Lucky Kid visits the Happiest Place on Earth **COMPLETED**

[beckykarstetter]

Just noticed on the December check in board that you three are going to be there at the same time we are in December. We'll be there the 3rd-10th and are staying at the DLH. Maybe we'll run into you in on Buena Vista Street.

 

[Lyn-CA]

Just noticed on the December check in board that you three are going to be there at the same time we are in December. We'll be there the 3rd-10th and are staying at the DLH. Maybe we'll run into you in on Buena Vista Street.

Yes, we're going to be there from Dec. 2-7. I believe it was Day 1 of our Sept. trip when DH said, we HAVE TO come back and see all this around Christmas time. I was like Don't have to ask me twice.

We'll be staying at the DLH for 2 nights, then transferring (again like our Sept trip) to GCH for 2 nights. This is because I couldn't pick between the two. Then for our last night, we're staying at the Sheraton Park using a voucher for a one-night complimentary stay which is great because the rates for Friday and Saturdays are $$$$$.

If you do happen to see us (and you already know what we look like from our pics) at the DLH or anywhere else within the DL complex, please do say hi! That'd be so fun. You'll be my first ever DISer that I meet in person.

 

[gigi78]

Just finished catching up on your TR. Love it and so envious that you guys got to go to Club 33. Definitely a very Lucky kid! Not many 3 year old's can say they've been to DW & DL all in the same year plus Club 33. Amazing memories!!!

 

[Lyn-CA]

Just finished catching up on your TR. Love it and so envious that you guys got to go to Club 33. Definitely a very Lucky kid! Not many 3 year old's can say they've been to DW & DL all in the same year plus Club 33. Amazing memories!!!

Thanks for reading along. And might I add, not many 3 year olds can say "I bonked my head at Club 33."

 

[beckykarstetter]

Wednesday 12/4 is EMH at DCA. I imagine we will see you in the wide right position going to Carsland!

 

[Lyn-CA]

No morning swim for me but Rob did another power walk. We took our time to get ready and headed to breakfast at Steakhouse 55.

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I took pictures while waiting to be seated.

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The restaurant itself is gorgeous.

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However, I can't say the same about the bathrooms.

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My first thought was "I love the 80's!" I showed the bathroom pictures to Rob and all he said was, "Why do you keep taking pictures of bathrooms?"

We loved the food and service here.

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These guys all agreed as well.

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After breakfast, we took these pics outside the restaurant.

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Feeling energized, we headed into Disneyland. The character meet and greets were in full swing so we joined in on the fun.

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Some people stop and smell the roses. Me, I stop and sit on my favorite porch.

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Our one main goal today is to ride the Lilly Belle. We felt our odds have gotten better now that the heat wave is over.

To accomplish our goal, we had to split up. Rob walked back to the train station while I accompanied L.K. on one of his favorites.

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Our other goal was to get some pixie dust from Tink over at Pixie Hollow so we agreed to meet up there.

On the way there, we ran into Alice and the Mad Hatter.

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I asked the Mad Hatter if he was mad today. He replied, "why shouldn't I be?!?"

We joined the queue and waited for Rob.

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I was so anxious to find out whether the Lilly Belle was up and running today and were we going to be among its passengers.

Stay tuned to find out! Dun dun dun!

 

[Lyn-CA]

Rob showed up and had great news. We were on the list and this made us "Disney-giddy."

The giddiness carried over thanks to Tink.

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L.K. absolutely loved meeting Tink. He asked her for pixie dust. She was so nice that she took some of her glitter and pixie dusted L.K. on his forehead.

Another goal today was to finally catch the piano player at Coke Corner.

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Since we're here, we might as well snack on a Mickey cream cheese pretzel.

The ever-so-talented Robert had just started playing but we had to wait until 11 a.m. for the pretzel. Having to wait for it made me want it even more.

We sat at a table and Rob and I just enjoyed the music. L.K. had his cars to keep him occupied.

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Robert caught a glimpse of my birthday button so he played Happy Birthday for little ole me.

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After a set, he came over and talked to us for a bit.

