Just Back! In Parks 7/5-7/9 - TRIP REPORT

[Mugglemama]

I'll get some pics up later when I figure out how to post them here. For now, I'll cover the first 2 days of our trip...

This trip was a gift from me to my mother-in-law, father-in-law, and the 2 granddaughters that they are raising (ages 8 & 9). The in-laws had not been to Disneyland in 30+ years, and the 2 little girls had never been. MIL is not in greatest health, and I really wanted her to get to go to DL with all of her grandkids at least once. My oldest daughter flew in after finishing her 1st year of college, and joined us. So, in total, we were a group of 10...DFIL(62), DMIL(62) DN1(8), DN2(9), DH(42), ME(37), DD1(18), DS1(12), DD2(9), DS2(5).

We have never gone with other people before, so this was our first time trying to accommodate others at DL. Since I planned this trip FOR the in-laws, we had new things to learn, such as how to deal with a wheelchair in the parks, etc. Also, I had to keep track of 2 extra little kids, which kept me from being able to enjoy walking through the parks like I usually do, but this trip was not about me, so I kept reminding myself of that.

Our trip down was safe. We live 10.5 hours from the parks using the route that we take (we live 45 minutes East of Sacramento). We stopped in Ventura to visit my Dad at the cemetery (my first visit to his gravesite since the funeral, VERY tough! ) I brought him pink roses and a Snoopy balloon (he loved Snoopy). We also had a meal at one of his very favorite restaurants, Andrias Seafood at Ventura Harbor. They have the best fish and chips I've ever had, although I didn't eat much because it was just sad being there without him. Then we had a short visit with my husband's Aunt, Uncle, and cousins, and spent the night at their house in Ojai.

We got to the hotel the next day, and met up with the in-laws, who had also brought in my oldest daughter, as she had flown to visit them before the trip. Took the kids down to the pool for a while, and then got everyone showered and in fresh jammies so we could get into bed early. Not before fireworks, though! It was the 4th of July, and we all had a great view of the DL fireworks from our hotel.

Before I post more, I'm going to figure out how to post pics...I'll continue the report ASAP!

 

[joseph821]

I'll get some pics up later when I figure out how to post them here. For now, I'll cover the first 2 days of our trip...

This trip was a gift from me to my mother-in-law, father-in-law, and the 2 granddaughters that they are raising (ages 8 & 9). The in-laws had not been to Disneyland in 30+ years, and the 2 little girls had never been. MIL is not in greatest health, and I really wanted her to get to go to DL with all of her grandkids at least once. My oldest daughter flew in after finishing her 1st year of college, and joined us. So, in total, we were a group of 10...DFIL(62), DMIL(62) DN1(8), DN2(9), DH(42), ME(37), DD1(18), DS1(12), DD2(9), DS2(5).

We have never gone with other people before, so this was our first time trying to accommodate others at DL. Since I planned this trip FOR the in-laws, we had new things to learn, such as how to deal with a wheelchair in the parks, etc. Also, I had to keep track of 2 extra little kids, which kept me from being able to enjoy walking through the parks like I usually do, but this trip was not about me, so I kept reminding myself of that.

Our trip down was safe. We live 10.5 hours from the parks using the route that we take (we live 45 minutes East of Sacramento). We stopped in Ventura to visit my Dad at the cemetery (my first visit to his gravesite since the funeral, VERY tough! ) I brought him pink roses and a Snoopy balloon (he loved Snoopy). We also had a meal at one of his very favorite restaurants, Andrias Seafood at Ventura Harbor. They have the best fish and chips I've ever had, although I didn't eat much because it was just sad being there without him. Then we had a short visit with my husband's Aunt, Uncle, and cousins, and spent the night at their house in Ojai.

We got to the hotel the next day, and met up with the in-laws, who had also brought in my oldest daughter, as she had flown to visit them before the trip. Took the kids down to the pool for a while, and then got everyone showered and in fresh jammies so we could get into bed early. Not before fireworks, though! It was the 4th of July, and we all had a great view of the DL fireworks from our hotel.

Before I post more, I'm going to figure out how to post pics...I'll continue the report ASAP!

Sounds good! Cannot wait to hear more!

 

[Mugglemama]

In the bottom left corner of my page there is a box that says "posting rules" and it says I may NOT post attachments. Does anybody know why this would be? I'll go ask a mod for help...

 

[blackjackdelta]

Maybe this link will help with the photo's.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1288711

Jack

 

[Belle Ella]

Posting images in a thread is not the same as posting attachments. Posting attachments isn't something we can do on the DIS. If you have your photos uploaded to an image host like Photobucket simply copy and paste the

 

[Mugglemama]

Thanks Jack, and Bella! I am off to put pics on Photobucket so I can get going on this TR....

