Lots of Completed Trip Reports....Nov 2009 - April 2014

[deejdigsdis]

I didn't have a whole lot of priorities this trip. In my eyes, it was a complete bonus trip. Unplanned and unexpected. Instead of looking at it like, "Bummer...we only have most of Tuesday, all of Wednesday, and half of Thursday at Disneyland...", I looked at the situation like, "Wow! I can't believe I get to back so soon! It will be so great to just kind of wander and do whatever we feel like..."

My list of priorities included:

* Ride The Haunted Mansion lots and lots of times. It's been nearly 14 years since I've ridden the original and I could. not. wait! I wasn't a fan of the impostor holiday overlay that had taken over the mansion in November. I ended up closing my eyes and picturing the REAL thing as I rode along in my Doom Buggy.

* Ride Jungle Cruise at night.

* Watch Aladdin before it goes away. I had never seen it. I had a time picked out to watch it last fall, but I ended up being in Tiana's Showboat Jubilee instead. I figured this was a one-time chance to do that and that Aladdin would always be there the next time we returned...in maybe 2 years. Little did I know.

* Arm myself with the Hidden Mickey book I got for Christmas and take pictures of Hidden Mickeys -- at the request of DS10. It was the least I could do.

* Watch the Flag Retreat Ceremony, another thing I'd never seen.

* Ride Tower of Terror. I didn't get to do this last fall either. The plan was for DH to ride with DS10 first, then I'd ride with DS10 later. Well...DS10 ended up hating it. It really freaked him out. I had no interest in going alone, so it just didn't happen.

*Spend a lot of time just sitting on Main Street, preferably in those wooden chairs on the front porch. I've wanted to sit in one of those chairs my whole life, but they were always occupied when I walked by. Oh yeah, and eat ice cream while I'm sitting there. If it's during the day. If it's at night, the plan was to be sipping hot chocolate.

So that was my list. Anything else that happened beyond this list would be even more of a bonus.

Let's close this installment with a couple of Hidden Mickeys, shall we?

 

[tksbaskets]

My list of priorities included:

* Ride The Haunted Mansion lots and lots of times.

* Ride Jungle Cruise at night.

* Watch Aladdin before it goes away.

* Arm myself with the Hidden Mickey book I got for Christmas and take pictures of Hidden Mickeys -- at the request of DS10. It was the least I could do.

* Watch the Flag Retreat Ceremony, another thing I'd never seen.

* Ride Tower of Terror. I didn't get to do this last fall either.

*Spend a lot of time just sitting on Main Street, preferably in those wooden chairs on the front porch.

So that was my list. Anything else that happened beyond this list would be even more of a bonus.

A great list it is! Watch Aladdin for sure! We loved it when we saw it in December. I'd suggest getting there early so you can get a seat on the main floor. Can't wait to hear all about your trip and if you did everything on the list. Back to the second picture to see if I can find the Mickey.

 

[tksbaskets]

Found it, very cute

 

[deejdigsdis]

A great list it is! Watch Aladdin for sure! We loved it when we saw it in December. I'd suggest getting there early so you can get a seat on the main floor. Can't wait to hear all about your trip and if you did everything on the list. Back to the second picture to see if I can find the Mickey.

Actually we've been back from our trip for 5 days now. Whether or not we made it to everything on THE LIST remains to be seen. And speaking of the list...I can't believe I forgot to include another important "must do" -- find Max, Buff and Melvin (from Country Bear Jamboree) in the Winnie the Pooh Ride. I was very excited to hear that they were still "hanging around."

 

[tksbaskets]

Actually we've been back from our trip for 5 days now. Whether or not we made it to everything on THE LIST remains to be seen. And speaking of the list...I can't believe I forgot to include another important "must do" -- find Max, Buff and Melvin (from Country Bear Jamboree) in the Winnie the Pooh Ride. I was very excited to hear that they were still "hanging around."

