Magic for a Year!!! Our adventures with our 1st APs Halloween Party added 5-23

[kaoden39]

Yup! outside the Country Store near the walkway by the Winnie the Pooh exit.



No problem, the site is touringthecentralcoast.com

That's where I thought it had to be.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Under 30 days!!!!! We’re all getting very excited!!! Maybe some of you with little ones can help me with this. Diva never did this, so I have no frame of reference. Monkey is going through off/on phases when it comes to rides. The 1st time we went on Pirates, he rode 3 times in a row and wanted to go again. Now he won’t even consider riding it. I know I’m going to have to bribe him on it again once (I refuse to let him give up on the BEST ride in the park!!). Star Tours was the same thing, if there wasn’t a HUGE line we would’ve rode it multiple times his first time. The last time I had to beg him to go on it once. He really thinks we’re traveling at light speed. I’m okay with letting it slide this trip; one bribe/trip is my limit. I know he’s only 4 and I should let it be, I’m just concerned for him.

So, news: I entered the AP early viewing contest for Carsland. The preview is on the 11th. If we win, we’d have to add a couple more days onto our trip. If the funds aren’t there to do this, we’ll pass them off to another AP holder (have to be a AP holder to do the preview). I’m hoping for the AM time slot. I was thinking (more like dreaming) that if we win and get to stay we’d go to Newport Beach and the Disney Studios fountain and maybe Jim Henson Studios on Saturday since we’re blocked out that day anyway.

I also heard that Carnation Café is due to open June 4th or 5th. I was so excited I called Disney Dining to make reservations. The “source” in the parks needs to contact Disney Dining because they don’t have an official opening date yet. I plan to call every Monday to see if I can get a reservation. I also heard that Carnation will also be extending their hours to include dinner. I am a very happy camper!!

I have also been watching a LOT of youtube lately. I’ve come across some filming techniques that I may employ on our future trips. I mostly take pictures, but I’ll add some video in the future so that our finished “year of Disney” movie will be more entertaining. In the meantime, I leave you with pictures of trips past.

Under the sea

Tiki Room

Moose

My favorite band, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies

Monkey's favorite ride, Winnie the Pooh

Sharky and Bones from the Disney Jr show

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Hey!! We're back!!! We had a great time!!! We didn't get to see Carsland, but that's okay. We braved seniors, had two walk-offs, wittnessed one show malfunction, saw Merida, and did the musical chairs with Alice and Hatter. We also tried The Cove and Tangaroa Terrace for the first time. I'll have a full trip report up in a bit and some cool pictures!! I took over 200 and I even got a shot of the Skeleton Helmsman on Pirates without the use of a flash I also took shots of rides not normally seen, like Alice and Monsters. The Mad T Party was AWESOME!! We got to see "Who are You" aka the dancing slinky. I didn't get any pics of that and we didn't stay very long, my youngest wasn't a fan of how loud is was.

 

[kaoden39]

Welcome back! It sounds like you had a good trip! I can hardly wait to hear all about it!

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Day one of summer trip! We get up at 6:30am, load the car, get gas and we are on our way. I have no pictures of traveling because I’m the one driving. We arrive at HoJo around 1pm and they have a room for us so we check in. Only a little drama, my bank card/visa wasn’t working. Turns out it was a communications problem between HoJo’s computers and my bank’s computers. Everything turned out fine and we are all checked in. Our room was nothing to write home about, your typical two bed-room and a great view of the freeway. For $69/night, I’m not complaining.
After checking in, we walk down to the parks (DL first) and we get six autographs, 10 attractions, and see the Hillbillies. I didn’t get any pictures of the Hillbillies this time, but I did get some good video. Unfortunately I’m having difficulty uploading video to photobucket. We headed back to the hotel around 10 pm, it’s been a long day for us and we wanted to get some sleep so we could get an early start the next day.

First character of our trip: Queen of Hearts. Instead of autograph books that get shelved and forgotten, I went to Michaels and got some caps and a fabric marker for the characters to sign. The characters and a lot of guests commented on what a good idea it was. It's also cheaper than an autograph book

The next characters were Pooh and friends. We usually get to see two at Pooh's spot, but this time we were first in line for the new rotation of three characaters:

Monkey in line for Jungle Cruise

The kids in line for Alice

The end of the day, we're headed out back to the hotel. Monkey is konked out, but we made sure these two signed his hat, too

I have to upload some ride picutres to photobucket. I'v got some good ones of Alice and some more of Pooh.

