queue and then at the seating area I told them I wasn't riding. The host looked puzzled to be honest, but I don't like drops! So he told me to wait and after Miss D went in they let me through a little door to the exit hallway, which was pretty cool. (11:39 AM)

Then I got bored and moved onto the end of the exit area. This one is for Mom.

We came to the gift shop at 11:46 AM or so. Miss D hoped for a keychain for her collection, but no dice.

Then onto Monsters Inc.! (11:50 AM)

Not too bad for a 2005 camera? (11:53 AM)

Goodbye, Christmas Hollywood Backlot! (11:59 AM)

Onto Soarin'. How much you want to bet this is the most photographed photo in there? (12:10 PM)

I think we got FPs for Mulholland Madness, and then a DELICIOUS lunch at Pizza Oom Mow Mow (spelling?). I raved about that salad for about two days. I'm all about the value when you go out...a great fast food salad costs $5, while an OK fast food hamburger and fries is $2 or $3. So I'd rather pay $8 or $9 for a great Disneyland salad, than $8 or $9 for an OK Disneyland hamburger and fries. (12:43 PM)

Riding Mulholland Madness after eating may not be the best idea (so many dips!) but we were OK. (We got in line around 1:11 PM and were off by 1:1 PM.)

Toy Story Midway Mania said 15 minutes wait (1:22 PM). http://lh5.ggpht.com/_3DD-8hL_hp4/Sy3UlXCmJ0I/AAAAAAAAKGg/4jmjjjyIKrY/s512/IMG_9381.JPG

I got bored in line and reset my camera's time to the CORRECT time. Woo-hoo! Prize shot at 1:45 PM:

DARN MY ACCURACY! (I was the narrow loser with the impressive 95% accuracy, which means nothing. But I'm totally reading up on my strategies for next time. BE WARNED, Miss D!)

I think next was just a bathroom break. I took some pictures outside. I like the Giant Dipper in San Diego very much. (1:55 PM)

Then on to the Fun Wheel! In June they forced strangers to share a car (which was cool but just saying). Not so much in December. (something like 2:17 PM) To think this area will soon be the Little Mermaid ride!

Miss D bought a Mickey ice cream treat in "San Francisco" at 2:30 PM. We stood outside the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (having failed to experience it when we were super-hot in June!) and waited for her to eat it. Then we went inside and explored. Given my fear of heights, I can't believe I walked across the whole network of, er, nets, above ground! Probably would've been horrible in the summer with more kids around though.

Ooooh, old posters!!! (2:49 PM)

Then it was getting near time for MOM to meet us! Hooray! We went on over to Engine-Ears Toys (oooh, a train) and hung out and waited for her.

And I think I am out of space for more. I'll write back soon!

Love,
Eeee-va

(P.S. Yes, I am working on this trip report because I try to finish my last one before I start a new one. )

(P.P.S. But I'm still having fun.)

 

[wdwfan22]

I am enjoying your trip report very much. I love the behind the wall look at the future Little Mermaid ride. It doesn't look like they have done very much, does it. I would think there would be a building there by now. I would think the inside takes much longer than the outside would.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Eeee-va]

Dear wdwfan22,

Thank you! This trip report is super-old (December 2009!). They're currently putting the roof/etc. on the Little Mermaid building, though I don't recall all the walls being built? I would assume they're working on building the inside animatronics/etc. right now on an off-site location and will put them inside once the building is finished and decorated.

They are building a new "Luna Park" in Coney Island--they got the contract in February of this year and it's set to open Memorial Day weekend! It's no Disneyland of course, and the Wonder Wheel (the thing that DCA copied for the Fun Wheel ) and the red tower in the background (the one without any cars on it) and of course the Cyclone wooden roller coaster were already there. But that's about it, and considering that they're putting a 19-ride park together in like 3.5 months, it's pretty darned good. (Even if some of the rides are probably from their stock, as the owners are a ride company.) Anyway, things can go super-quick if you're willing to hire the workers and can have workers on-site 20+ hours a day!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pablo57/sets/72157623843291236/

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[Eeee-va]

Mom had flown in from home and took the shuttle to Hojo, and then took the ART from Hojo, so it all took quite a while, but I was happy to explore Engine-Ears Toys (even if it is a ghastly pun!). I think we eventually made our way to the Main Street Penny Arcade. But when Mom texted that she was at the gates and had bought her ticket, we exited and met her in the esplanade, then made our way into Disneyland! She was tired but given the fact that it was fairly likely to rain the next couple days, I strongly encouraged her to go see Tiana's Showboat Jubilee. So we did rather a forced march to what must have been the 4:15 (?) Princess and the Frog show. As my mom likes New Orleans and bright colors and gospel-style music and stuff I figured she'd like the show!