What a tease you are Standing by!

 

[deejdigsdis]

OK, so we've arrived at Disneyland and it's around 11:30am.

I guess now would be a good time to mention that all the pictures I post will be ones without us in them. Given that my husband runs a s** offender treatment program in a prison, he prefers as much privacy online as possible when it comes to our family. One day he happened to notice my avatar and started to get a little panicky, wondering why I would post pictures of our children online. I calmly reminded him we have 3 children, not 5 children...and we have no daughters, therefore it couldn't possibly be our children. The picture was taken in 1979. I'm on the far left.

OK, back to 2010... We knew we'd be arriving around lunchtime but didn't decide on a place to eat ahead of time. We thought about using our $25 House of Blues G.C. that we bought for $2 on restaurant.com, but I knew it wasn't in me to finally get to Disneyland and not actually go INTO Disneyland for lunch. So House of Blues would have to wait until later. Our first matter of business was to collect Space Mountain FPs, and then just see where we went from there. We moseyed down Main Street, headed into Tomorrowland, grabbed our Space FPs, and then headed toward the Matterhorn. The line was crazy-long so we just kept walking. I decided I wanted to head over to IASW. As much as I loved the holiday overlay we experienced in Nov., I was really excited to see the original again. So that was our first ride.

It was about a 2 minute wait. I love that ride! When we got out, we were really feeling the need to eat. I knew my husband would enjoy Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, so I called Disney Dining to make PS for about an hour later. We shared a churro while we made our way through Fantasyland. The churro just wasn't cutting it, so we headed over to the Ranch to see what kind of wait we were facing if we tried to get in earlier. It was noon, afterall. Let's just say there were maybe 6 tables occupied. We were shocked. We went up to the counter and mentioned we had PS for later, but wondered if we might be able to get in earlier. The CM said, "Well, we ARE pretty packed, but we'll see if we can fit you in..." So funny! So we were seated right away.

We've never eaten here before. It was very laid back and relaxing.

My husband is a big meat fan, so I knew he'd get his $19.99 worth. I'm not much of a "eat meat off the bone" kind of a girl, so I was a bit hesitant about spending the money for me to eat there. But...I was so glad I did. It was so good! The meal is described as "all you care to enjoy" (doesn't that sound a little nicer than "all you can eat"???) ribs, chicken, cornbread, coleslaw and baked beans, served family-style.

Here's my plate:

I'm OK with eating ribs...due to the "clean break" of the meat off the bone. No yucky stuff to sift through to get to the meat. Sometimes I do OK with chicken breasts. These ones were great! I'm not usually a huge coleslaw fan, either, but I must admit...I ate the entire bowl myself! I thought it was THAT good! (Boy, after reading this paragraph, it was quite the gamble for me to try this place for lunch, huh. ) Anyway, lunch was a huge hit for both of us. There was a bit of down-home entertainment as well. I felt a bit bad for the performers, as the very small audience wasn't getting into it that much. We saw a fancy-dressed Disneyland guy sitting off to the far side with a clipboard, making notes. We were wondering if he was somehow "judging" their performance, audience participation, etc. When they would finish a set the 3 performers would go back into the kitchen area and the fancy-dressed man would follow. Then they'd all come back out after about 15 minutes for the next round.

As we were eating I looked up and noticed this cool light. I decided I would make it my mission to take lots of pictures of the cool lights around Disneyland.

After we sufficiently stuffed ourselves, I took this picture on our way out.

Here's something we weren't expecting to see...the turkey pardoned by Pres. Obama. It seemed a bit funny to have this guy situated so close to a BBQ place.

So what's on the agenda after lunch??? Well, for sure not Space Mountain after all that food... More to come later.

 

[tksbaskets]

What a great start to your trip report! I love your pictures especially the one of the moose outside IASW. We've never eaten at the Ranch. How did that escape my watchful DIS eye?? Sounds like the type of food all my boys would love!