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

I'm looking forward to reading more, Mugglemama. What a generous gift you gave to your entire family. I'm so sorry about your father. What a nice idea to go to his favorite restuarant after visiting his gravesite.

It sounds like you had a really long drive. Did you head over to 101 to head down the coast to Ventura? I'm guessing you were coming from P-ville since you said you're 45 minutes east of Sac. DH and lived there for almost ten years before moving down the hill.

 

[Mugglemama]

I'm looking forward to reading more, Mugglemama. What a generous gift you gave to your entire family. I'm so sorry about your father. What a nice idea to go to his favorite restuarant after visiting his gravesite.

It sounds like you had a really long drive. Did you head over to 101 to head down the coast to Ventura? I'm guessing you were coming from P-ville since you said you're 45 minutes east of Sac. DH and lived there for almost ten years before moving down the hill.

Thanks very much for the condolences.

As far as the trip goes, it was the best gift I've ever been able to give to anyone. We had to do a "budget" trip in order to be able to afford to take everyone, but it was well worth it. We won't get to do it again (there's no way my MIL could do that again), so being all together at such a special place meant a lot to us all.

 

[Mugglemama]

To answer 3Tinks' question...yes, we did take the 101 down. We live in Applegate, which is about 10 miles East of Auburn. So, we take the 80 to Suisun City, then catch the 680 down to the 101 in San Jose.

Here's my first attempt at getting some pics in this TR....this is a photo I took somewhere near San Luis Obispo at around Noon on the 4th of July. We weren't expecting the fog...

It worked, yay!

Here's a pic of the yummy fish at Andria's (in Ventura), if anyone is ever interested in going there. This is about half of one order (my daughter and I were sharing). I typically hate seafood, but I love the fish at Andria's...

Beginning around 6pm, there were constant lines of cars going into the parks, I assume for the 4th of July fireworks. My husband had walked over to the ticket booths with our DD(18) and DFIL to trade our ARES vouchers for our tickets, and they said there were tons of people sitting in the plaza on blankets, getting ready to watch fireworks without heading into the parks. Here's a photo of the steady stream of cars we saw outside our hotel window for HOURS...

Considering we had to do a "budget" trip this time, and had to stay at a cheap motel (super 8), I was pleasantly surprised at what a great view we had of the fireworks from right outside our hotel door. It was SOOOO nice to be able to watch them in our jammies and then turn around and snuggle into bed! (IMO, it was SO much better than trekking back through the crowds, to the trams, while exhausted).

Next, Day 1 in the parks!....

 

[disneydreamer74]

Wow!! You really did have a great view of the fireworks! What a treat! Glad you enjoyed your trip and looking forward to reading more!!

 

[blackjackdelta]

looks like you mastered the photo posting.

Jack

 

[Mugglemama]

Our first day in the parks was Monday, 7/5. We were up at 5:30am, and DH dropped me, MIL, our 4 kids, and the 2 nieces at the Disneyland Hotel so that we could make our way to the security tables via Downtown Disney while he went back and had my FIL follow him to the parking structure to park (they haven't been there in over 30 years, so they needed some help finding their way around). I had bought matching outfits for my DD(9) and the 2 nieces for their first day....this is all of them walking through Downtown Disney...(notice how gray it is outside? Burr, it was cold! And we had not packed long pants or sweatshirts for anyone, and neither had the In-Laws...)

The kids and I were at the security tables by about 6:55am. We were second in line. DH and FIL met us in line at the tables by about 7:20am. Security didn't start going through bags until 7:45!!! UGH!

Once we went through, we were able to make it first in line at one of the gates! This is the first time we've ever been first at the gates, and I was happy that all our work to make it there so early had paid off. Here are the nieces (ages 8 & 9) getting ready to go into Disneyland for the very first time in their entire lives....they were pretty excited, to say the least!

Soooooo, we waited for a short time, and THEN, a CM walks up and asks US if we want to help open the park!!!! Uh, YEAH!!! We were SO excited! It was the perfect start to this trip, to be chosen on our very first morning. We were all given Honorary Citizen buttons (which my kids felt was one of THE very best parts of the whole trip!), and brought inside the gates to help with the countdown. We had to countdown from 5, and then yell, "Let the magic begin!". Cheesy, but TOTALLY awesome!!! My DS(12) was trembling he was so happy to have gotten to do that! I wish I had photos, but it was all done very fast, so I didn't get a chance.