I love Naveen! I mean, ukuleles.

(4:27 PM)

Mom did like the show and I THINK she thought it was worth the forced march. At least, she SAID it was worth it, but even I know that's not necessarily the same thing...

Then we had no specific plans. Mom loved New Orleans Square all decorated for Christmas. And we decided to eat at Cafe Orleans! We went up to ask what the wait was, and they got us in, outdoors, immediately. After a minute the waitress came back and gave us all magnetic Princess and the Frog bookmarks. I was so excited!

(Mom had no use for hers, so now I have two. )

Miss D and I weren't very hungry (remember that delicious salad ) plus we are cheap so we split a Monte Cristo. All three of us shared the Pomme Frites...well, Mom and I were pretty much going to split them, but to my SHOCK, Miss D liked them. I think I've told you she is a picky eater? So I couldn't believe she actually liked french fries with garlic and parsley and cheese. Of course, the delicious sauce was alllllll mine (and to a lesser extent, Mom's).

5:02 PM:

Guess who gave me the extra dipping sauce here? (5:03 PM)

I think it's a kind of berry puree? I don't actually care for most berries but it works here.

After a delicious meal, we left the Cafe Orleans. Mom didn't bring a camera but she found it so beautiful she asked to use mine. I'm pretty sure these pictures were hers (6:02 and 6:03 PM).

Mom let me have 1/4 of her Monte Cristo too. Score! Did I tell you that one difference (well, for me at least) between the summer trip and this trip is that the heat makes me less hungry...so the cold made me ravenous! I had to eat a full lunch and dinner BOTH, with snacks! So that was more expensive than the summer trip.

We went into the (now departed) Jewel of Orleans and Mom tried on some wicked expensive diamond earrings. The woman behind the counter was very friendly and personable, though in fairness I think Mom looked like someone who would have some interest in buying something there, despite the lack of funds. (I'm not into jewelry...though I do like history, so some of the stuff was fascinating!) We also went into the shops in New Orleans Square (they had some really cute Sally stuff, like a plushie where her arm was attached by Velcro so it could fall off (!) and perhaps surprisingly, a super-cute Jim Shore figurine).

Then we went on over to Haunted Mansion Holiday (close to walk-on; we were in the queue at 6:20 PM and in the graveyard on the ride at 6:31 PM. Not bad! Then we moseyed on over to Winnie the Pooh (6:37 PM). Looks like we took it easy for a while after that--we did some shopping; I think Mom was trying to find baby clothes? Then we ended up in the hat shop where the extrovert Mom started a conversation with someone with a lovely voice. She asked where they were from and the woman told her to guess, which told me instantly that they weren't British...maybe Australian? Mom guessed British and they said something like, "Everyone guesses that!" Anyway, they were in Disneyland to do a dance performance at the Carnation Gardens, is it? Mom promised she'd be there Friday.

We finally went back I guess to Pirates of the Caribbean at 7:16 PM. Er, this is Pirates, right?

Then to Big Thunder Mountain at 7:43 PM.

My camera's not the best, but the Rivers of America are gorgeous at 7:57 PM in the winter!

We ended up going to Main Street for some baked goods, which was not smart; we should have doubled back to Critter Country. The line was super-long! But I didn't spy any gingerbread in Critter Country and darn it, I wanted some! Didn't spy any gingerbread on Main Street either, though. (8:36 PM when I was close enough to even get a picture of the bakery case)

So I got the only other thing that had "man" in its name, a snowman! (Wouldn't recommend it, by the way.) (8:46 PM)

So we made our way over to Indy. I don't think we had any FPs? But we didn't need them, either. (We were walking straight on through the queue at 8:57 PM--little to no line--and on a car by 9:11--maybe a few minutes earlier...)

When we got into the car, though, one of the seat belts (I think Mom's?) just would not fasten, no matter how many times she put it in the right spot. So they had us get out of the car and opened up the top secret Indy garage, I guess! LOL. They put the car there and put us in a new one...

...and put the broken one away.

Kinda cool!