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Finally, they opened the doors and I headed in. L.K. followed after me then Rob showed up. I asked Rob whether he grabbed L.K.'s toy cars from the table outside. He said "oops" and ran out to retrieve them. Some other kid had discovered them and started playing with them when Rob had to ask for them back.

The three of us agreed that the pretzel was yummy and added it to our must-do snacks list.

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We went our separate ways again. I left Rob and L.K. at Aladdin's Oasis to wait for the first meet and greet of the day. I kept going and asked for single rider at Indy. I was directed to join a party that used the disabled access and we took the elevator up then down. Or was it the other way around?

I enjoyed my adventure thoroughly but I gotta confess, I find the queue kinda scary especially since I was all alone when I had to navigate through it-twice!

When I returned to the Oasis, my guys were still waiting. The characters were late. I took over for Rob so he could do single rider as well on Indy.

Finally, the curtains parted and...there stood Aladdin but no Princess Jasmine. One of the moms asked where she was. Both the handler and Aladdin sorta hemmed and hawed and struggled to answer the question. One of them finally blurted out that there was an emergency and Jasmine would not be appearing. There was a collective "awww" then about half the girls in line turned and left!

I felt sooo bad for Aladdin. He said "I understand. I'm not as cute as Jasmine."

Then my little L.K. added insult to injury when, he looked Aladdin straight in the eye and said, "where's Aladdin?" Aladdin said, "I'm Aladdin!" I sheepishly told Aladdin not to take it personal and that L.K. just got confused at the moment.

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After that awkward interaction with Aladdin, we waited in the seating area of the Oasis. Rob still hadn't shown up and we were cutting it close to our reservation for the Lilly Belle. I decided to hoof it to the train station. L.K. had the luxury of being in the stroller while I had to power walk over.

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When we got there, I texted Rob so he can head straight over to the train station and he showed up a few minutes after.

We checked in 15 minutes beforehand and then took lots of pictures while we waited

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Finally, the train arrived. The three of us were the first to board.

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We headed straight to the back.

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L.K. occupied the love seat.

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Lots of picture taking ensued.

How can you not capture all these intricate details?





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We had a very nice guide with us and he gave a very informative spiel throughout our ride.

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[TexasErin]

Really enjoying your trip report. Great pics and I love your sense of humor! Your little boy is also very cute!

 

[Lyn-CA]

Really enjoying your trip report. Great pics and I love your sense of humor!

Well hello Thanks for reading and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Your little boy is also very cute!

Thanks. I often tease DS when he has misbehaved that he's "lucky" he's cute. His cuteness is his saving grace.

 

[Lyn-CA]

We loved our turn on the Lilly Belle so much that we didn't want to leave.

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We were the last to disembark so we took our time looking around the train station.

When we got to the bottom of the station steps, we looked across and saw the stop for the horse-drawn carriage.

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We decided to make this our next ride and a roundtrip one at that.

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We learned lots of interesting facts and figures about the horses-the one I found most interesting is that they reside behind the gates in Frontierland! How cool is that?

We hung around to watch them switch out the horses from Robert to Lucky.

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L.K. insisted on taking another trip to--where else--the fire station.

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We took a turn on the Omnibus before deciding to grab some lunch at Earl of Sandwich. L.K. made himself comfortable during the ride.

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It just made sense to take the monorail to get there. We lucked out a caught one right when we got there.

We grabbed our food and picked one of the outside tables. Rob went to get our drinks. As soon as I settled in, L.K. announced quite loudly that he needed to go potty. I grabbed him, went to tell Rob why we're leaving, and rushed L.K. towards the restroom. I stopped by the AMC and asked if we can possibly use their bathroom. She hesitated at first but after I begged nicely and explained my toddler may not make it, she said okay. We went in and L.K. took care of business. We walked back to EOS at a more relaxed pace. Finally, we were able to chow down.

The sandwiches were yummy.

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The Ghirardelli brownie sandwich sounded good but it was too sweet for us.

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We went back to the hotel as it was nap time. Hooray, hooray, Rob and I say!

I had to cut mine short so I could do the online check in for Southwest.

We waited for L.K. to finish napping then we headed back to the park. We lucked out and rode the front of the monorail again.

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Our dinner destination was Jolly Holiday.

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I couldn't help taking pictures while waiting in line.