With that, we were sent off to rope drop. As we walked into the square, I asked my nieces if Disneyland looked like what they had imagined (they'd never been to any amusement park, ever, before this..), and they said no. They loved that it looked "like a little town". The speakers play the "The time of your life" song (like the one in the commercials) once the rope drops, which is different than the last time we were there (last time it was a song from Brother Bear).

So, once the rope dropped, we headed straight for PP, of course......

We waited less than 5 minutes for the ride (and we had to walk slowly because DMIL has arthritis in her hips and could not walk very fast - we didn't have a wheelchair at this point, because she had wanted to try to do the parks without one). This was our first time on the new PP ships. They ride smoother, although twice when we were on the ride, the mechanism at the track above squealed through the whole ride. So, that was kind of distracting. Still, PP is one of my faves, so I didn't care much!

After that, we walked onto Dumbo, waiting less than 5 minutes.

Then, it was off to Matterhorn. I was a little leery of putting the nieces on a coaster as their 3rd ride EVER, but it IS summer, and we DID have to think of lines, so we had to do what we had to do (although ALL the kids are always allowed to opt out of the ride at the last second if they want to - a rule in our family). The nieces chose to ride, and so did my MIL, which surprised me! But she LOVED it! LOL, she rode Matterhorn 3 times during our stay! Worrying about the nieces was unnecessary; they LOVED the Matterhorn. We waited about 5 minutes in line.

Then we did Alice (no wait), Casey Jr. (less than 5 minute wait), Toad (less than 5 minute wait), Snow White (no wait), Pinocchio (no wait), and IASW (no wait). After that, we took the train to NOS (so MIL would not have to walk), and did POTC (less than 5 minute wait), HM (less than 5 minute wait), then grabbed Splash FP's, then rode BTMRR (about 5 minute wait).

Next, 2nd half of the day at DCA....

 

[Mugglemama]

UGH, I had most of this post done and then accidentally closed the window switching back and forth between this tab and the one I have up for PhotoBucket. So, I lost that whole post. My re-do will be shorter because I'm not typing all of that again. Grrrrr!

We decided to skip the midday break because we knew we had to get up at 4:30am the next morning for MM. So we figured we'd just get back to the hotel early enough to get a really good night's rest.

During our time at DCA that first day, we did Soarin' (FP's), Screamin' (35 minute wait, stand-by), Silly Symphony Swings (10 minute wait), Monsters (10 minute wait), and all of Bug's Land (longest wait was 15 minutes, for Heimlich's Chew Chew Train). Dot's Puddle Park was empty and the fountains weren't running (it stayed very overcast and cold until late afternoon)...

This was the first time we had been to the parks since the WOC/Glowfest changes...

Okay...so here's my rant about GlowFest. I'm just gonna say it...I feel like Disney totally sold out. It's like, they wanted more money and knew they could make it if they gave alcohol a bigger presence in the parks. I know not everyone will feel the same, but personally, I really haaaaaaaaaated seeing so many people walking around all over DCA with cups of beer. I mean, there's a reason our family picks DLR for vacations over things like camping, and boating, and trips to the baseball stadiums. And, one of those reasons, is so that I don't have to be around people who act stupid when they drink too much (and let's face it, who doesn't act stupid when they drink too much?!!!) Anyway, the whole experience of seeing so much alcohol inside DCA really bothered me, and by the end of that day, I was saying to my husband that as soon as I get home, I'm going to start looking for non-Disney things to for upcoming vacations. Okay, rant over.

At 5pm, my MIL and FIL decided to head back to the hotel (MIL was in a lot of pain by then, and couldn't walk anymore). We kept the nieces with us, and headed back over to DL to use our Splash FP's. Thanks so much to everyone who assured me that it would be okay to use FP's after the end-time!!! It was too cold to do Splash earlier in the day, and when it was hot the line was 70 minutes!! With our FP's, which had expired hours earlier, we waited less than 5 minutes to ride!!! WOOHOO! My DD(9) and the 2 nieces got SOAKED, LOL!!!!!

Some random fun pics of POTC...(And no, Gisele, I did not use the flash...)

I forgot to mention that when we headed back into DL for the late afternoon, the Celebrate parade was getting ready to begin. It was SUCH a hassle trying to get over to Splash Mountain. If I'd thought about it, I would have just taken the train. We didn't want to go down the right hand side of Main Street because it would be too hard to cross over later; we'd have to go all the way around Fantasyland. So, we wanted to walk across the street near town square. The CM acted like a total dork about this, even though the parade had not even begun! So, we get across to the other side, and the next CM tells us that we can't walk in that direction (towards the castle!). I was totally annoyed by then, but then they "allowed" us to go through the shops. Between that, and the fact that the music from the Celebrate parade makes me want to open an artery and bleed out, I was pretty frustrated with the ordeal we had to go through just to walk down Main Street.