Hm, I hadn't thought we went to any effort to catch the fireworks show, but maybe we did? (9:27 PM)

So with the parks open until 11, we could have stayed a little longer and had our run of the park, I suppose, but there's something to be said for getting home at a decent hour and getting some rest for the next morning. So I retrieved my littlest travel buddy May from her room on Main Street, and we headed back to Hojo. (9:52 PM)

Write back soon!

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[Eeee-va]

Friday morning, the parks opened at 8 AM. Since it was our only day to do a pseudo-Magic Morning (i.e. do Fantasyland without Magic Morning crowds already occupying it), Miss D and I made sure to get there by opening and play hard! For her part, Mom needed to sleep in.

How can you not love these crowds? (8:03 AM)

Can you guess which ride we did first? (8:05 AM)

Then we went to the Storybookland Canal Boats. They had some really cute Christmas decorations. (8:12 AM)

The day was kind of bright/overcast, though, so my poor camera didn't deal with all the shots very well.

Ariel is great but why does she have a restaurant and a spot in Storybookland, with a ride coming, while Belle gets nothing? SIGH. (8:16 AM) (Well, OK, nothing except a prominent spot in Fantasmic!. Whatever. )

I believe we did Mr. Toad next but I only have an exit sign photo (8:21 AM).

Then the carousel! Reportedly some of the horses come from Coney Island! The one I picked, named Doubloon, was reportedly Lillian Disney's favorite. Of course, I've heard a lot of reports that aren't remotely true, so take that as you will. A very pretty horse though. (8:22 AM)

Crowds were still sparse (8:23 AM).

Then we did the super-bumpy Matterhorn (8:28 AM). I hope the new cars fix that!

Then the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage said a 10 minute wait (8:37 AM) so we went ahead and did it.

Then I'm almost positive we did Space Mountain (9:09 AM).

Then, as we'd already decided we probably wanted to buy our Photopass pictures, we decided to stop by Princess Fantasy Faire (dun dun dun). The CM said it was a 40 minute wait so we went ahead. We were in line no later than 9:33 AM. This is from 9:53 AM, right around the time I started getting bored. (Doesn't this seem just a touch violent for a princess meet and greet?)

We met Princess Jasmine, Belle, and Ariel. Belle was particularly awesome; she asked where we were from and when Miss D said where she was from, Belle said that she and the Beast like to go to the mountain there (which she specifically named) to go hiking in the winter. But she doesn't wear her ballgown there; she wears her village dress. She was wonderful! Jasmine tried and Ariel was a touch indifferent but I hear that's common. Miss D was a little disappointed not to meet her favorite, Aurora. Since I hadn't really wanted to wait in line for 40 minutes I was glad to meet Belle and Ariel though. We were out of there at or before 10:16 AM.

Then we hopped on in to Toontown. Might as well get more Photopass pictures! (10:20 AM)

It was in effect a walk-on (or walk through at your own pace). In the film room, a couple were just hanging out and were told they could go in, but they said they were happy to watch the cartoons, LOL. I wonder if they know about the Main Street Cinema... We were out by 10:27.

Then I had to do Gadget's Go-Coaster, which is mildly fun and is named after one of my favorite Disney characters. To my SHOCK they had painted a lot of formerly blue woodwork a dark RED! I wonder why. (10:29 AM)

(FILE PHOTO FROM 2005:

)

Loaded at 10:32 AM. And STILL wishing they'd put something DARK behind the window in the overhead door. It's bad show to have white space there as if the door leads to nowhere instead of Gadget's fabulous, and compact, living space.

The Go-Coaster had gone down for rehab fairly recently. It was good that the frogs were working again. (10:33 AM)

Random little girl would not get out of the way of my tree shot (not like I asked)...but you can perhaps see a sense of wonder from her posture, plus she gives a sense of scale. Yeah. (10:35 AM)

(I wonder what ever happened to the drooping Toontown tree they used to have though?)

Pretty sure we went into the Five and Dime, looked at merchandise and make your own ears, and pressed a couple dimes (!) into baby Disney characters.

5 minute standby on Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin...why not? (10:43 AM)

And I am out of paper!!!! I'll write again soon.

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[Eeee-va]

We headed back to Main Street and got a super-cute photo with Mary Poppins and Bert. I'm not a huge fan of the film but my friend loves her so I thought a picture would be awesome (and it was--we waited for some people who pushed ahead of us and Mary and Bert rewarded our patience by making a "frame" for us with their umbrella and cane for the photo--too cute! I am officially a fan of Mary in particular. She said something like, "I've noticed that American parents whistle for their children. Do you understand why? In England, people whistle at their dogs...."