Waiting to see how SM was...

 

[deejdigsdis]

What a great start to your trip report! I love your pictures especially the one of the moose outside IASW. We've never eaten at the Ranch. How did that escape my watchful DIS eye?? Sounds like the type of food all my boys would love!

Waiting to see how SM was...

Thanks! Yes, we loved the BBQ. It's funny, that's one of the memories I keep going back to now that we're home..."Mmmmm...wish I could have that meal again right now."

So we mosey on out of the Big Thunder Ranch area. This is what we see after passing the turkey...

I have to remind myself, "This is a bonus trip. This is a bonus trip. This is a bonus trip. It's OK...." I love BTMR. AKA the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness. Kind of funny that I still think of this as a relatively new ride.

Another cool light.

This was fun to see. They were painting the fence to make it look old.

The sign on BTMR recommended we visit another attraction in Frontierland. Here's what we came to next.

Another suggestion to visit a different Frontierland attraction!

So we visited these striking red bushes or trees. Not sure which. But I learned on another thread that they grow wild in California. So beautiful!

My husband wanted me to change the setting on the camera so that just the red colors were picked up. I had no idea that was an option, but OK...

I wish I had these growing in my yard. I know I already used the word "striking" but that's exactly what they were. I wonder if I would have noticed them if we weren't in mosey-around-mode. Hmmm.

Another light.

Our next Frontierland attraction was a coin press machine. At the boys' request. I had to take a picture of this sign on the machine.

When we went to DL in November, my kids were really excited about pressing pennies. DS10 learned in school that it was against the law to "deface" money. That wasn't the exact word that was used...but something along those lines. He was very concerned that a law was being broken at Disneyland. We didn't notice this sign while we were there then -- I know it was there, but again, it's interesting what you notice when you're in mosey-mode as opposed to rush-around-with-3-kids-mode. Anyway, I took this picture just for him.

OK, we've been at Disneyland for more than 2 hours by now and have only gone on one ride. It was time to pick up more FPs -- Indy, to be exact -- and then find another ride to go on. Oooohhh...what will it be??? Seems like a good stopping point for now. Later.

 

[deejdigsdis]

So it's 1:30pm-ish and we're ready for our 2nd ride of the day! After picking up our Indy FPs we headed to my favorite ride -- which I didn't really realize was my favorite ride until this trip. Pirates of the Caribbean! It's always been a favorite. I've never been able to pick JUST ONE favorite...but during this trip I decided if I ever had to go to Disneyland and ride just one ride, this would be it. We practically walked on. I just love the sights, sounds, smells, feel of the water spray you get during the drops and during the battle scene...all of it. I guess I covered all the senses but one: Taste! Hmmm...how could I work that one in??? After Pirates we headed over to one of the things I was most excited about...

Yay! After nearly 14 years I was finally going to get to see the original again. Two of my favorite parts are missing in the Holiday overlay. The floating candles down the hallway, and the "Hurrrry Baaaack! Hurrrry Baaaack! Be sure to bring your DEATH certificate...if you decide to join us..." Oh yeah, and the hitchhiking ghosts. Totally miss that in the Holiday overlay.

We walked right into the lobby area for this one. A much as I enjoy minimal waits for rides, I really missed walking around and seeing the graveyard area. It was pretty much walk-on back in November, too. Anyway, I had a huge smile on my face as we rode along. It felt good to be "home."

After HM we walked toward Splash Mountain and picked up FPs. There was very little difference between the Stand-By wait and the FP Return Time. Like 5 minutes, I think. I was wondering if a lot of people don't know about Fastpass. I was schooled here on the DIS before going in November, as it didn't exist the last time I went before that. I would assume all the locals are in the know, but wow... our whole trip it amazed us how many people were in the long stand-by lines. So we picked up our FPs and glanced over at the Rivers of America...

I spy Sailing Ship Columbia

Even the walls have great theming...

A peek at the bare ground and track...

On to Pooh...

... and to hopefully check something else off my LIST: a Melvin, Buff and Max sighting! I asked here on the DIS exactly where to look for these guys. I was told that as soon as you leave the heffalumps and woozles room, look behind you and up. And it's easier to see if you're in front -- probably wouldn't see them from the back row. So that's what I did, from my front row seat. And there they were, hanging on the wall! They were easier to see than I was imagining. It's funny how happy it made me. Like seeing old friends. Man, I miss the Country Bear Jamboree. I hopped right back on Pooh for a second time, just so I could see them again. My husband sat this one out and snagged another light picture.

And this one.

It wasn't quite time to hop on Splash yet, so we meandered into Pooh Corner and watched the candy-making.

Finally it was time to use our Splash FPs. Funny...at this point our longest wait was waiting for our Splash FP window to open! When we got in the FP line, the CM handed my husband this to wear:

We only waited a few minutes before hopping in a log. The Stand-by line was 45-ish minutes. As we passed people I wondered if they wondered what we were doing. It was crazy.

Splash Light in line, which I barely had time to take because of our next-to-nothing wait. Being a party of only 2, they pulled us out of line when we were about 8 people back from the front.

Splash Light in the loading area.

So up to this point we've been on 5 different rides: IASW, POTC, HM, Pooh, and Splash. Considering all of our wait times...we waited in line for an average of 1 1/2 minutes per ride!

After Splash we realized the kids were home from school, so we decided we'd give them a call. Surely they would be missing us so very much and would be dying to talk to us... or so we thought. I talked to DS7 who has a bit of separation anxiety occasionally. "Hi honey! What's going on?" Him: "Good. (I guess he thought I asked how he was doing.) Um...can I go eat now?" I was interrupting his Lunchable time. I had told the kids they could eat a Lunchable when they got home from school the first day we were gone. They don't have them every week or anything, but it's not something that's off-limits either. For some reason they were just really excited about their Lunchables. Going back a bit further... one morning before our trip DS4 was sitting on the toilet and called out from the bathroom, "4 more days 'til you leave!!!!!!!!!!!!" He was very excited. Then he said, "Then it will be 3....then 2...then 1...then it's the day! I wish it was 1 day 'til you leave. No, actually I wish it was 0 days 'til you leave." Me: "Why do you wish it was 0 days?" DS4: "Because then I get my Lunchabbbbbblllllllllle!"

So back to DL... the kids weren't really interested in chatting, so we moved on with our day. We headed right back to Haunted Mansion. I "hurried back" just like I was told.

More later.

 

[deejdigsdis]

After our ride through the Haunted Mansion we headed over to Adventureland and used our Indy FPs that we picked up after lunch. Another ride I just love! It's so fun. I still think of this as being a new ride as well. The first time I rode it was the summer of 1996. I remember standing in line for 2 1/2 hours. Those little IJ decoder cards from AT&T kept us busy, though. I still have mine from back then. Anyway, no 2 1/2 hour wait this time! Again, I felt sorry for those poor unfortunate souls in the stand-by line. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics around Indy. After Indy we browsed in the area shops for a bit before heading to Town Square for the Flag Retreat Ceremony. Actually we made one more stop before heading to Town Square...

This always seems to be the restroom we end up using...the one across from the Tiki Room. This has been the case my entire life...for some reason this is the restroom we are almost always near when someone realizes they need to use a restroom. So there are a lot of DL restrooms I've never seen. Anyone else have a go-to restroom? Weird question, I know.

This hasn't been the most interesting of updates. Time to upload some more pics to photobucket...

 

[deejdigsdis]

OK, so after the detour to our go-to restroom, we headed to Town Square for the Flag Retreat Ceremony. I wasn't sure what was happening where and what would be the best viewing spot. I just parked on the only available bench in the area and waited.

The flag -- pre-Retreat Ceremony.

