It's my Birthday & I Celebrated! Lots of photos, food and fun! Updated 9/23

[smile4stamps]

After our leisurely breakfast at Surf's Up we meandered out of the PPH and through the GCH one last time to reach Downtown Disney. Kim needed to do some souvenir shopping so we were heading to the World of Disney!

We spent quite a bit of time in this store. Kim was looking for souvenirs for her neice and nephews and she also wanted to buy me a birthday present. I however did not want her spending money on me so I was reluctant in picking something out. I eventually relented and let her get me a Disneyland T-shirt

Once we had decided on the purchases we meandered around Downtown Disney some more. We stopped at the Pin Trading store and Kim got a Tinkerbell Pin and I think one with the Fab Five and the year. (She had purchased me a Birthday one earlier in the trip which I believe I forgot to mention!) We then just pretty much window shopped till we decided we had had enough and decided we should go check out Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel and relax!


In order to get to Trader Sams one must navigate some pretty interesting construction walls! Including those made to go around trees!

When we got to Trader Sams the outside seating area looked very inviting so we snatched a spot!

We obtained a menu in order to get a relaxing drink and a snack. We decided on the Panko covered Long Beans and Kim got the Piranha Pool drink and I got a Mojito (Mosquito Mojito maybe?!?)

Our drinks took a really long time to come out. The server kept apologizing... Our server was actually very strange. She had lots of excuses for everything and she appeared as if she was strung out or something...

Our food arrived before our drinks!

The Panko covered long beans were good. But in my opinion the panko far out did the long beans when you tasted them.

Finally our drinks arrived.

Kims drink was much better than mine!! Mine had a weird tang taste to it that was different from the other mojito I had on my first trip to DL in October. I didn't like this one too much.

Our server attempted to take our picture!!

The way to end a Disney Vacation!!

Some random photos of Trader Sams

After sitting there awhile we decided it was time to eat again. Kim would be on her way to a long flight soon and we figured this would be better than airport food!

This time I went to the Tangaroa Terrace to order some food.

Kim got the burger

And I got the Fish & Chips

Both were good. Although the fish was not all that filling.

Soon it was time to meander our way back to the PPH. Kim had to be leaving in about an hour.

We went to the gift shop to browse around until it was time for Kim to leave. We figured we had about 30 minutes until the shuttle was supposed to come pick her up. It was lucky for us though that we had headed back early as we had no sooner gotten there that my phone started ringing. It was the shuttle company saying her shuttle was there...

We went to get the bags from baggage check as I would be getting a Taxi to the Doubletree for the rest of my stay. Her bags were loaded into the shuttle and we said our goodbye's. I pretty much burst into tears! It had been such a great week and I was really sad to see her go!

However there was no delaying her departure and off she went. I had the bellhop call me a taxi. I had quite a few bags as I still had a lot of the food I had delivered with me so for some reason the bellhop called for a Taxi Van... a little overkill if you ask me as most of my bags were quite small! Anyways after waiting awhile for the larger Taxi I was finally on my way to the Doubletree. Of course I had looked up online the route the Taxi should take so as to not cost me too much money. He didn't agree though and took all city streets. I guess in the end the cost wasn't too much different and I did tip him well as he had had to lift my very heavy bags!

Check-in to the Doubletree was no hassle at all. I was given a King Room on the 17th floor. Which I guess is an upgrade as I had to use my key card in the elevator to access it. With this "upgrade" came a refrigerator in the room and a robe to use.

I used the robe to head down to the hot tub to relax for a little while. I tried the pool but it was absolutely freezing!!

Soon I had headed back up to my room. I found I could access the Wifi from the hotel across the street and I hung out in the chat thread for a little while before deciding to call it an early night and head to bed.

 

[DizNee Luver]

You & Kim looked like you had a wonderful time together......I would have been like you....all teary to see her go (and then to have to leave the pier!!).

I'm looking forward to trying out Tangaroa & Trader Sams.....the long beans looked good, as did the burger but the fish (and I"m a huge fan of fish-n-chips) didn't look so good.