 

[kaoden39]

The caps are a really cute idea and you can hang them on the wall too!!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Nice to hear that you had a great trip to DL. Great pictures of your kids with the Disney characters.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Here are some ride shots from our first day

Hot air honey pot

Tasty dream

The Tweedle's

The White Rose

Tea party

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Hello again!! Before I get going with what happened on our last trip, let me update you fine folks about our upcoming trip. The dates are the 12-15, it’s a Friday to Monday. We’ll be on the rode Friday at noon, so no park day for us. It’s a Halloween party day, by the time we get there it’ll be around 6ish. We may head into DTD depending on how we are feeling after the long drive. This time, I believe I’ve mentioned, my Mom is coming!! Her BFF is coming, too. We will be headed home late afternoon on Monday. So that leaves us two and a half days to enjoy the Halloween goodness. I’m super excited!!! Because my mom is coming, I have someone to do rider swap with!! This trip I get to go on Indy, Space, and Splash!!!!

Okay, so it’s Monday the 5th of June. We walk into DL and take a look in Town Square to see who’s meeting and greeting. We found this guy. For those who don’t know his name, this is Geppetto. He’s Pinocchio’s father.
We also stood in line for Merida today. It was a 45 minute wait, but they don’t hurry you through the greet part. It’s a good 2 minutes with Merida. We did the “wheel” thing that you spin to find out what clan you’re in. I can’t remember the name, but both kids were in the “blue” clan. After the meet we shot arrows. I don’t mean to brag er nothin’ but I’m a natural!! My arrow came out nice, smooth, and straight.

I think I’ve said before that Monkey is not a thrill junky. Every once in a while, I have him go a ride that is age and appropriate with a little bit of thrill just to see if he’ll change his mind. This day was one of those occasions. Today we went on Gadgets Go Coaster. Monkey said it wasn’t that bad, but he’s not in a big hurry to ride it again.

We did some other rides today, like IASW and other fantasy land rides. I just didn’t take pictures of everything. I like to take pictures, but I also like to be a part of the fun, not just looking at it through a camera lens.
Today was our lunch reservation for Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. This has become our favorite place for reservation dinning. The kids love it, it’s all you can eat, it’s brought to you so you don’t have to leave the table to get more, and the food is good. LOVE this place!! We also got dessert again, their cookie bake with ice cream and hot fudge.


We took a break at the hotel for a little swim at the pool and have an early dinner in our rooms. I didn’t take my camera to the pool, so no pics of that. After our dip we went to DCA. Monkey went on Mermaid while Diva did Screamin’. We have a Gridellie near where we live, but somehow it just tastes better at Disney, lol.

After our ice cream, we went to bugs land and then headed to the Hollywood back lot. The Mad T Party décor is way cooler than Tron IMO. We closed out the park with the last showing of Muppets.

After that, we headed to DL. Diva had a FP for Space she needed to use. On the way out of the park we found this guy! This is Diva’s favorite!! She was on cloud nine!!! We have been going to DL every year since Diva was three and we have never seen Donald. We always just miss him. We also saw the head cheese. In case you’re wondering, Monkey fell asleep on the walk between DCA’s backlot and DL’s Tomorrowland. I don’t wake sleeping babies, even for autographs.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Our October trip is fast approching!! My Mom is coming with her BFF. DH suprised me by saying we will get to go to the Halloween party on the 12th!! So, heres the plan: The kids and I head down south on Thursday the 11th after school. We'll have all day to play plus the Halloween party on Friday the 12th. My Mom and her BFF will be driving down on Friday, they should arrive sometime during the night. Since we'll be at the party, there is no rush for them to get to the hotel. I wouldn't be suprised if they didn't arrive till midnight. We will be staying until Monday the 15th. this will most likley be the only trip that I can get on some big kid rides cause I'll have someone to swap with. I'm going to get a tiara from the cyrstal store to wear all weekend to celebrate my birthday. I will also try to remember to take pictures during the Mad T Party. I don't know all of our eating destinations, but I do know The Cove is on the list as is Tangaroa Terrace, not for the reasons you may think. I'm not a big drinker, I'll have maybe one adult beverage the entire trip. My kids LOVE the food at these places. I want to eat at the newly renovated Carnation Cafe for lunch one time and my daughter really loves the BBQ at the Round Up. I'm waiting for my mom to get back to me about where she'd like to eat, or not like to eat. I'd hate to make ressies and find out she or her BFF don't like anything on the menu.