Flowers by my bench.

Here comes the Disneyland Band. I guess they marched all the way down Main Street, making their way to Town Square. I can't remember exactly what they played during their march.

Marching right past me.

Love the drum.

Leader of the Band.

So...this was my unobstructed view. Apparently the bench I was glad to grab was the last empty one for a reason.

No, it wasn't that bad. They played some patriotic tunes, including the Armed Forces Salute. (Is that what it's called?) As they played each anthem, people who served were invited to stand up around the flag. I loved it. It was a bit emotional as I thought of my own father who served in the Army during the Korean War. My parents would have love this seemingly hidden Disneyland gem. (Maybe it was just hidden to us. I didn't know about the ceremony until I read about it here on DISboards. Have they always done this?)

People who have served our country:

The men who retired the flag for the evening.

More music was played by the band.

"The Stars and Stripes Forever" played while they folded the flag.

Another picture of those who have served the United States. It was interesting watching their faces. I would like to know their stories.

After the flag was folded, the band played "God Bless America" and the audience was invited to sing along. It was a really great moment. After the men marched away with the flag, the band continued to play as they marched off. We enjoyed it so much that we planned to come back and watch it the next day.

Up next... Hopping to DCA for the remaining less than 2 hours. It closed at 7:00pm.

 

[tksbaskets]

What a great thing to watch. I've watched the ceremony at WDW and was moved too. It was interesting how each of the service men and women stood too. My father was in the Air Force during the Korean war.

Thanks for sharing.
TK

 

[deejdigsdis]

What a great thing to watch. I've watched the ceremony at WDW and was moved too. It was interesting how each of the service men and women stood too. My father was in the Air Force during the Korean war.

Thanks for sharing.
TK

I'm glad you had a chance to watch it. It is definitely worth working into your schedule. I thought the way they were standing was interesting as well. Forgot to point that out!

UGH! The ONE time I don't copy and paste my update....it gets lost! So frustrating! One hour's worth of typing and loading pictures and nothing to show for it!

 

[tksbaskets]

I'm glad you had a chance to watch it. It is definitely worth working into your schedule. I thought the way they were standing was interesting as well. Forgot to point that out!

UGH! The ONE time I don't copy and paste my update....it gets lost! So frustrating! One hour's worth of typing and loading pictures and nothing to show for it!

Oh no! I know how hard it is to do a trip report and I've had that happen to me. Looking forward to your next update

 

[deejdigsdis]

Let's try this again...

The Flag Retreat Ceremony is over (lasted about 15 minutes) and it's time to hop over to DCA for the remaining almost 2 hours. The big DCA draws for me are mainly Soarin' and TSMM. I also like GRR but it was a little too cold out for me today. Another priority of course was to try out TOT for my first time. The first matter of business once we crossed over was to pick up Soarin' FPs. The stand-by line wasn't all that long, but I've never stood in line for that ride for more than 3 minutes, so why start now?

We ran into these guys on our way over to TOT...the Delta Daddios.

Wish we could have seen more than just the tail-end of their show. They sang 60s doo-wop music and they were really good. I remember one of the songs was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." I'm not sure if there is a way to add video here, but it was great.

Back to our long walk to TOT. Long because we passed a group that had just come from the ride and a man in the group was saying, "Never again!" That made me nervous and a little hesitant. But -- it's my husband's favorite ride now and I really wanted to give it a try. We had a 20 minute wait. It wasn't bad since the cool stuff in the lobby, etc. was all new to me -- so much to see. (Oops! Forgot to take pictures.) Finally it was our turn to load. The elevator was much smaller than what I had imagined based on pictures I'd seen of the ride. I remember wishing we could ride with a less annoying, screaming, and generally obnoxious group. Oh well. I knew there were ups and downs in the ride, but I had no idea I'd be catching air! (My husband told me that he purposely left out that little detail when I asked him what the ride was like!) Anyway, I was holding my purse and sweatshirt with my feet (very tightly, I might add) so they caught air as well. I so wanted to love this ride, but... it proved to be a bit much for my stomach. I felt slightly nauseous afterward. Actually it also induced a headache that would linger for nearly 24 hours. Ugh. I would like to give it another try down the road, but I didn't love it.