Then we sat down for a bit (I think we were hanging out since Mom would be coming at some point) and I saw...cookie decorating!!!!! A CM was just sitting there decorating her own and I went up and asked what kind they had. There was a snowman, a tree, and...could it be? YES! GINGERBREAD!!!! I don't remember; it was maybe $6? But totally worth it! The odd thing was that there weren't many children decorating; it was mostly young adults. Though I guess if you have more than a couple kids, the cost of decoration gets prohibitive. (Though some places do sell unfrosted cookies--I spied some in Whitewater Snacks on Sunday--so if you really wanted a deal you could buy a couple unfrosted and make the kids share the frosting. There is plenty for two cookies.)

(11:22 AM)

Miss D also got a cookie to decorate.

My homely gingerbread woman, in a try so I can box her and take her home with me. Like she's going to make it that long... (11:33 AM)

I gave Miss D some of my red frosting so she could put a trunk on her pretty tree. The candy cane sprinkles tasted like PEPPERMINT! (11:42 AM)

Blurry wait board. Not bad for 11:49 AM!

We did a little shopping and then Mom arrived. I have a picture of a locker receipt so I guess we did that! Then we went to Rancho del Zocalo for lunch. Mom's picture, I believe (12:49 PM):

I got grilled vegetables instead of beans. They were all right, but carrots? Who puts grilled carrots in Mexican food? Who grills carrots to begin with?! (12:56 PM)

You can see a receipt in that picture; they kept giving us 20% off merchandise receipts to be used within a certain time period at certain big stores. I bought the kissing Princess and the Frog plushies due to that coupon, LOL.

It was a little chilly but we were near enough to a heater that it felt nice outside.

We did not forget; we went to the dance performance at the Plaza Gardens, just like Mom promised! (1:35 PM) It was cute and Christmas-y (well, in the "happy holidays" Christmas way, not the "Oh yeah; God became flesh to live a perfect life and someday die for your sins" kind of way). The "cheeky" elves were amusing.

This was the woman Mom had talked to the night before.

Then we hopped on over to DCA (2:22 PM) and I'm almost certain we got Soarin' FPs. Then Mom was tired so we went on over to the Grand Californian lobby.

I like an understated look, don't you? (2:31 PM)

While there, Mom called her relatives back East to see who their kids' favorite Disney character was. She got back answers like "Fievel". That was not going to happen.

So I take weird pictures in bathrooms. Is that a crime? Well, sometimes I guess. But not the ones I take! (2:39 PM)

Well-rested, we then (judging by my photos at least) did the Bakery Tour, the Tortilla Factory tour, and then Blue Sky Cellar.

This looks like an old seaside park, almost even like (gasp) old Coney Island! I know Orlando is getting something that looks more like it's from the movie but I don't think I could possibly be happier with the building we are getting here. (3:47 PM)

Then another forced march back to Aladdin! We got there right around the posted showtime, but crowds were light and (to exhausted Mom's relief) got orchestra floor. We were near the back, but did not have to climb long flights of stairs. (Picture at 4:10 PM)

I think this dress of Jasmine's is super-cute. (4:29 PM)

By the time we got out, it was a touch wet! I reckon I was gratified to be able to use my umbrella as we made our way back to Disneyland.... (5:29 PM)

I'll bet I'm out paper again. I'll write back as soon as I find another sheet!

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[Eeee-va]

We were in a hurry to see the "light show" they advertised at Sleeping Beauty Castle. In fact, we even missed out on doing Soarin' with Mom so we could see this "show". The castle lit up. Whee. Totally not even close to worth it! At least the castle was pretty and I don't THINK Mom missed going on Soarin' too much. I still felt bad, though, as this was her last night in the parks! (5:37 PM)

Mom's camera needed batteries so she stopped at one of the kiosks in Fantasyland. The CM made a quip about not offering automobile services (AAA, get it?). Well, I thought it was cute. (5:53 PM)

Fantasyland decoration near It's a Small World.

Then we went to see Small World Holiday. (in line at 5:56 PM; got on around 6:18 PM)

Wait...we don't dress like that in America!

I'm starting to suspect some of the other countries represented might not be wearing everyday clothes either; hmmmmm...