Let's get some pics on!!!!

Jungle Cruise bird, this trip the line went upstairs. I haven't been up there in a very long while

Irredessa

waiting in line to meet the princesses. This is the best idea EVER!! no fighting, no whinning, happy kids playing legos

Dapper Dans

Monkey playing musical chairs. He was a pirate hopping on one leg turing in cirlcles. He was really dizzy when the game was over

A couple sword in the stone pictures

I just learned that Indy is going to be down for a major refurb during our trip I know the Doc is desprate need of some touch ups, but it was one of my faves. Also on the down list are the storybook boats and casey jr. most likely getting thier christmas overlays on. Thats okay, cause we still have CARSLAND to see!!!! can't wait for that!!!

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Not sure if I still have followers, I know it's been a bit dull here. Just in case, though, I'm keeping with my year long thread.

I'm getting excited, though. My favorite time of year is fast approching along with my favorite time visit my happy place. We're down to less than 60 days. My mom was looking at allears.net for the menu listings of the table service resturants and came across Rainforest Cafe. She said it sounded good Don't worry, I informed her how not good it really was. The only cool thing is the decor and atmosphere.

So the plan: Drive down with my kids after school on Thursday the 11th. If the parks are still open, we may make an apperance. It's a 5 hour drive for us. If everything goes smoothly we should arrive in Anahiem around 8ish. We may also hit DTD for some shopping and looky-looing. I was thinking of stopping off at Trader Sams to kick off my birthday weekend proper like. But it'll be late and TS will be hopping with happy adults. Not a good place for kiddies.

Friday the 12th is our Halloween party date. I'll be a goddess, Diva is Esmerelda, and Monkey will most likely be Spiderman. We'll enjoy DL in the morning, have luch at Carnation Cafe, go back to the hotel and clean up and change into our costumes. Sometime today my mom and her BFF are also going to show up. Hopefully before we head out to the party so that we don't have to leave during the party.

Saturday the 13th we are doing rope drop at DCA so we don't have to wait as long for RSR. As I type this I think I need to re-think my plans. An all night party followed by an early morning start is not the best idea. We may do the early morning thing on Sunday instead. We will most likely have lunch at the Cove this day

Sunday the 14th. My birthday Most likley going to be the rope drop at DCA. We're having dinner at BTRBBQ. We've been here for lunch a few times it's one of our favorite places to eat.

Monday the 15th. Our last day. The kids have appointments at the Pirates League for makeovers in the morning. This way they can be pirates all day long and play pirate in the back of the car on the way home. I think we'll eat lunch at Tangaroa Terrace before we hit the open rode around 3pm ish. If everything goes to plan, I'll have sleeping kids around 5ish and have three quiet hours to enjoy on the way home

 

[kaoden39]

Sounds like a good plan!!

 

[Goofy_Mom]

New plan!!!

Instead of leaving on Thursay after school, we are going to leave early Friday morning (the 12th). We are staying at the Holiday Inn on Walnut and should arrive about noonish. The party doesn't start until 7pm and the earliest they'll let us in all dressed up is 4pm. That gives us four hours to relax from the drive, get something to eat, run to the grocery store if we end up with a room that has a fridge (the regluar rooms don't). I'm still going as a goddess, but Diva is going to be Sally from NBC. We've done a few practice runs on the Sally face, she's going to look awesome. Monkey is going to be Mario from the Super Mario Bros video game, but he wants pirate makeup so he'll be Pirate Mario. I have a 4:10pm dinner reservation for this day at Carnation Cafe.

Saturday is early dinner at Cafe Orleans. We'll most likely start our Saturday at 10am. We aren't early risers.

The schedule finally posted and the opening time for Sunday 14th is 10am for both parks, so that'll probably be our DCA rope drop day. we still have Big Thunder BBQ for dinner today

Monday is our half day and we have Pirate makeovers at the new Pirates League at 10am.

 

[MommyLove]

How fun! In about 3 months, we'll be starting our year of Disney too (after 3 years of not being able to go)!!

I see your kids wearing Crocs! Smart! They are so comfy and great for DL. And that you're in Tracy... we have family there.

Wonderful year so far!

 

[Goofy_Mom]

How fun! In about 3 months, we'll be starting our year of Disney too (after 3 years of not being able to go)!!