Also, DH and I were really put-off by the fact that when you enter the gates, some CM's go all Nazi on you and DEMAND that you hand each person in their party their ticket to enter! Considering DL will not replace lost tickets for ANY reason, and we also need them for FP's, we are not comfortable handing a $150 ticket to a 5 year old. But some of the CM's at the gates absolutely demanded that we do just that. What's lame, is that some of them are happy to just scan them all together. WTH???

On our first day, we left at 7pm. The crowds were very heavy and the lines were just too long to wait in. Also, we had to get up early for MM the next day.

 

[Mugglemama]

I'm working on Day 2....

 

[Sherry E]

I put this over in the TR section.

Great photos and TR!

 

[Mugglemama]

I put this over in the TR section.

Great photos and TR!

Sorry, I haven't done a TR before, and didn't realize I should have posted it somewhere else.

 

[blackjackdelta]

UGH, I had most of this post done and then accidentally closed the window switching back and forth between this tab and the one I have up for PhotoBucket. So, I lost that whole post. My re-do will be shorter because I'm not typing all of that again. Grrrrr!

We decided to skip the midday break because we knew we had to get up at 4:30am the next morning for MM. So we figured we'd just get back to the hotel early enough to get a really good night's rest.

During our time at DCA that first day, we did Soarin' (FP's), Screamin' (35 minute wait, stand-by), Silly Symphony Swings (10 minute wait), Monsters (10 minute wait), and all of Bug's Land (longest wait was 15 minutes, for Heimlich's Chew Chew Train). Dot's Puddle Park was empty and the fountains weren't running (it stayed very overcast and cold until late afternoon)...

This was the first time we had been to the parks since the WOC/Glowfest changes...

Okay...so here's my rant about GlowFest. I'm just gonna say it...I feel like Disney totally sold out. It's like, they wanted more money and knew they could make it if they gave alcohol a bigger presence in the parks. I know not everyone will feel the same, but personally, I really haaaaaaaaaated seeing so many people walking around all over DCA with cups of beer. I mean, there's a reason our family picks DLR for vacations over things like camping, and boating, and trips to the baseball stadiums. And, one of those reasons, is so that I don't have to be around people who act stupid when they drink too much (and let's face it, who doesn't act stupid when they drink too much?!!!) Anyway, the whole experience of seeing so much alcohol inside DCA really bothered me, and by the end of that day, I was saying to my husband that as soon as I get home, I'm going to start looking for non-Disney things to for upcoming vacations. Okay, rant over.

At 5pm, my MIL and FIL decided to head back to the hotel (MIL was in a lot of pain by then, and couldn't walk anymore). We kept the nieces with us, and headed back over to DL to use our Splash FP's. Thanks so much to everyone who assured me that it would be okay to use FP's after the end-time!!! It was too cold to do Splash earlier in the day, and when it was hot the line was 70 minutes!! With our FP's, which had expired hours earlier, we waited less than 5 minutes to ride!!! WOOHOO! My DD(9) and the 2 nieces got SOAKED, LOL!!!!!

Some random fun pics of POTC...(And no, Gisele, I did not use the flash...)

I forgot to mention that when we headed back into DL for the late afternoon, the Celebrate parade was getting ready to begin. It was SUCH a hassle trying to get over to Splash Mountain. If I'd thought about it, I would have just taken the train. We didn't want to go down the right hand side of Main Street because it would be too hard to cross over later; we'd have to go all the way around Fantasyland. So, we wanted to walk across the street near town square. The CM acted like a total dork about this, even though the parade had not even begun! So, we get across to the other side, and the next CM tells us that we can't walk in that direction (towards the castle!). I was totally annoyed by then, but then they "allowed" us to go through the shops. Between that, and the fact that the music from the Celebrate parade makes me want to open an artery and bleed out, I was pretty frustrated with the ordeal we had to go through just to walk down Main Street.

Also, DH and I were really put-off by the fact that when you enter the gates, some CM's go all Nazi on you and DEMAND that you hand each person in their party their ticket to enter! Considering DL will not replace lost tickets for ANY reason, and we also need them for FP's, we are not comfortable handing a $150 ticket to a 5 year old. But some of the CM's at the gates absolutely demanded that we do just that. What's lame, is that some of them are happy to just scan them all together. WTH???