Then we took the train back to Main Street. We were hoping to see the Christmas parade but it didn't run because of rain; we never managed to see it. (I felt bad because I read here that they try to run the parades no matter what so I'd put it at a low priority, and I was very wrong. )

On to the Disney Gallery--does Jack Sparrow make it better? (7:00 PM)

Any guesses on what that shining "D" art is in the corner?

Mom was asking, and I said I didn't know...a nice CM came by and showed us it was a badge reader to open the nearby door! Pretty slick.

We hopped back on the train (which we'd been wanting to do since our last trip) at 7:18 PM and took it to Tomorrowland. I'd wanted to take the monorail, so we did! (7:47 PM) Unlike in June 2009, when we'd had to wait ages, we got on the first monorail that came in and weren't even crowded at all.

Out at Downtown Disney. I thought it looked so pretty.

Gratuitous LEGO kitty.

We also did something I'd wanted to do since I found out it existed...and this time there were plenty of pirate pieces! Yes, build your own LEGO people! The soldier on the left is Miss D's; the pirates are mine. (Too bad they had no swords. Though I think I have a LEGO sword somewhere...hmmm...)

We ended up getting the most overpriced pizza of my life. I think drinks were like $3.50? So my mom and Miss D spent over $8 for a slice of pizza and a drink. I just got water so I didn't feel quite as gouged. I liked the pizza but thought there should just be more of it. (The waits for the restroom were crazy-long too!) (8:24 PM)

I'm pretty sure I bought some DELICIOUS white peppermint fudge, but I took a picture of cupcakes instead. (8:47 PM)

Hmph; May's Tiana dress is more accurate. The flower needs to be to one side. (9:01 PM)

By the way, they DID run the fireworks that night; we saw them. I get the feeling now is actually when we made our LEGO people, but I'm not sure...

We took the monorail back and arrived in Tomorrowland around 10:18 PM. It was cold and rainy and Mom decided to go to the Tomorrowland station to take the train to Main Street and then ART to the hotel. Miss D and I decided to go ahead on back to the hotel ourselves. I'm sure Space Mountain still had lines, and besides, it's hard to push yourself to do everything when the park is uncrowded, when you've already done it all six months ago and will be coming back in another six months.

Talk to you soon!
Eeee-va

 

[tksbaskets]

GREAT updates. I'm glad you found more paper. Where is Carnation Gardens where you saw the little show? I didn't know that existed. I loved all your pictures.

Hope we get more soon!

 

[Eeee-va]

Dear tksbaskets,

Thank you for reading!

OK, I think it's the Plaza Gardens Stage. If you're facing the castle, it's to the left...not terribly hard to find but not really standing out either.

http://www.visionsfantastic.com/visions/dlr/disneyland/ms/plazagardens.html

(Except I'm not sure they have food anymore.)

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[DisneyMomma81]

What a great report ~ great fotos, May is lovely, I'll have to show her to DD.

 

[OctoberDisney]

Hi Eeee-va!
Great trip report...thanks for sharing. We are going for similar dates in 2010 so I love reading about your trip.
One question...I don't think you mentioned where you did the cookie decorating? My kids will LOVE that so we'll have to look out for it. Do you remember where?
Thanks!!

 

[designhawk]

I'm curious, too. Please let us know!

 

[Littleprincess2010]

Just finished reading through your trip report and I LOVED IT!!! Great detail and your sense of humour made it a really easy read.

Christmas at DL looks absolutely amazing!!

 

[Eeee-va]

Dear DISboards,

I'm SO sorry for never replying! I forgot about my trip report and assumed everyone else had too.

I did not see the cookie decorating in 2011, though, so I don't know if it still around. At the time it was outside the area that is now the Jolly Holiday Bakery!

It has been way too long but I'm going to see what I can do here. Enjoy this historic trip report!

So to be clear, on Saturday, December 12, 2009, Miss D and I started out the day in DCA. This is back when DCA opened later than Disneyland many days, so I am guessing we were tired.

The one memory time kind of washed away was the rain. Yes, it was raining pretty much all day!

Yay! Soarin'! (9:42 AM)

We then went to Toy Story Midway Mania (10:25 AM). I was Player 2! (Sure lost a lot of accuracy, though.)

OK, not sure if we did anything in the Hollywood Backlot area of DCA, or if I just liked this picture.