So after this little adventure I needed something calm and mild. Off to Monsters, Inc. It was a walk-on to boot. After Monsters it was time to head back to Soarin' with FPs in hand. I really really really like this ride. And I still have my "haven't stood in line for this ride longer than 3 minutes" status.

We were starting to get really tired. It was all of 6:30pm. We were beat and hungry. We decided it would be a good time to use our $25 House of Blues GC that we got for $2. We would have preferred outdoor seating, but it was kind of cold so we went inside. The loud music didn't help my headache any, but the ceiling was pretty cool.

My husband ordered the Shrimp Po-Boy.

I had the Grilled Flat Iron Steak Salad.

My husband didn't care for his meal at all. In fact, in our nearly 16 years of marriage I don't think I've ever seen him NOT finish a meal at a restaurant. EVER. So for him to push a less-than-half-eaten plate of food away...whoa. The server asked if something was wrong, he just replied that he didn't care for it. She asked for specifics for how it could be better, and then said she'd go talk to the chef. We weren't expecting any sort of compensation. It wasn't like the food was raw or burnt or whatever. He just didn't like it. So she comes back and says there will be no charge for his meal. Very nice, but it kind of put a damper on the need to spend at least $35 to use the $25 GC. When we mentioned the GC she left again to talk to the chef. I thought my salad was just OK. It didn't have enough steak, and the dressing needed more kick for that kind of salad. I think the dressing was ranch, but salsa and cilantro would have been a better match. It was quite large and filled me up, though. I think my expectations were high, given that it was marked on the menu as one of their specialties. When all was said and done, our bill came to a grand total of $8! (We didn't tip as if the bill was just $8, however.) That was our first visit to House of Blues and most likely our last. The server was great, but the food just didn't do it for us. The main reason for sitting inside was because it was cold outside, so we thought it was pretty funny when we left the restaurant and it was actually warmer outside. Due to those great outdoor heaters that we hadn't noticed earlier.

We decided to ride the Monorail over to Tomorrowland and use our Space FPs. We both commented after the ride that it seemed to go a LOT faster than normal. Was it because we were in the last row??? (Side Note: When we got home from DL, DS10's teacher asked if we rode Space Mountain. She said her sister had ridden it the day after we did. It broke down while she was on it. She said she could tell something was wrong from the get-go because it was going MUCH faster than normal. CMs had to push their coaster in. Another coaster almost crashed into them in the meantime.)

Time for our exotic anniversary cruise. Jungle Cruise at night was one of the things on MY LIST. I love the Jungle Cruise, but the last 2 cruises I've taken have left a little to be desired as far as the skippers go. The nighttime cruise was very relaxing, though.

A Jungle Cruise light.

It was just about closing time. We decided to head toward Main Street. But not without stopping at our go-to restroom first. Is it just me, or is this sign a little...I don't know. It does make me laugh. Thank goodness for Sparkle for schooling us in the hand-washing procedure!

\

Main Street here we come. We just wanted to sit and relax and watch the people walk out. Lo and behold...the wooden bench on the front porch was available! Perfect! My husband snagged the bench and I went on to Blue Ribbon Bakery...

Light photo-op:

...and got some hot chocolate (and a chocolate muffin to take back to the hotel, if it would last that long). Aaahhh...this was the life. Sitting on the coveted wooden bench on the front porch, sipping hot chocolate, surrounded by the glowing lights of Main Street, watching the crowds make their way out of the park...basically soaking it all in. I'm at Disneyland!

 

[lisalisalisa]

I have really enjoyed both of your trip reports and your great photos.

