"I Think I Might Be a Disneyland Person!" - Feb. 2016 ~ Updated 2/19/21: TR Complete!!!

[shairpdrh]

Pro tip: If you're going to lean down to talk to your kid at the same time they randomly decide to jump in the air, be sure to wait until your last Disney day.
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Yep, that's my eye right now.

Anyway, got home late last night and glad to have this "recovery day" today. My step-mom just brought Bailey home and I'll unpack, grocery shop, etc. My to-do list also includes making trip notes before I forget everything (since I'm back logged on writing my reports). We had a great time!!

Ouch! I feel like getting injured by a kid skull is the must unexpectedly consistent part of parenting. Their little heads are so hard. Hope it heals quickly.

 

[DLo]

Yikes. I hope it didn't hurt too bad and heals quickly

 

[afwdwfan]

Little known fact: Canada F&W booth will give your kid free pretzel bread upon request!!

So did you rent Izzy out to other people so they could go get some free pretzel bread?

Pro tip: If you're going to lean down to talk to your kid at the same time they randomly decide to jump in the air, be sure to wait until your last Disney day.

Ouch... that stinks. Sorry it happened. Welcome home!

 

[Leshaface]

Oh my goodness I can't believe she went on EE (TWICE!) and Space!

I have two kids. Double the bread?!?...for them of course

Ick your eye. I had to scroll quick. I'm strange, I have an eye phobia But I hope you healed quickly!

 

[amazingact21]

Oh wow! That looks like it hurt. Hope it's healing up well and glad to hear you had a great trip!

 

[Dugette]

Hi, guys! Figured I'd just post and say hello! I will get back here and updating soon (I hope!) It's been super busy at work lately and life hasn't been cooperating much in giving me more than a few minutes of DIS time here and there. But, I did just spend a couple decent chunks of time I did get catching up on reports I'm following, so I can hopefully get this one back on track again soon. After all, I still have this, December WDW, Feb Wonder/WDW, and now Oct WDW to cover!! At least I have notes on all of them EXCEPT for the WDW part of Feb...so, that should be some interesting ad-libbing, haha.

We had a great time in October, by the way. We even did crazy things like changing our plans entirely (like which park, etc.) on a whim and grabbing good FP+ at the last minute and having a great time. It was a little more relaxed than our normal, by design. Though we were still wiped out. But had a bit more balance. Really, really liked having a car and will probably always rent one from now on, unless Disney transportation improves. But, don't worry, we still managed to scramble to get on our flights home, even without scrambling to get on a Magical Express on time. And you can hear more about all of that in like...2020? Whenever I catch up enough to get to this TR. But there's your preview!

 

[Tracy161]

so, that should be some interesting ad-libbing, haha.

We had a great time in October, by the way.

Yay! So glad to hear it. The few pictures you posted sure looked like you guys were having a great time

And you can hear more about all of that in like...2020?

Looking forward to it

 

[Jackiemarie21]

We just did a cars movie night and now I really want to get out to Cars Land. Cece is super into the red car movie!

Love the 1985 TR! Super cute. When we were kids we took two trips to WDW. I was 8 and 10. My dad always made us keep trip journals of our experiences along with mileage reports and navigation notes. I would love to come across those someday!!

Looking forward to hearing about all your upcoming trip!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I came to the realization / it was pointed out to me that I have been lax in reading this Trip Report ... so I am attempting to get caught up

soooooo back to your meal at Cafe Orleans

We never made it there but it looks really good - but consistent with other reports I saw the portions are very large and the Monte Cristo sandwhiches are very filling ... but definitely hard to pass up Mickey Beignets! (we did get some of those from the quick service window - some regular and some pumpkin flavored)

Glad you got on Indy - it really is a great ride ... we definitely had some bored kids waiting for the parents to ride though as well. Crazy to know the ride track is the exact same as Dinosaur, but it feels so different with how open some of the rooms are (and also one reason there periodically are rumors that Dinosaur will be changed over to Indy)

That is pretty cool you got that "sold out" ticket for Star Tours - maybe just as they don't have the paper FP at WDW anymore but that seems so exotic and like a collectors item or something

Funny how we can measure the development of our kids by hitting milestones to be able to ride certain rides at Disney ... the other day Judi informed me that Peter just hit "Space Mountain" height

I always love how you do the "alternating solo nights" - I think that makes a lot of sense and just lets each of you have some solo time and hit up things that maybe you are more interested in than the rest of the family ... seems like Dug got a lot done!

I seriously cannot tell you how much I loved being SOOOO close. I’m sad that Disney is probably going to be making that walk longer in the future. It was so incredibly convenient to stroll out of the park and be at our off-site hotel in a few minutes without having to fold a stroller or wait in a line for transportation.

I know you posted this a while ago and perhaps this has since been addressed but I assume you saw the revised plans that Disney is doing and the Eastern Gate project is dead, so no impact to that side and thus the short walk will remain!

Wow, that really is an empty character breakfast - is it just because you were on the early side (in general I found that the CA crowd was not the early risers that the WDW crowd can be) or is it just always empty? Looks like fun - especially the Chip meetings

That is cool you could use use the special entrance into DCA - though definitely would have been nice to know before you needed the physical receipt (guess it makes sense, in hindsight, that someone else could have just sent you the photo of their receipt).

Good to hear you liked Mater's ride ... since that ride is coming to Toy Story Land at DCA, just re-themed to Alien Swirling Saucers (which is one ride you don't want to abbreviate in a trip report! )

We really liked A Bug's Land (it felt to me like there were less rides at DCA that the entire family could do together and more rides that were either aimed at young ones or had a height restriction) - a little worried about the rumors of Bug's Land closing to make way for the expanded Marvel Land

 

[TheMaxRebo]

(catching up part II recall when we ate at Ariel's Grotto the line was on the stairs as well - I think maybe the had a few groups on the floor (like, the next couple of groups to meet Ariel) but the rest were on the stairs after being called from the waiting area. I know when we went Judi had taken the kdis to get changed into their Little Mermaid otufits so I think that helped as she was off doing that while I waited on the stairs alone

at least in the end you got a nice photo out of it!

I agree - the kids meals were really cute there and nice that there were just a little different but still kid staple foods so I think most kids would eat something there

We really liked that character meal overall - good Princess interaction and we thought the food was really good .... sort of bummed that it is going away during the Pixar Pier redo

Good idea about Dug talking - that would be great! And I know they have been testing out more talking characters at Disneyland (Minnie and Donald joining Mickey) so maybe it is something they could do in the future!

Well, glad things (mostly) worked out in the end and you got on RSR and back in time to drink, er, eat The ride really is great - I think the outside part is very similar to Test Track but the inside part is so different with the characters that it does feel like an entirely different ride (same ride system technology of course)

Drinks, er, food looks really good! Looks like quite a number of options too. Definitely makes sense to do that vs a meal at Napa Rose with a toddler - though looks like might be a nice option for "date night" as well

Cars Land at night really is amazing looking ... and we loved the Cars meets - and I think the part when they change out cars is some of the best part ... I know Mater says a bunch of funny things when he is coming into position

Sounds like some great solo time at Disneyland (despite the very convoluted solo ride path for Indy) - and wow, two solo boat rides!!!! (even if you got some eyerolling from CMs)

Sorry about the tantrum and I am sure you were just on edge worrying about keeping other people awake as well ... as hard as it is to change plans to eliminate some Disney time, I am sure it was the right call!

******

Wow, how cool you found that journal! And your handwriting is pretty darn good! (and memories of back when it was called Epcot Center )

Sorry to hear about the black eye - hope it healed quickly!

And glad to see you had a great trip to WDW!

 

[cindianne320]

Finally getting caught up on reading. Like you, it's been a very crazy fall!

LOVED reading your first trip report! I teach 2nd grade and your writing was very good- and made me remember my own first trip in '89.

Glad you had a great trip in October! Can't wait to read all about it. But OUCH- your poor eye!

 

[Dugette]

Hi, guys! I'm sorry I've been such a terrible trip reporter lately! No time, no energy, 2017 is generally not my favorite year, etc. BUT, I am working on this tonight!! If only all weekends were 4-day weekends I might actually get this done! Putting part 1 up right now and will see how much more I can get done tonight. I'll come back to reply to comments another time. Thanks for sticking with me!

Exploring Toontown – Part 1

Despite the awful night, we all did manage to get some sleep after the 2am hour and were actually all up and ready to go around 9am. I guess Izzy was getting impatient to head out :



Despite her awful night, she was in a much better mood and didn’t seem to remember any of the drama of the night before. We didn’t bring it up either.

She wanted to wear a full array of bows, as you can see. She also wore her adorable Star Wars dress – thanks to @Imagineer5! She got tons of compliments on it throughout the day.

My notes say that we then, “Headed over to the free breakfast, secured a table, and had some very mediocre food”. Here’s what the breakfast area looked like:



On the right is the drink dispenser area. That was really nice for stocking up on water, milk, and coffee (we may have filled a couple thermoses and water bottles…). This food looks decent, but it wasn’t very good at all. Edible, though, so we ate:



By the way, that was my creation out of what they had available – they did not actually have breakfast sandwiches, but that combo made it more palatable to me.