I'm sorry you're having to stay at the budget motels in a couple weeks.....you were supposed to be at the pier with our family.......heavy sigh!!! Please think of me often on that trip, as I should have been there with you!!! Take lots of pics & eat a chocolate bar from trick or treating for me!!!!

 

[kaoden39]

I always spot when someone is strung out. Mine is because I used to work at a bowling alley and you see it all in there. I am sure that with your profession you do.


I was sad for you when you had to split up. Sounds like you got a nice room at the Double Tree.

 

[smile4stamps]

You & Kim looked like you had a wonderful time together......I would have been like you....all teary to see her go (and then to have to leave the pier!!).

I'm looking forward to trying out Tangaroa & Trader Sams.....the long beans looked good, as did the burger but the fish (and I"m a huge fan of fish-n-chips) didn't look so good.

I'm sorry you're having to stay at the budget motels in a couple weeks.....you were supposed to be at the pier with our family.......heavy sigh!!! Please think of me often on that trip, as I should have been there with you!!! Take lots of pics & eat a chocolate bar from trick or treating for me!!!!

We had a GREAT time! I'm hoping we can do it again sometime!

I actually have not much interest in returning to either Trader Sams or Tangaroa Terrace! I never made it to the UVA bar so I think next week I will try there instead of Trader Sam's

I'm okay with the budget hotel. Its a place to stay and it lets me go to DL so it's all good! I'm sure I'll be eating plenty of chocolate so I will be sure to have one in your honor!

I always spot when someone is strung out. Mine is because I used to work at a bowling alley and you see it all in there. I am sure that with your profession you do.


I was sad for you when you had to split up. Sounds like you got a nice room at the Double Tree.

I usually only see people who have had a bit much pain meds. Very rarely do I see anyone on street drugs.

I actually did not like the Double Tree at all. I am not sure if I took any pictures or not. It reminded me of a dorm room. Rust colored metal door. Ceiling tiles... the only nice thing was having a refrigerator as I have heard the standard rooms do not.

 

[smile4stamps]

June 12 arrived with having acheived very little sleep despite going to bed early. DoubleTree is supposed to have good beds but it was not so for me. I'm not sure if it was because I was spoiled by the PPH beds or this bed was just hard!

I finally got up and got ready and headed down to the lobby to figure out the shuttle thing to get to DL!

The first shuttle was to depart at 7:30am for an 8:00am regular opening time. Normally I would be at the gates waiting by 7:30am but the shuttle was free so I would take what I could get!

It was a Sunday so there was a Magic Morning. This meant there were lots of people in the park already so I would NOT be heading to Fantasy Land!

Instead I headed to Fronteirland and a trip on the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!!

After my ride on the BTMRR I continued gathering photos.

I'm glad my train didn't take this track!!

I love Morning photos around the Rivers of America. It's usually not too crowded!

 

[smile4stamps]

I continued with some more pictures from the Rivers of America and Fronteirland!

The Golden Horseshoe was covered in a tarp...

I soon found my way in the hub...

And getting some pictures!

And then some pics as I walked to find my next destination.

Nope! That was not my destination.

This was! Do you know where this is?!?!

This might give a better clue!

 

[smile4stamps]

Okay... so did you figure out where I was?!?!

The Matterhorn!!

The ride was going to be closed the rest of the week so I wanted to make sure I was able to get at least one more ride in!

And I did! But you won't see any on-ride photos of this one! I wanted to keep my camera intact!!

Some more pics as I walked to my next destination.

And then there it was....

You may have remembered Kim and I were in Toontown on one of our first days and we had great intentions of getting back there again. However it never happened so I wanted to get back there again and at least get some photos I could share with Kim!

So... here they are!! LOTS of PHOTOS!

Mickey!!!

I didn't go through Mickey's House at this time as I knew I would be back again!

Soon it was time for Minnie's House!

And of course Minnie!!