We are visiting Disneyland in Aug with our three boys. Our last visit to California was 15 years ago on our Honeymoon.

 

[wdwfan22]

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful trips with us. I too grew up going to DL every summer, so I appreciate the nostalgia of going back. I think it is intensified when you don't go every year, or have a large space of time inbetween visits.

I went for the first time to DW or DL without my kids last December with my sister, and it was hard for me. My kids, unlike yours, did not take it as well.

I'm sorry you did not really care for the TOT. That is my favorite ride ever. I can't do spinning rides either, but TOT does not bother me.

Looking forward to hearing more!!

 

[deejdigsdis]

I have really enjoyed both of your trip reports and your great photos.

We are visiting Disneyland in Aug with our three boys. Our last visit to California was 15 years ago on our Honeymoon.

Thank You! I always appreciate knowing that I'm not just talking to myself. I'm glad you're enjoying the pictures. How fun that you've got an upcoming trip with your family! And you have 3 boys too? I love it. If I were to have another child I would hope for another boy! So did you go to Disneyland on your Honeymoon, or just other spots in California? We went about a week after we got married with my parents and one of my sisters. I remember thinking, "I wish we were here by ourselves..."

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful trips with us. I too grew up going to DL every summer, so I appreciate the nostalgia of going back. I think it is intensified when you don't go every year, or have a large space of time inbetween visits.

I went for the first time to DW or DL without my kids last December with my sister, and it was hard for me. My kids, unlike yours, did not take it as well.

I'm sorry you did not really care for the TOT. That is my favorite ride ever. I can't do spinning rides either, but TOT does not bother me.

Looking forward to hearing more!!

I totally agree with what you said about the feelings intensified when there is a large gap in between visits. So true. It felt SO good to get back there after such a long absence. Yes, we were so surprised about our kids' reaction to the news that we were going again and they weren't. I think if they went regularly and it was a part of their lives, the reaction would have been different. I'm already feeling a bit guilty about going again this Fall, and once again without them. They don't know about that trip yet. (I did ask them if they wanted to go back as a family in 2011 or 2012 and they said 2012...thinking about Carsland. So that makes me feel a little less guilty for some reason.) This Fall I will be going with my sisters and parents. One of my sisters hasn't been in 14 years. She thought she might not be able to make it back, financially speaking, but things are falling into place to get her back there. She's the oldest child in the family and went for the first time with my parents when she was almost 3. It's AMAZING what she remembers from that first trip in the early 1960s. They don't have pictures from that trip to trigger her memory -- Disneyland just had a huge impact on her at that age and I'm glad that she will get to go back. My parents are getting up there in years and we really want to get them back again before they can no longer enjoy it. OK, this is probably all more than you cared to know.

And I'm sorry I didn't like TOT better, too! Now that I know what it's really like and what to expect, maybe my stomach would handle it better?

Anyway, the TR will be continued on Sunday, hopefully. Coming up next...Disneyland alone time while celebrating our long-lost anniversary?!?

 

[deejdigsdis]

So I didn't quite make it back here as early as I had hoped. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. Today I watched the video from my family's trip to Disneyland back in 1991. It was fun to see so many things from years-gone-by... Main Street Electrical Parade, the Circle Vision sign, the Motor Boat Cruise, the 2nd Autopia in Fantasyland, the Skyway, the People Mover, Disney Afternoon Avenue (which I had completely forgotten about!), Country Bear Playhouse, the Rocket Jets...