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We couldn't decide on just one so we got both the caprese and chicken waldorf sandwiches.

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We got this kid's pack for L.K. He liked the bag that it came in most of all.

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For dessert, we got macaroons, a chocolate tart and an abuelita hot chocolate to wash it down. We enjoyed everything except the Mickey shaped chocolate tart.

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The abuelita hot chocolate is now a must-have and makes a great match for the macaroons.

 

[Lyn-CA]

We made a brief stop at the fire station before hopping over to California Adventure. L.K. just had to get in one last slide down the pole.

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We caught a bit of the parade on our way out.

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Over at the other park, I made yet another attempt at Soarin. I went through the single rider line and ...nothing! The line simply did not move yet again. I was starting to feel like I was being punked! I turned and left once more.

Instead of hitting more rides, we decided to do some recon work for our December trip. Rob and I talked about possibly staying at Paradise Pier so we can say that we've stayed at all 3 official Disneyland hotels.

I have seen pictures of the hotel online but I wanted to see the room with my own eyes. I also wanted to map out the walk from Paradise Pier to both parks. I read about how you cross the street to get to the Grand and go from there but I'm a visual person so I needed to experience the walk for myself.

From Condor Flats, we made our way to the Grand. When we stepped into the lobby, I felt homesick and missed staying here. We headed to the hearth where the CM storyteller had just finished up.

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Her audience cleared out and we had the fireplace to ourselves. We sat down and enjoyed the fire. Rob and I found it funny that during our 6 night stay at the Grand, we didn't get anywhere near the fireplace, but here we are now, carving out time to sit a spell.

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We managed to get ourselves up and out of the comfy chairs and get going. We had to ask a CM to direct us towards Paradise Pier. We went out to the driveway and followed the path across the street.

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When we got to Paradise Pier, we explored the lobby and then approached the front desk. We explained to the two CMs that we were hoping to see a room to help us decide where to stay for our December trip. The first CM was dismissive and said we can see room pictures on a screen. Luckily, the other CM helped us out and sumoned another CM to show us a room. The CM showed us a theme park view on the 10th floor.

It just so happened that World of Color was about to begin so the CM grabbed the remote, turned on the TV and piped in the music. We were able to watch the show for a little bit then L.K. started having a hissy fit because we wouldn't let him touch the beach ball pillow.

We wrapped up our tour and thanked the CM. She escorted us to the elevator and left. We found our way back to our hotel but we didn't head to our room right away. We stopped by Guest Relations to express our disappointment over the unexpected closing of the monorail slides. We explained how we did not receive any notice or warning in advance. The CM told us that they weren't given much of a heads up either. The CM offered us breakfast vouchers for Goofy's Kitchen and went the extra step and made the reservations on our behalf for the following morning.

Enjoying an empty lobby.

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I saw this sign and started to stress but then it occurred to me that this won't affect us at all since we were leaving the following day. Whew!

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We made another detour to see the Big Thunder model in the lobby of the Frontier Tower.

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After taking lots of pictures, we finally made it back to our room and called it a night.

 

[Lyn-CA]

Rob and I got up early this morning and packed as quietly as we could while L.K. slept in. When he awoke, we got him ready and then we made sure our luggage was good to go.

I called the front desk to ask for a later checkout, specifically at 11:30 am and with good reason. The person picking up the rental crib had arranged to take an early lunch from his regular job, drive to the resort and pick up the crib at 11:30. The CM I spoke with couldn't care less. She rudely said, "we're all booked up so we are not allowing any late checkouts at all!" Then, she hung up on me!

I told Rob what happened so he picked up the phone, called Guest Services and asked for a supervisor. He told the supervisor what had just transpired. He told them that it's okay if they are unable to accommodate our request, but it's not okay that the CM was so rude to me. Rob then explained our situation. Rob told the supervisor that we've basically vacated the room and that once the crib was picked up, housekeeping can swoop right in. Rob was asked to hold for quite some time so I went about my business.

I was in the middle of my triple-checking the bathroom, safe, and closet to make sure we didn't leave anything behind when Rob told me that we were given a later checkout time.

We walked down to Goofy's kitchen for breakfast.