It took me multiple tried to get this photo!!!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

I just read through the entire report!! We just booked GCV (Jan 31) and we know NOTHING about Disneyland.... only about WDW. So I thought I'd get some insight through trip reports!! Yours has been great and I can't wait to read more!!! Very helpful!!

 

[smile4stamps]

When I exited Minnie's house I realized I didn't get any pics of Mickey's mailbox!!

There wasn't a line for Gadget's Go Coaster so I was all for it!!
(I think it said 40 minutes but that was very wrong!)

Soon I found myself getting some Pluto love!

Goofy's house!! How do I know?!?!
His hat is on the top!!

As I was about to head out of Toontown I rec'd a phone call from Monica... another new DIVA wanabee! She was in the park and we were going to spend some time hanging out together!

First up we headed to Pirates!

For the first time I rode it without taking pictures!!

And then it was time for a trip through the Haunted Mansion!


Once we had survived our trip we headed back out to NOS where we found the Jambalaya Jazz band out. And I got serenaded for my Birthday!!

And these 2 started dancing!!

We then did some more rides (and shockingly... more with no pictures!!)

First up we rode the Jungle Cruise as it didn't have a line...

Then we decided we would head over to DCA! Toy Story Mania is one of my favorite rides and one not as fun solo so we headed to it! The posted wait time was about 40 minutes so Monica got in line and I went to grab a Popcorn!

My popcorn I inhaled way too fast though!!

Finally it was our turn!!

I don't remember who had which score though!!

Not sure if we did anything else in DCA or not! We soon found ourselves back in DL and I had said I needed to find Donald! I have not gotten his Autograph on any of my trips!

Monica said we just passed him!! D'oh! I did say I sometimes have blinders on right?!!?

So we got in line for Donald Duck!!

While in line I couldn't find my autograph book pen! so our next stop was the Emporium! I needed a pen! While there I was also looking at the Pins. I was still undecided on if I wanted to start Pin Trading!

I think I settled on a Pin and got my Pen. At the checkout the CM asked if I wanted to purchase the Pin starter kit that was a bonus buy... Um.. my purchase wasn't enough! She said she would let me get it anyways!

So there you have it! I was now into Pin trading!!

Monica and I were then off to do something else I had never done. Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln!

The theatre opened shortly after we entered the building. Unfortunatly I had been trying to get my pins on the Lanyard and seemed to have lost a Mickey Pin Back!!

I was distracted during the show as I was trying to find my Pin backs!! The show ended and we tried to find them but they were not to be found!

However we were hungry so I put the pins away and we headed to get some food!

 

[smile4stamps]

Since we were both hungry and neither of us had yet tried it we found our way to the Village Haus!

We both ordered the BLT Flatbread Pizza and I got a side of fries!

I also got some pics of the restaurant.

At this point the park was pretty busy so we did the natural thing!

We got on the Railroad!!

And headed around to the New Orleans Square Station.

Monica wanted to get a Mint Julep...

And then we were off to another new thing for me!

The Billy Hills!!

We were very lucky to get a seat as the balcony was closed!

Even though we had just eaten I wanted to torment my stomach and get a Sundae!!

Soon it was time for the show to start!

Bye Billy Hills!

From there we headed to the MESS called tomorrowland! It was SO CROWDED!!

Inbetween all this we had been doing some pin trading and I was learning that 2 things were NOT working for me! The first. A Lanyard! Things around my neck drive me nuts! The second was the Mickey Pin Backs! They kept falling off!! I ended up buying some locking Pin Backs and a thing I could put my pins on and clip to my waist pack!

That worked much better for me and I was set to go for the rest of the week!

At some point we found ourselves back on the train.

Some of the views!

After the train ride we said our goodbye's and I headed back to DCA.

 

[smile4stamps]

After we said our Goodbye's I headed to DCA.

One of the advantages to being solo is doing California Screamin through the Single Rider Line!

Some pics along the way to get there though!!

No idea how many times I rode CS! I'm thinking maybe only once!