But let's fast forward nearly 20 years eek to the trip at hand. We were finishing up our first day, hanging out on Main Street. We finally pulled ourselves off the bench and made our way to the shuttle area. The Hyatt shuttle picks up at Disneyland every :20 and ever :50 after the hour, with the final shuttle leaving 50 minutes after Disneyland closes. We hopped on the last shuttle. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel. Before calling it a night we discussed our plans for the next day. I'm a be-there-early kind of girl, my husband's more of a let's-just-sleep-in kind of guy. So -- the deal was that I had plans to catch the first shuttle of the day. (The first one leaves the hotel 30 minutes before park opening.) If my husband was ready to go with me, fine. If not, we'd meet in front of Pirates at 11:00 for our 11:30 lunch date at Blue Bayou. OK, that's settled and it's time for bed. I was exhausted but I ended up having a hard time falling asleep. As soon as my head hit the pillow my mind started wandering to that earthquake felt in DL a few weeks earlier. I got to thinking about how we were on the 15th floor of a hotel pretty much made of glass. I have this thing about earthquakes. I've never been in one, but I've had nightmares about them my entire life. Ugh. So sleep didn't come immediately. Once I eventually dozed off I slept well.

Rise and Shine! I got up at 7:15 to get ready to leave on the 8:30 shuttle. Turns out it will just be me going. Alone time here I come! I figured this would be good practice should I ever decide to do a solo trip.

So I hop on the shuttle at 8:27. Disneyland opens at 9:00. Will I make it for rope drop? It was not looking good. Shuttle left at 8:30. First stop Crowne Plaza Hotel to pick-up other Disneyland-goers. Second stop Convention Center to drop people off. (Not sure where these people came from to begin with or what they were doing.) 3rd stop Disneyland -- in the furthermost shuttle area. I didn't stop to check the time, but I'm pretty sure I broke some kind of walking record. Made it to security (picked the wrong line -- I need to remember to stand behind people with no strollers and no backpacks if possible...), then had no wait at the turnstiles. Love that sound when they scan your ticket. I decided to go get a locker first to drop off our ponchos -- it was supposed to rain but I didn't want to carry them around if I didn't have to. After getting the locker I continue down Main Street. I saw the crowd, then remembered the ol' go-through-the-shops trick so that's what I did. There were about 15 people already there, but not too shabby given that I was hopping on a shuttle 30 minutes earlier. Anyway, I made it and was there for rope drop. I headed straight for the Matterhorn, as the line had been so long every time we passed the day before. I ended up being the 8th person in line. The ride was over all too quick. It began to sink in that I was all by myself. I had nearly 2 hours to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I could head one direction, change my mind and go somewhere else and it wouldn't affect anyone else. Where do I begin??? Well, let's just say that all the DISboards tips and tricks for touring Disneyland in the early morning took a backseat. I went against everything I learned and went back to Main Street. I went to the Blue Ribbon Bakery for a yummy chocolate muffin and some milk and then headed over to the coveted wooden chairs on the front porch.

Remember the chocolate muffin from last night? I ended up saving it for my husband to have this morning. So with a fresh muffin in hand, and some milk -- all 3 swallows of it -- look how small that jug is! -- I nestled into my chair on the empty porch. I just sat there. Watching people come in. Listening to the clip-clop of the horses' hooves. Chatting with an older gentleman that came up to sit on the porch -- where he often meets his friends to share their morning coffee. Just enjoying THIS.

I loved it. I took a picture with my phone of a horse going by, taking guests to the end of Main Street, and sent it to my sister. She texted back immediately, "Can you believe that's making me cry?" Yep, I can. That's what Disneyland does.

After my breakfast snack I decided to just wander around and take pictures.

Lights.

I enjoy looking at the window displays on Main Street, but feel like I can't linger like I want to when there are other people with me. Well, nothing was stopping me now...

Do you think I would have stopped to take this picture if I wasn't alone? Probably not. But I remember thinking "How Spring-y!" when I saw it and being glad that I stopped to notice it.

Forgot to include this light earlier. I took this one after leaving the Matterhorn.

I was LOVING my alone time, but still looking forward to meeting up for lunch with my husband at Blue Bayou. More later.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Love your pictures! I was just telling DH last night that I really want to take the time to enjoy all of the details because this may be our only trip to DLR.

Can't wait to hear about Blue Bayou!