Then we hopped over to Disneyland and went on Miss D's favorite ride again, Indiana Jones! (11:20 AM)

Then another spin (get it?) on the carousel. You can see the rain. Well, people wearing ponchos, which is close enough. (12:37 PM)

We met up with Mom at some point and ate at the Hungry Bear, just because it was one of the few places we could eat and stay dry. Long lines. (Chicken sandwich, pre-menu change.) It was annoying because there were no tables where it was dry, except two apparently being held by one woman. We tried to sit down and she said they were taken. She was evidently waiting while her family got food. After a minute of awkward standing with our trays, a family who had brought their own food in said they were done (they weren't, but they were close) and gave us their seats. We were just about done eating when the woman's family finally came to sit with her, so she really could have let us sit down for a few minutes.

Anyway. The sandwich was good.

I think that was when Mom had to leave to go home. The trip was too short for her, and she didn't get to see the sun enough, and her fibromyalgia was really acting up during the trip. We did go again in October 2010 and that was OK...and the trip in November 2011 was fantastic!

Anyway. It was rainy. I don't think the boats were running to Tom Sawyer's Island.

I believe this picture means we went through Haunted Mansion Holiday again. (1:44 PM)

Then I ogled the Princess and the Frog merchandise in a cute little shop. (2:03 PM)

Pretty sure we went on Pirates after that.

If I recall correctly, we went to use our Fastpasses for Indiana Jones, but they just had it merged in with the regular line. So the line extended a bit longer than usual. It annoyed me a bit, but it also didn't seem fair to leave a small standby group stranded out in the rain while Fastpass holders got to stay dry! So it was OK. My first picture is from 2:37 PM and we could see the control room by 2:47 PM. Why I wanted a blurry picture of the control room, I'm not sure. Do you have any ideas?

I'm not sure why we had the idea to go to Tomorrowland in the rain, but that is what we did. (3:01 PM)

Space Mountain was actually a 35-minute standby time, but we had FPs (3:17 PM...so you can see all my timestamps were about 4 minutes slow. Argh!)

It was SLIPPERY in that queue! A woman fell down right in front of us but her family was there and saw to her.

We rode it and it was great, of course.

Then we went to a place where few mortals dare to enter...that's right...Innoventions! It was THAT cold and rainy! The CMs seemed excited and pleased...I believe one told us it was warm and dry inside. Probably the busiest days for those CMs. We watched the intro/product placement they did at the start (electronic "musical instruments" you could play without any skill). I doubt the CMs are used to having much of an audience.

We explored the House of Tomorrow. This made me laugh...mid-21st-century sampler? (4:14 PM)

What amused me more than anything was a group of people just hanging out in the "family room" watching WALL-E. I think it kind of hints at the demographic of Disneyland guests...a large proportion of locals and people who visit long enough that spending time doing something you could easily do at home is no big deal. (Actually, I had an annual pass this trip, so I was close to that myself! Probably would've watched a bit myself, but all the seats were taken. )

We even saw ASIMO, which was kind of creepy, kind of cute, kind of cool. And they had character meet-and-greets, so we met Eeyore and Tigger, I believe.

And I think this envelope is full to bursting. I'll send more soon. And I mean it this time.

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[Eeee-va]

Dear DISboards,

I hope this letter finds you well.

Back in the halcyon days of December 2009, I'm pretty sure we actually rode Space Mountain AGAIN after Innoventions...like 5:17 PM. Maybe using Fastpasses. Wow! And then I don't know what...we moved to DCA so I wonder if maybe Soarin'? Don't worry, DISboards. I have made a point of getting clearer photos of things I do for future trip reports.

Then we moseyed on over to A Bug's Land which was DESERTED. (6:15 PM)

We maybe could have ridden anything we wanted (and I don't think it was raining much!) but we were shy to ask because none of the rides were running as no one was in the area except CMs! I need to take more trips with extroverts.

Paradise Pier is always beautiful. Even in 2009 it was beautiful. Even more beautiful in the rain! (6:21 PM)

Subtle hints of Christmas.

This is one of my favorite rides! I'm sure it wasn't running and I'm sure it would not have been pleasant if it was (unless maybe you had a ShamWow for the seat). (6:25 PM)

Yes, we pretty much just took some pictures for a bit.

Toy Story Midway Mania was about as close as it gets to a walk-on. I don't love the ride, but my main regret from this trip was not riding it like 10 times in the span of 90 minutes, because I think we could have come close. (I have a picture from outside the ride at 6:30 PM, and my score from 6:40 PM.)

By 7:07 PM I had my Lucky Fortune Cookery food and Miss D had her Mexican food.