Here’s Izzy’s collection of carbs (and weird egg patty):



We made it out to the crosswalk about 9:40am:



The walk was pleasant:





There were some lines to enter Disneyland, though:



We ended up getting inside at 9:56am, which made it hard to get to Toontown by 10am, as planned. Oh, well. We’re in Disneyland :





As we walked past the Teacups, we noted that Alice and the Mad Hatter were out greeting guests:



We didn’t stop, but don’t worry, we’ll be meeting them later this trip…

We passed It’s a Small World:



And made it to Toontown at 10:09am:



Where we promptly saw this sign that told us we’d missed an entire hour more than we’d thought :



We went in anyway, hoping the lines wouldn’t be too crazy yet. It didn’t appear to be particularly crowded, so that was good.

Once inside, Izzy made a beeline for the (stationary) Jolly Trolley:



And, as I was attempting to get a selfie, guess who came to visit her?! Mickey's favorite pup Pluto made a surprise stop (and, ironically, he wasn't the one on a leash in this pic ):







I also have some video:

As you can see, she was too slow and too shy to actually hug him. She was fine with that, though.

Next up, she wanted to go sit in Goofy’s car:



Oops, crashed into that mailbox! Izzy got a kick out of that and we both enjoyed some good giggling at Goofy’s expense. And, speaking of mailboxes:



Our next stop was Mickey’s House:







As you can see, we walked right into his house. We got here just in a nick of time, though, as the line got much longer while we waited to see Mickey (we did have some wait, but not bad). There was so much fun eye candy in Mickey’s house:























Continued in next post...

 

[Dugette]

Exploring Toontown – Part 2

More fun stuff to look at as we made our way through Mickey’s house:





Trying the doggie bed out :









I love all the little details! So fun! Almost there:





More things to admire:

























I’m so confused about this one still – Izzy sat on the seat of this camera behind me:



And a CM asked her to get off? I still am wondering if he was kidding (poorly) or if she managed to find the one thing that wasn’t meant for kids to climb on in Mickey’s house?

Shortly after that, though, it was time to meet the Big Cheese on his movie set:





And the Photopass pictures:







Izzy had been singing M-I-C-K-E-Y a lot, so I thought she’d want to demonstrate to Mickey, but I was wrong. And Mickey seemed very interested in just posing for a picture. We were the last family in the group, so he was probably ready for his cheese break.

Here’s the video:

And then we left through his garage:









Then it was time to go next door to Minnie’s house!

Up next: Minnie, of course!

 

[cindianne320]

Oh bummer that you missed the opening of ToonTown, but glad you got to meet Mickey with not much wait! Love Izzy's dress! <3 And this post really made me miss WDW's version.

 

[Dugette]

Visiting Minnie in the Garden

Next up was Minnie’s lovely house :









You may notice a line coming out of her door:



Unfortunately, we had to wait quite a while in the outdoor line with the hot sun beating down on us. I used some of that time to coat Izzy (and myself) in sunscreen. We waited it out, though, as she had to meet her favorite Minnie!

When we finally made it into her house, we enjoyed looking around and Izzy loved all the interactive elements:









A quick video clip of that:

We spied Minnie out in her garden:





And soon it was our turn:









And the video, full of nose-booping fun:

After the cute meet, it was really hard to drag Izzy out of the way of the next guest because she was fascinated by the tea party setup out there. But, if there’s anything to get her moving, it’s the promise of a roller coaster – so, that was next!

I believe that Dug had stopped by Gadget's Go Coaster earlier and grabbed us Fast Passes, so we didn’t have to wait too long. It’s a 35” height requirement and I noticed that the family in front of us had two kids and one appeared to be too short. I was right – they didn’t realize the requirement and the dad and short kid stepped out while the mom rode with the other kid. Here’s the ride:



On board:





I’ve got video of us riding this short coaster and this shows you what a future thrill ride junkie looks like at 3.5 years old:

This same kid, now at 5, LOVED Space Mountain and Everest and Flight of Passage at WDW! Looking back at the pics and video from this report, I can’t believe how LITTLE she is – it was only last year, but she’s so much more a “big kid” now.

After that, of course it was time to sit in another car:







Up next: Checking out the other character homes in Toontown!

 

[Dugette]

Visiting all the Toon Houses

Next, it was time to explore Chip and Dale’s Tree House:



I went in to check it out with Izzy:



Dug watched from outside:



I watched Dug from the inside :



He watched me watch him from a window :



Once I’d gone through with Izzy, I felt comfortable letting her go through repeatedly on her own. You just climb up and down stairs and there’s only one way out:



She loved going up and down over and over on her own! Sweet toddler freedom!