I see your kids wearing Crocs! Smart! They are so comfy and great for DL. And that you're in Tracy... we have family there.

Wonderful year so far!

Hello neighbor

I'm glad you said something about the crocs. Mine broke (after two years of heavy use) and I need a new pair, I totaly forgot until just now

Less than two weeks to go I've been very busy. My daughter hurt her foot playing on the playset in the backyard and is on cruches till Tuesday (a week). Luckily, she didn't break anything. But I'm a bit worried cause she has another day and a half of crutch use and her foot still hurts a lot. Needless to say, if she isn't doing backflips by Tuesday I'm calling Kiaser back and asking for a second opinon on her exray.

This weekend coming up, my daughter is hosting a Halloween movie marathon and invited a bunch of her friends to stay the night. We have a projector, so we'll be watching movies on a really large screen (aka big white sheet).

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Hello, we are leaving for Disneyland on Friday early AM!! DD's foot is healing nicely. She was on crutches for another week. The doc gave her a bootie for her foot and we wrapped her toes everyday. Yesturday and today she went to school walking on both feet and today is her last day in the bootie.

Most of my homework is done, just got a bit of reading to do today and take a quick test.

Upon my return, I'll edit the title of this thread so youz guyz know I have halloween party pictures add to it

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Well, I'm only six months behind

The October trip ended up being our last one as pass holders. We weren't able to go again in December for my DD's birthday. We did have a fabulous time Sometime I'll dig up the pictures from this trip and post links to my youtube postings of our trip.

The Halloween party was awesome!! We got to the hotel at 1ish which left us plenty of time to shower and snack and get ready for the party. We had an early dinner at Carnation Cafe, my first time having the loaded baked potato soup (OMG!!!! So good!!!) The kids had the build your own PB&J's and we tried the fried pickles. Everything tasted great!! Diva's only issue was the bread for the sandwiches wasn't very sturdy and fell apart. Monkey had a wonderful time and made/ate a peanut butter and raisin sandwich. When we got home, we used the raisins from trick or treating to make that sandwich again. We got pictures with Peter Pan, Wendy, and Captain Hook went through the same line later and got pictures with Captain Jack Sparrow. Diva wanted to get a picture with Jack Skellington, but was unwilling to wait in the 45min+ line for it. So, we have to go back. . . .

And we are!!!!! We are ALL going (DH included) to our favorite spot during our favorite time of year!! Bonus: We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel for the first time EVER!!!!!! Well, I shouldn't say "ever". I've been there once when I was 5 and aging when I was 16/17 with my high school band. That was back in 1995, though. DCA wasn't there, fastpasses hadn't been invented yet, the hotel was still attached to the monorail, and Indy was brand new. The hotel lobby was decked out in a super jungle them with huge over sized bugs "flying" around. Our dates are October 11-15, it's a Friday to Tuesday. We plan on a three day hopper plus Halloween party on the Friday (if they run the parties on the same days they did last year). We want to drive down on the 10th (a Thursday) and stay in or near Hollywood so we just have an hour's drive the day of the party. If we can leave early enough, we might be able to go to Madam Tussad's wax museum.

Anyway, later I'll update this thread again with pictures and video links from our last trip as pass holders.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Hello!!! This was our last trip at passholders. I was my birthday weekend in October and my mom and her BFF came with us. We left Central California at around 7am on Friday and checked into our hotel (Holiday Inn on Walnut) at 1pm. That gave us just under 3 hours to get ready for the Halloween party that night. My mom and her friend weren't going to the party with us. They didn't get to the hotel till around 5pm. They left from the Sacramento area at around noonish.

So, Halloween Party! I went as a goddess, my Diva went as Sally from NBC and Monkey went as Pirate Mario. We got through the gates right at 4pm and had an early dinner at Carnation Cafe. I had the loaded baked potato soup, the kids each had the build your own PB&Js and we ordered the fried pickles. The soup was A-MAZING, the kids liked their sandwiches though the bread wasn't very sturdy and the pickles were quite tasty!!

After dinner we made our way to NOS to get my birthday crown then we rode a few rides and somehow managed to end up in Fantasyland when the party actually started. We got pictures with Peter Pan, Wendy, and Hook and Capt. Jack Sparrow. We did see the fireworks but not the cavalcade. I saw the cavalcade on youtube and wasn't impressed. Monkey lasted till about 10:30pm.

Here is the evidence of the Halloween party.

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