We then toured the tortilla factory. COMPELLING! (7:39 PM)

You know, I wonder if Monsters Inc. was down...I seem to recall trekking over to it at least once, only to find it down.

Fortunately, MuppetVision 3-D is warm and dry. Am I weird for liking the pre-show more than the show? The scrolling words make me laugh. (7:55 PM)

Oh. Well, Monsters Inc. was up at 8:24 PM, at any rate!

We moseyed on back to Disneyland and rode Indiana Jones with little wait (newsreel footage at 8:50 PM).

New Orleans Square! (9:03 PM)

We got in line for Pirates of the Caribbean and were off at or before 9:22 PM.

Went straight to Haunted Mansion Holiday, which I believe was a walk-on.

Then we took Disneyland's time-travel machine, i.e., the train. I recall the seats being wet...ick! (9:39 PM)

Part of me wanted to get off in Tomorrowland and check the wait times for Space Mountain. Another part of me wanted to get to the room and use the hair dryer to dry out my shoes. We chose the latter.

And the next day was departure day! But in 2009, it cost just a few dollars to upgrade from a 4-day parkhopper to a 5-day parkhopper, so we had 5-day hoppers and will be visiting again. I'll write to you soon! But not immediately! I am tired and need to go to bed.

Love,
Eeee-va

 

[Eeee-va]

Dear DISboards,

People who love rides and hate crowds often say that it's great to go to Disneyland in the rain. I myself have fond memories of these cold, rainy days at Disneyland.

Obviously, though, Disneyland in the rain isn't all great. For me, the biggest minus is being cold and much, much worse, having cold, wet feet. My umbrella served my body fine, but not so much my feet. I was wearing water-resistant shoes and I still resorted to putting plastic grocery bags on my feet over my socks.

(OK, DISboards, I didn't want to share that last part since I thought it was at best silly and at worst dangerous, but I read other people did it too...an interesting idea was to put on socks, a grocery bag, and then another pair of socks over the bag! By the way, if you're going to do this, check your bags for holes, as many grocery bags have holes in the bottom. I ended up with one fairly-dry foot and one not-at-all dry foot. Even after changing socks! Also if you are going to do this, don't sue me if your foot falls off or anything.)

Anyway, if it hadn't been for those wet feet I think I could have played in the parks all night.

But I'm not sure I'm remembering how I really felt back then. Now I look back at pictures and ask myself things like, "Why did we go back to the room? It wasn't even 10 PM yet!" Well, obviously, it was cold and my feet were wet and I was tired. But I just remember the fun and see the timestamps and wonder why I didn't push harder!

Still...if I ever see a forecast for 2+ days of real rain in my trip again, I am going to purchase some rain boots and then push through. And ride Toy Story at least 5 times in a row.

Another disadvantage was the shows and parades being canceled (as well as some rides closing, of course). But it's quite unusual for Disneyland to get 2 days of rain in a row, and most (not all) vacations are longer than that. So if you see rain you can USUALLY plan to see the things that will be impacted by rain. (And for goodness' sake, please remember that parades will NOT run in the rain!)

Finally, in December 2009, Disneyland stayed open for the posted hours even if it was raining. I believe it was later that year, or if not, then in 2010, they started closing early in cases of extremely inclement weather. It makes all the sense in the world, of course--why should they be running fully- or mostly-staffed when there are just a few thousand guests in the parks? But it reduces the rainy-day advantage, especially if you're warm and have rain boots and really could close down the park if they'd let you.

All that said, DISboards, I know you usually have your vacations planned out and the best you can do is hope it won't rain. Some people fear that rain will ruin their vacation, and with small children I can see where it may not be fun. But I just like to remember that rain changes things at Disneyland but it's not the end of the world. And when it goes away it usually leaves reduced crowds and beautiful scenery for pictures!

Love,
Eeee-va

P.S. - If you have to use a hotel hair dryer to dry out your shoes, be sure to leave plenty of air space between the nozzle and your shoe. Otherwise your hair dryer will overheat and short out and leave you hoping and praying it starts up again.

P.P.S. - Not that that happened to me.

P.P.P.S. - Hojo, the hairdryer started up again just fine. We're cool.

 

[tksbaskets]

Welcome back! It was a nice surprise to get the email that your thread was active again. It does look the the rain really cut down on the crowd. Very nice since otherwise walking around in soggy sneakers isn't such a great thing

Thanks for posting.