Random picture of Mickey and Minnie’s houses and fountain:



And this random picture is the outside of Goofy’s house, which we’ll get to shortly:



But, next up, Donald’s Boat:







While in the boat, we tried to re-create a photo of us from 10 years prior:



Hard to see, but this waterfall is behind us:



Because I am exceptionally lazy, I couldn’t be bothered to get off the couch or search our photo archives to show you the original, but I did zoom WAY in with my phone to show you our 2006 photo in that spot (middle picture):



You can totally tell it’s the same spot, right?

Looks like we got out of there and made it over to Goofy’s house:



Oooh, it’s the Toontown sign:



And there’s that hilarious car accident again:



Goofy’s garden:



Izzy enjoyed the play area outside:



Then we explored inside:







Then back out again:





As you might imagine, it was hard to get her out of there, as she always had “just one more thing” she needed to do. Luckily, there was a fire truck to go sit in, so we got her to move on to that:





Then went over here:





Dug helped her set off the dynamite:

We got to ride Roger Rabbit next. I think we had grabbed Fast Pass for this earlier too (maybe Dug did that while Izzy and I rode Gadget's Go Coaster?):





It was fun, but very spinny!

After that, Izzy tried to lift this barbell:



And we played with some post office boxes (they talked!):



Up next: A bit more Toontown and snack time!

 

[Dugette]

Cheering Eeyore and Tiny Towns

Izzy found yet another car to sit in:







We also saw these gas/fish tanks :



And then we stopped for a snack. Dug and I got a bottle of Diet Coke to drink and I saw they had giant pickles there, which sounded really refreshing on this hot day. Izzy had never tried one before, but she was willing to try and it turned out she liked it! We all shared the tasty pickle. Here you can see the intense concentration I was using to keep her from dropping the whole thing on the ground :



As we snacked, Pluto walked by our table (to go offstage, I think):





Good day for random Pluto encounters!

After we finished our snack, we headed out of Toontown and ran across Eeyore doing a meet and greet with NO line! Poor Eeyore, nobody wanted to see him! We HAD to cheer him up:











Dug wanted to give him a hug too:



Bye, Eeyore!



And the video as well:

Our next to-do item was the Storybookland Canal Boats. The line was starting to form, but it wasn’t too bad yet:



Still smiling:



Almost there:



Our boat awaits:



It was maybe a 10 minute wait and we were on by 12:40pm.

We boarded and started towards our terrifying journey :



I feel like there should be a Pirates-like drop when you go into the mouth.

Go ahead and admire some of the small-scale villages:









Casey Junior chugged on by us:





And there’s that train again:









We all enjoyed our cruise. Then it was time to ride the monorail to Downtown Disney so that we could take our midday break at Trader Sam’s:



Views as we walked up to the platform:









Up next: Well, this isn’t going as planned.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am falling behind on my trip report as well. The holidays are killing all of my "spare" time!. So, I totally understand.

Wow, I didn't realize Minnie liked cheese so much!

I can’t believe how LITTLE she is – it was only last year, but she’s so much more a “big kid” now.

I hate to tell you this, but it doesn't stop. Sigh.

So, cute. It seems like they could theme toontown and put it Hollywood Studios in Florida.

While in the boat, we tried to re-create a photo of us from 10 years prior:

Cute! Some of my favorite photos are the ones in the same place to compare.

 

[cindianne320]

I didn't realize that there was so much to do in Toon Town! I'm glad you had a good morning there, though it looks like it was getting pretty busy! I'm sorry your afternoon didn't go as planned...

 

[MeghanEmily]

She wanted to wear a full array of bows, as you can see. She also wore her adorable Star Wars dress – thanks to @Imagineer5! She got tons of compliments on it throughout the day.

What a cutie! I love the look!

Mickey's favorite pup Pluto made a surprise stop (and, ironically, he wasn't the one on a leash in this pic ):

Bahaha

Exploring Toontown

I love this! I'm all for New Fantasyland at WDW, but it's too bad we don't have anything like this left at WDW anymore.

So sweet! She's precious and Mickey is looking incredibly dapper!

Noses are very interesting, apparently!

This same kid, now at 5, LOVED Space Mountain and Everest and Flight of Passage at WDW!

Yay! Go Izzy! She's a brave one!

After that, Izzy tried to lift this barbell:

She was soo cute at this age!

I saw they had giant pickles there, which sounded really refreshing on this hot day. Izzy had never tried one before, but she was willing to try and it turned out she liked it! We all shared the tasty pickle.

Again, very brave! I never would have tried something like a giant pickle at her age.

Up next: Well, this isn’t going as planned.

Uh oh...