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The check in desk was unorganized. There were a bunch of CMs just standing around instead of being helpful. I ended up having to direct another guest to the check in area.

We took the picture with Goofy before being led to our table.

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I accompanied L.K. as he made his own personal selections from the buffet. To my dismay, these are what he chose--definitely not mother-approved but as they say, "when on vacation..."

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The characters that came to our table were: Suzy, Aladdin, Chip, and Captain Hook.

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L.K. got nervous when he saw the tall and imposing Captain Hook. As he approached our table, L.K. closed his eyes, perhaps thinking that Captain Hook wouldn't see him or perhaps wishing he'd disappear.

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Rob and I liked the great variety of food but most of the selections were sugary and fat-laden.

After our so-so breakfast, Rob remembered that he wanted to check on his missing hat with lost and found so headed there, while L.K. and I headed to California Adventure. I made the mistake of using the Grand's entrance. It was a slow-moving line and it ate up a good 15 minutes of the extra magic hour. L.K. and I went on Little Mermaid then we went to the gift shop at Carsland. We met up with Rob at Condor Flats. Rob rode Soarin while L.K. and I browsed in the gift shop across the way.

We asked L.K. what he wanted to do next. He said Disney Jr. so off we went to Hollywood.

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The CM in charge of warming up the audience was great. Here, he asked the daddies to do their best muscle pose.

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This show's "Casey."

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I love watching L.K. get so caught up into the show.

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Tick tock croc. Notice the look of pure concentration.

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Until next time, Disney Jr. Live on Stage. That's L.K. under the bunched up streamers.

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After the show, L.K. wanted a smoothie from Schmoozies. I asked him whether he wanted to get some later at Jamba Juice where he had more flavors to choose from, but he stayed loyal to Schmoozies.

We hopped over to Disneyland to ride the monorail back. We went to our room and waited for the guy who was picking up the crib. Thankfully, he showed up earlier than expected. We were able to check out and have our luggage stored.

We were looking forward to lunch at Trader Sam's as we had read many positive reviews.

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The food was good.

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BUT, and this is a very big BUT, the service was non-existent!!!

The bartenders were catering to the guests sitting at the bar but didn't pay any attention to us.

Rob had to flag down a server. We ordered our food and waited. Our food got dropped off and that was it. No follow up at all. We could see about 3-4 servers through the swinging door just standing around chatting with each other. Rob had to go over and ask if someone, anyone, can please refill our drinks.

We were not made to feel welcome at all so we ate our food quickly.

There were no servers to be found so Rob got up once again and asked the bartender for our check.

We paid in cash, including a 15% tip, and bolted out of there. Why did we tip even though it was undeserved in this case? We weren't thinking straight-we just wanted to leave.

Needless to say, we shall not be back.

On the way back to the gift shop, we saw Captain Hook. He stopped and played peek-a-boo with L.K. As Captain Hook tried to get closer, L.K. used the trick he learned in the Disney Jr. show and started moving his arms together while saying tick-tock. It worked because Captain Hook would take a few steps back.

We went to Earl of Sandwich to get sandwiches to go then returned to the hotel's two gift shops for some last-minute shopping.

The CMs there were so nice and played games with L.K. as well.

Finally, it was time to head to the airport. We grabbed a taxi and got to the airport safely.

There was no line at security so we breezed right through.

On our way to the gate, we checked the status of our flight and found that it was delayed. I was so busy earlier in the day that I forgot to check the flight status before we got to the airport. I would rather have spent the two hours at the parks versus sitting at the airport. L.K. was definitely restless and Rob and I were running out of options to keep him occupied during the wait.

On the flight home, I took a nap but I could hear L.K. asking his dad every 10 seconds or so, "are we landing yet?"

We got home safely. We were so thankful that we had yummy Earl sandwiches for dinner as we were exhausted.

Normally, whenever it is our last day of vacation, I start to get the blues. But, since we are AP holders this time, and had at least 2 other trips already penciled in, I didn't have any reason to be sad.

Believe it or not, we did not get to do everything on our list over the 10-day period. So, I made an entirely new list of shows and attractions that we missed that we will try to cover next time, starting with our early December return visit.

Well, that's our story and with pictures to prove it.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing!