May '08--girl's only surprise trip!! LONG

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Trip report May 10-14, 2008

Cast of Characters: me, dd 4, and grandma to dd… poor daddy said it was okay for us to take a girl’s trip… and now regrets letting us go by ourselves… so we promised never to take separate trips to DL again.

One note… if I say in here that something “has a line” that means a wait of 10 minutes or more… we rode EVERY ride, but never waited more than 5-8 minutes, most were walk on.

Day 1--Saturday

I woke up at 3:30 am and got ready to hit the road for the airport (Portland, OR) and then woke up dd (at 3:34 am) with “Honey, I know it’s early, but you need to get up… we need to go to the airport and fly to Disneyland.” It was a surprise, and she didn’t believe me, and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. After much coaxing—I convinced her I was telling the truth, and we were off…

We had an umbrella stroller, a britax car seat which I had strapped to my back with a “Pac-back” carrier, 1 very full carryon, and a backpack… oh, and silly mommy thought it would be fun to rent one of those portable DVD players from the kiosk in the airport (I pre-ordered—so we just had to pick it up), but yes, that meant I was carrying that too… sheesh… but we pre-boarded, and got on the plane and were off!!

We landed at 9:25 am at SNA, cute tiny little airport… went down to baggage claim to meet up with my mother who flew in about 20 minutes before us from Phoenix—this was surprise #2 for dd. Found our driver (Primetime private car), and were off once again…

We checked in to the GCH at about 10 am… and they were crazy busy… they had put a rush on our room but it wasn’t ready yet… so we stowed all of our bags with the bell captain and hit DCA.

I had promised that Monster’s Inc would be our first ride… so I grabbed Soarin’ fast passes, and we crossed the park to go find Boo… then we worked our way over to Bug’s land, and rode most of the rides there… and now we were hungry, so off we went to Corn Dog Castle—it was going into refurb in the next couple days, so we needed our fix right away.

Jumpin’ Jellyfish was next on our list, and I had packed “tall shoes” for dd as she was 38.5 inches… and we needed the extra oomph to get her on the 40 inch rides… tall shoes on, and no one even checked her… fun ride… made dgma’s tummy drop a bit though!!

This whole time I am calling the GCH every 15 minutes to see if our room is ready yet, as we need a nap—in beds!! They keep promising to call me, but I don’t believe them. Finally I get Joshua on the phone, and he rocks and finds us a room with a Theme Park view (we paid for DTD—so this was an upgrade)—he warns us, that we might see a little of the construction… but I pack a white noise machine, so I am not worried about it. So we head for the lobby to check in—we are in bed at 1:15 pm, groceries delivered from Vons just before we arrived, so the bell captain (and Joshua too…) bring all of our stuff up to us!! Oh, and if you looked way to the right, you could see construction, but straight out the window is Grizzly Peak!

2 hour nap, and we decide it is time to ride Soarin… tall shoes once again, and to my surprise dd actually hits her head on the bar, so we are on… awesome ride… head over to watch Aladdin—I have preferred seating vouchers, which got us those great seats, in the front row of the back section of the orchestra—so the elephants will walk right in front of us, and we can see the flying carpet, and no one is sitting in front of us… perfect.

Then we made our way to Ariel’s Grotto… stopping along the way to grab a seat on the shady side (the right) near the winery area, to watch the Play Parade… which is such a fun parade… after the parade we headed to dinner with the Princesses. Saw Ariel (of course), Belle, Snowy, Mulan, and Aurora. The food was good, the service was great… we really had a nice time.

Next mommy wanted to go back to Bug’s Land… or was that dd?? Anyhow… back we went… and tried to ride the rest of the rides there, and of course rode Heimlich’s choo choo a second time… Parade time! We headed for Golden Dreams, so get a good spot, as we were going to attempt the EP and fireworks on the same night… got a great spot next to the rope, so all we had to do was back out afterward and head for DL… The EP was just like I remembered it… lovely…okay, saw the America float, and as soon as it was right in front of us we turned and took off for DL…

My mother is 61.5… and she doesn’t run… but she can walk fast… this day had already worn her out… and she stayed about 20 paces behind dd and I until we got to the DL gates… then I felt we could slow down a little… the EP was supposed to start at 8:45… it started 10 minutes late… so it was 9:10 before we even saw the America float… we got to the hub (lying the whole way to any CM that tried to stop us—that the rest of our group was “up there”), and got on the left side, another CM tried to make us turn around (yes we were the fish going upstream) we pointed and said we were trying to get “up there” and he tucked us under a rope, behind a bench, and then the fireworks started… phew!!! But we could see the castle and the Matterhorn, and all was good!

After the fireworks we floated out with the rest of the crowd and headed to our room, thankful that we only had to go to the GCH.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I'm dividing this up by day... soo.....

Trip report May 10-14, 2008

Cast of Characters: me, dd 4, and grandma to dd… poor daddy said it was okay for us to take a girl’s trip… and now regrets letting us go by ourselves… so we promised never to take separate trips to DL again.

One note… if I say in here that something “has a line” that means a wait of 10 minutes or more… we rode EVERY ride, but never waited more than 5-8 minutes, most were walk on.

Day 2--Sunday

Used the express breakfast menu the night before, and had breakfast delivered promptly at 7 am… too much food, and very yummy… DD is in heaven with the princess bedtime stories channel, but I convince dd that it’ll be there when we get back…

Now, today is Sunday, which is an early entry day, but there was no way in heck we’d be up and out and in line for a 7 am opening… so we strolled up at 7:45 am… and my mom was apologizing when she saw the huge lines… no problem… we walked up to the Magic Morning gate, and with no one in front of us went on inside… our intention was to go to Splash and Pooh, and work our way back to front… so this was perfect for us…

DD got on Splash with her tall shoes (and did not hit her head on the bar--I'm telling you those bars are not created equal!)… a note about Splash 1st thing in the morning… they run the logs empty for a bit, so when we got on the seats were wet… so wet bottoms for us all! I gave my mom a poncho, which she put on after we were on the ride (there was no one in line—so we had no time), and I wrapped the other one around dd and I. DD loved the theming of Splash, but I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me for the drop!!

We did Splash, Pooh (2x), HM, Pirates, mom went on Indiana Jones, and dd and I did Tarzan’s tree house, then we did jungle cruise, tiki room—and had a dole whip, by 10 am. Phew!! We spent the next two hours hopping on the Fantasyland rides with no line (Toady, Pinocchio, and Snow White), I think we went on Buzz too… and picked up FP for it for later, then shopped a bit on Main Street before our 12:30 PSs for lunch at Carnation Café—yummy. Then it was back to GCH for nap time…

After a leisurely 2 hour nap, we restocked my backpack with snacks from Vons (carrot sticks and pea pods mostly…) and headed back to DL… rode Buzz again, Snow White again, Pirates again, Pooh again… gee… see a pattern? And checked in for 5:30 dinner at Blue Bayou… dinner was great… DD loved her prime rib, but she is tiny and doesn’t eat a lot in one sitting… the waitress took pity on us and took it off the bill when she saw how much dd ate… really sweet of her.

Then I checked us in for 9 pm F!... waited in the area that check-in would be with a nice lady, and we were first in line… me for the 9 pm show, her for the later… so we got seats 1-3, front and center… With an hour and a half to burn, we went and did teacups, Buzz, and Pinocchio… I was feeling a little bad doing all these rides already—they were on my spreadsheet for the next day—so we were a day ahead already!!

Went back and watched F! which was awesome, loved the seats, and the tray of goodies… dd and I shared one, and took the other back and stuck it in the fridge for a treat another night. Fireworks were good from this location too… but I am still glad we saw them from the hub the night before. After everything was over, we made the slow trek back to GCH to bed.

A word about crowds… yes it was busy, we just avoided the long lines, but it wasn’t even as busy as I thought it would be, and there was actually room to maneuver in the NO Square area around F! time, so it couldn’t have been too bad.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

You ready for more? Here comes day 3...

Trip report May 10-14, 2008

Cast of Characters: me, dd 4, and grandma to dd… poor daddy said it was okay for us to take a girl’s trip… and now regrets letting us go by ourselves… so we promised never to take separate trips to DL again.

One note… if I say in here that something “has a line” that means a wait of 10 minutes or more… we rode EVERY ride, but never waited more than 5-8 minutes, most were walk on.

Day 3--Monday

Up and at ‘em, we had 7:30 PSs for Chip & Dale’s breakfast… where we saw 9!! Yes 9!! Characters … Chip, Dale, Terk, Meeko, Brer Bear, Baloo, Koda, Kenai, and Pluto. Great breakfast, Terk is lots of fun… and we had time to be in line at 8:30 for a 9 am opening.

But, what happened to the sun??? It was RAINING!! Us clad in capris and tees, we headed onto main street and bought sweatshirts… okay, now we are ready to go… waited for rope drop, and headed to Fantasyland… where we rode Peter Pan first, then Toady, then Dumbo… and then everything else—except Alice—not running in the rain???

By 10:20 we’d covered all of Fantasyland… hmmm… now what?? We grabbed Buzz FPs, and headed to CA… rode Soarin, grabbed FPs for it for later… then went and hung out for a bit in the Animations building… lots of characters in there because of the rain… but we didn’t stand in lines for them… saw Turtle Talk—and dd got to ask him a question!!!! “Do you like Princesses??” He was great with her… we were so proud!

Lunchtime at Rainforest Café… great food, great table location, great service… lunch PS was at 12, we were done by 12:45, and in bed for naps at 1. Mom had to go home today, so while we were napping, she caught the Primetime shuttle back to SNA, and went back to Phoenix… now dd and I are on our own.

After nap we decide to go use our Soarin’ FPs… I have dinner PSs at Café Orleans for 5 pm… so we headed in that direction and rode Pooh first… then had a nice dinner… after dinner we went on Snow White and Pinocchio… why these two rides never have lines I do not know!! And then got a spot for the parade right in front of the Alice ride… kinda crammed into the corner of the roped area… was a good spot… but the princess float stopped in front of us, so we couldn’t see much.

The park closes at 8 tonight, so after the parade we hit Toady, and then zoomed over to Buzz to use our FPs right at the end of the evening… we took our time leaving and went back to the GCH and savored the Mickey Mouse rice krispy treats and milk (that we pre-ordered from VP) before bed…

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Really, you can take a break... I am long winded... here comes day 4!

Trip report May 10-14, 2008

Cast of Characters: me, dd 4, and grandma to dd… poor daddy said it was okay for us to take a girl’s trip… and now regrets letting us go by ourselves… so we promised never to take separate trips to DL again.

One note… if I say in here that something “has a line” that means a wait of 10 minutes or more… we rode EVERY ride, but never waited more than 5-8 minutes, most were walk on.

Day 4—Tuesday

Express breakfast room service… MM is at 8, so we needed to be in line early… we made it to the lines by 7:45, went in pretty quickly, and waited for rope drop… today we needed to get on Alice… we’ll we did 2x in a row… great ride… we did the rest of the Fantasyland dark rides and then walked to PFF… we still needed Cinderella’s autograph in dd’s book… we had 2 pages left and it would be full—just from the two character meals…. So fingers crossed.

We were in line for 1 hour… 15 minutes before PFF opened, and 45 minutes in the queue to meet the princesses… next time I will book a second princess meal!!! It paid off though, we got Cindy and Jasmine—and finished the book… then we made Pocahontas sign the page that Meeko signed (Meeko signed small)… and were done…. Decorated a crown, watched a story, had our faces painted… and watched part of the coronation ceremony, which dd was bored with so we left.

Now here comes the mean mommy part… I wanted to go on Space… and dd was wary… but I talked her into it… they let her on, and then I spent the whole ride trying to hang on to her… she is so light she was being whipped around like a doll… she didn’t cry, and wasn’t hurt, but was PISSED OFF at me for tricking her onto that ride… so to make up, we went on Snow White again… then it was lunch time so we headed for DCA…

We went to Taste Pilot’s Grill and both of us got the kid’s burgers… and a side of fries… very yummy… and were wiped out, so it was nap time. Had to wash off the paint, as it was getting everywhere… but it was fun while it lasted.

We slept quite awhile, and then had a snack of the cheese and crackers from the F! tray… and decided to go watch parades… so we watched Pixar Play—got a much better seat this time… just passed the entrance to the Vineyard Room, on the right side… the street narrows, and there are fences along each side… well you can’t sit in the entrance to the vineyard area, but we sat leaned against the fence just beyond it… in the shade, the people on the bug’s land side had to look into the sun… it was awesome.

We kinda followed the parade down the street after it was over (staying plenty back so the CMs don’t shoo you away), and tried to go on the Zephyr, but the winds were too high I guess, so it was closed… so we went to the Sun wheel and rode the stationary cars instead… then the CA was closed…

Walked over to DL and headed toward the King’s and Queen’s bathrooms just passed Alice if you are walking the parade route…) and sat down on the edge of the bricks in the very front… perfect seats… had to wait 15 minutes, and I wished we had grabbed some popcorn or something… cause we normally eat dinner around 5:30 and now it was almost 7 and we hadn’t eaten yet… so dd consumed the rest of the snacks in my back pack… why they don’t have treat vendors on the route before the parade starts I don’t know.

After the parade we went to ride Toady, and rode it 2x in a row… then hurried to Buzz to use our FPs I had picked up some time earlier… then the park was closed and off to eat we went… while in line for Buzz (they had such a short line, they put everyone in the FP line), I called the hotel and got them to grab me a PS for 8:30 at Storytellers… I was not sure how many people would be eating after the park closed.

We had a great dinner… got the buffet, I ordered a drink… and I hate to say this… but it was too strong for me! Wandered upstairs and we were in bed by 10.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

You still reading this?? Wow! Well, here comes the last day...

Trip report May 10-14, 2008

Cast of Characters: me, dd 4, and grandma to dd… poor daddy said it was okay for us to take a girl’s trip… and now regrets letting us go by ourselves… so we promised never to take separate trips to DL again.

One note… if I say in here that something “has a line” that means a wait of 10 minutes or more… we rode EVERY ride, but never waited more than 5-8 minutes, most were walk on.

Day 5—Last Day—Wednesday

We stayed at the DLH in October, and on our last day I was able to pay $80 or so to get a 4 pm checkout… well, I tried this at GCH, but they told me they were actually overbooked, and couldn’t even let me pay to stay longer. They did give me a 1 pm checkout though.

We started the morning with another character breakfast at Chip & Dale’s… because I was too lazy to walk to PP or DLH for a character breakfast—and didn’t want to waste park time by going to Minnie’s… this time we only saw: Chip, Dale, Meeko, Timon, and Pocahontas… what was cool about this though, it I had already had Meeko and Pocahontas sign the same page in dd’s autograph book… and today I got a photo of both of them together with dd… yeah!

I have to say, I started the day a little disappointed, it seemed like every day we were in DL we saw hundreds of people with dream fast passes… yet every time we saw the dream team they were walking somewhere, and I didn’t think it was right to stalk them!! So we had not been dreamed.

We were running early this morning, so we went to the business center at 8 am to print our boarding passes for that night…. And the nice lady gave dd a Tink pin… so I was excited because it was like being dreamed…

Then we rearranged our suitcase—because I had a brainstorm—since we couldn’t nap in the room like I wanted, I took a look out at the GCH pool and decided we would nap there… they have super comfortable looking lounge chairs… so now I needed our swimsuits handy for later…

Okay, business taken care of, we were off to the park… in line at 8:40… in the park before rope drop… and to Matterhorn… yeah, Matterhorn… dd didn’t want to go on it, and I made her… she did it when she was 3… well, she didn’t love it, but admitted it was way better than Space!!

We had TTMM tickets, so that was where we headed next, and we got in the gate and found a place to stand right before they started the little show. Today was gonna be a hot day… dd got bored watching the show (we saw it in October—so she remembered it), so we wandered the park while everyone else was baking in the sun… Mickey’s house was closed for refurb… but we checked out everything else… then the characters found stations throughout the park, so we got pics with Minnie and Goofy—had already grabbed Mickey on another day on main street… and then rode Roger Rabbit… dd didn’t want to do the coaster, and I didn’t make her this time… Of course we played with all the stuff… then we headed back to the Fantasyland.

I see that once again it seems like everyone has dream fast passes… of course I had convinced myself they were not giving them out in Fantasyland… so that must be why we were missing them… but now it was 10:20 am and I was sure we’d missed out again… we were going to ride Pinocchio… but it had a line (funny cause that ride never has a line), so I tell dd let’s do Snow White one last time… and on we go…

Well, as we are getting off, just inside the gate, we are greeted by the Dream Squad!! We got YOMD Mickey Ears!! Woohoo!!

DD loves her ears, and we decide to say bye to DL (it is getting crowded) and head over to CA, where dd is determined that for our 4th time on Soarin’ that we will be in the 1st row… with ears on, we ask “please” and have to wait 1 ride, but we get on Soarin’… this was our longest wait in 5 days—15 minutes, because we skipped our turn.