After that I headed to Downtown Disney... I had a mission!! I needed to find some Vinylmations for Jessica! (Belle Ella!)

I looked that the World of Disney but didn't see them there. So I headed to another store... I'm blanking on the name!! They had them but they didn't have the pin starter kits and I had already gone though mine so I was hoping to get some more pins to trade at a discount.

So I headed back into DCA to Off the Page. They had all 3 she was looking for! and the pin sets!

I wanted to make sure they were the right ones though so I sent a pic to Jess on Facebook.

Unfortunately the cell signal wasn't so good in that area of the park so it took awhile for me to get the message that they were the right ones.

I was TIRED by this point so was going to call it a night. I had to go back to DL though as I had to get the stuff out of my locker. There I sat down as it wasn't near a shuttle time and the fireworks started going off.

I caught some interesting views of them in some windows!!

Now it was finally close to time for a shuttle to the hotel so I headed out to the bus stops. I'm thankful I headed out a little early though as the shuttle was a little early.

I was soon back at the hotel and on my way to get some Zzzzz!

 

[smile4stamps]

I just read through the entire report!! We just booked GCV (Jan 31) and we know NOTHING about Disneyland.... only about WDW. So I thought I'd get some insight through trip reports!! Yours has been great and I can't wait to read more!!! Very helpful!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

I'm glad you are enjoying the report! If you hvce any questions about DL feel free to ask!

My first visit there was just last October!

I see you are soon to be married!! Congrats!! And going to the Food & Wine Festival!! I am so envious! I want to go!!

 

[kaoden39]

I love the reflection of the fireworks in the windows. That is a really cool angle on them.

 

[Belle Ella]

You were on a roll today Paula!! Way to go

And thank you again for picking up the VM's for me!! Yippee!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I loved the update Paula!!

 

[smile4stamps]

I love the reflection of the fireworks in the windows. That is a really cool angle on them.

It looked cooler in person than it showed in the pictures but I thought it was a neat perspective.

You were on a roll today Paula!! Way to go

And thank you again for picking up the VM's for me!! Yippee!

I had the time so figured I would go for it!! I can't believe I covered a whole day on Wednesday though... I wish I could do it again but its doubtful! Just 6 days till my next trip to DL and I have virtually no planning done for that trip!!

 

[smile4stamps]

June 13th was a Monday. I got up after a very unrestful night. The pillow on the bed said "Sweet Dreams" but it wasn't so for me!

I again got ready to catch the early shuttle to DL. Well as early as I could! For someone who loves to be there early getting to the parks just a few minutes before the official opening time is very nerve wracking!

Once there I only had to wait a few minutes before entering the park. Seeing as it was not a magic morning I just had to find the shortest line and hope for the best! Since it was not a Magic Morning that also meant only one thing!

Fantasyland!!

And of course the first stop was Peter Pan!!

It was at this point that I was already missing Fantasyland during Magic Mornings! Instead of walking onto Peter Pan I only had a few minute wait but it was still a few minutes longer than the couple times last week!

Some pics while I waited...

And an attempt at pics while ON Peter Pan!

Okay so that was it for the pics!! Very difficult to get any!!!

As I walked to my next attraction I took a few pics along the path!

As you can see the crowds were a bit more than the previous week!

Yes. The destination was Alice in Wonderland.

I figured I better ride this today as the next day I couldn't celebrate my unbirthday!

 

[kaoden39]

I always feel like it takes forever to get to the parks. Thank you for the Peter Pan and Alice pictures. Two of my favorite rides.

 

[tksbaskets]

We've never been on the Alice in Wonderland ride. It was fun to see your pictures of the ride.

I love Peter Pan!

 

[smile4stamps]

I always feel like it takes forever to get to the parks. Thank you for the Peter Pan and Alice pictures. Two of my favorite rides.

I love them as well!

We've never been on the Alice in Wonderland ride. It was fun to see your pictures of the ride.

I love Peter Pan!

Oh... You MUST ride it!! I think it is a wonderful FL ride!