On our first day, we left at 7pm. The crowds were very heavy and the lines were just too long to wait in. Also, we had to get up early for MM the next day.

Great report. Love the photo's. They actually will replace lost tickets, we have had to do it twice before. Just have to have the ticket documentation and go to guest services. They were very nice about it.

Jack

 

[blackjackdelta]

Sorry, I haven't done a TR before, and didn't realize I should have posted it somewhere else.

No big deal. A number of people post reports small or large in this section, some the mods see, some not.

Jack

 

[Mugglemama]

Day 2...

I'll be honest right off the bat....I don't have a lot of positive things to say about Day 2 of our trip.

One good thing was that the In-Laws had run out and bought sweatshirts and long pants for the cold weather, and we brought the one long-sleeved shirt we had packed for our kids, so everyone was a little less freezing then we had been the day before, although the weather was actually colder.

Up at 4:30am, got all the kids ready to go, DH dropped me and our 4 kids at the DLH and we were in line at the security tables by 6:10am. We were pretty far back in line, even though we'd gotten there 50 minutes before opening (my daughter is the one in the striped sweater...we were pretty far back in line).

Security did not start going through bags until about 10 minutes to 7. We were first in line at the gates again, but they didn't let us through the turnstiles until 7:05. Also, crowds were MUCH heavier at opening on this MM than they had been the day before, on a non-MM day. FIL had to go get a wheelchair for MIL before the gates opened. We all hoped she'd get to enjoy the day much more now that she would not have to walk as much.

We made it back to PP within a few minutes, and the line was already 3 times as long as it had been at opening the day before....

The rest of FL stayed empty for a while, everyone had headed straight to PP...

If we do go back to Disneyland (as I said, I'm on a quest to find non-Disney things to do...), I will not go back in the Summer. And if I did go back in the Summer, I would NEVER do a Summer Magic Morning, ever again. All of our non-MM days were MUCH better crowd-wise than that Tuesday MM was for us. We really felt as though we had dragged ourselves out of bed at 4:30am for nothing. The lines got heavy FAST.

During Magic Morning, we rode Peter Pan.....

Matterhorn....

Teacups....

Alice...

Storybook Land Canal Boats...

And IASW...this was our first trip to DLR since the new boats were put in. They don't look as good as the old ones, IMO. DS(12) says they look like they were made by the Little Tikes company, LOL.....

We also road Toad. I had to take the girls for a bathroom break, and since it was after 8am by then, DH took the boys to go pick up FP for Buzz while MIL and FIL rested. The kids and I rode Pinocchio once by ourselves, and then when DH and the boys got back, we rode it again. Then we rode Snow White, before heading over to NOS for POTC.

After POTC, we rode HM, and Jungle Cruise....

Then we headed over to BTMRR (which turned out to be the nieces' very favorite ride of all at Disneyland...)

The start time for our Buzz FP's had already passed, so DH ran up to get Splash FP for later (there was no line for Splash at that point, but this morning was WAY too cold for water rides, it even drizzled for a couple of hours!) Then, we hopped back on the train at NOS to go back to Tomorrowland for Buzz.

This was the first time we'd ever seen, or ridden on, the train cars that have the forward facing benches...we've always only been on the train with the side facing seats...

The line for Buzz at that point was already 35 minutes, but we waited less than 5 minutes with our FP's.

Then, we decided to go see Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln. This has ALWAYS been an attraction that DH and I enjoy. Plus, I had tied in a bunch of mini unit studies (we homeschool) on DLR related elements...aviation, Lincoln, Lewis Carrol, New Orleans culture, etc., and wanted the kids to see the Lincoln thing. I used to LOVE it. Now, I hate it. It's so boooooooring! The one with Matthew Brady tied in was SO good! This one was so entirely un-engaging. The artwork in the lobby was worth seeing, but the actual presentation was, IMO, a total waste of time. My In-Laws were probably wondering why I had dragged them in to watch it. Anyway, they had a great model of Splash Mountain inside....

More to come...

 

[Mugglemama]

Great report. Love the photo's. They actually will replace lost tickets, we have had to do it twice before. Just have to have the ticket documentation and go to guest services. They were very nice about it.

Jack

Thanks very much for the info about the tix, Jack! I'd seen it posted here on the boards several times that lost tickets would not be replaced under ANY circumstances, so being that we had 5 day tix, and 5 little kids with us, we were really concerned about losing tickets. I would have been okay though, I guess, because I had my ARES voucher. Thanks for the clarification!