Its 11:30, and we’re hungry… also at DD’s request we go back to Rainforest Café… and check in 20 minutes early for our 12 pm PS. They seat us next to the Gorillas… which dd loves, and once again have a fabulous lunch… we are back in our room at 12:40.

Change into swimsuits, stuff the laundry bag from the closet with our real clothes, call the bell boy—who is at our door in 3 minutes… and he takes all our other stuff to storage… and we head pool side.

I grabbed about 6 towels, and basically made us a bed on a lounger in the shade… no one was at the pool and it was 1 pm… we also happened to be right next to a music speaker that played instrumental soft music… dd and I crashed… 2 hours later I woke her and we swam for a bit before taking our wet selves to a bathroom to get changed… that is the one thing the pool area is missing is potties!

We had about an hour, so we shopped a bit in DTD, and got ice cream at Haagen Daz, and then went to meet our car at 5 pm. I had given up trying to carry everything on the plane—our carryon was soooo full now… so at SNA we checked 1 bag, and had Mickey D’s… and headed home… pulled into our driveway at 11 pm…

What a crazy, busy, wonderful, memorable trip….

I didn't mention, that every morning dd woke up to a new character tee on her pillow from "Tink"... so that was part of the magic and excitement... we really had a great time together...

Thanks for reading!

 

[december]

I enjoyed your report. 9 days till I'm in DL!!!!!!

 

[avalon451]

Wow! GREAT report! I ripped through the whole thing, no problem. So glad you had a wonderful trip!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Wow! GREAT report! I ripped through the whole thing, no problem. So glad you had a wonderful trip!

hee hee.... thanks! I just started typing and couldn't stop until I wrote it all down!

--Lisa

 

[jennifur25]

You need to post some pics!! We were in some of the same areas on the same days and i'm wondering if we saw you LOL

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

You need to post some pics!! We were in some of the same areas on the same days and i'm wondering if we saw you LOL

Practically every pic I took was of dd with a character or of characters during parades... dh uploaded them to the computer at home, but here I am at work... anyhow... I will get around to at least a few pics, I promise!!

I looked for your boys! And saw lots of twins and triplets, but not you guys!

--Lisa

 

[Brenna&Noah's Mom]

Sounds like you had a winderful time.

 

[quest4dl]

Great trip report - I love all the detail! I also have F! tickets - how early did you line up to get your amazing seats?

 

[letthembelittle]

That sounds like so much fun! I bet your dd was on

 

[momto2nenas]

Awesome report! I felt like I was there .. I hope you post pics soon!

You had a truly perfect visit it seems! We were dreamed twice last summer (fastpasses and lanyard/pins) but we SO wanted the EARS! Lucky you!

 

[jennifur25]

Practically every pic I took was of dd with a character or of characters during parades... dh uploaded them to the computer at home, but here I am at work... anyhow... I will get around to at least a few pics, I promise!!

I looked for your boys! And saw lots of twins and triplets, but not you guys!

--Lisa

LOL It did seem like there were alot of twins there that weekend! During the parade at Disneyland one of the characters from Pinocchio came up to the boys and held up 2 fingers and then pointed at each boy and looked shocked Very cute.. somebody did it last year too.. i think one of the dwarves!

Such a shame that we didn't see each other! Sounds like your trip was wonderful too!!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Great trip report - I love all the detail! I also have F! tickets - how early did you line up to get your amazing seats?

Well, at 6:30 I went and stood where one of the F! workers in yellow said they'd be setting up the check-in table... and the other lady I was chatting with was already hovering there... then a few others showed up... the kept moving us back a little at a time as they moved stuff in... then the girl got there at 6:45 and we told her we'd already been waiting 15 minutes, she reminded us we'd be waiting 15 more... and we told her no problem, we were patient. At about 6:55 they let us pick our seats, and by then there was quite a line!

--Lisa

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

LOL It did seem like there were alot of twins there that weekend! During the parade at Disneyland one of the characters from Pinocchio came up to the boys and held up 2 fingers and then pointed at each boy and looked shocked Very cute.. somebody did it last year too.. i think one of the dwarves!

Such a shame that we didn't see each other! Sounds like your trip was wonderful too!!

How fun... I did see one set of triplet girls--with blonde updos... probably 4 years old... too cute... that daddy is going to be in sooo much trouble when they are teens!

--Lisa