Mommy and Daughter Disneyland Trip (8/19 completed!)

[DisDancerina]

I'm glad to see me here too!

 

[mommaU4]

YAY!! I found your TR. I am lovin it so far. Well, not the bad things that happened. I am sorry for that. I wish I'd been with ya'll at the Princess meal. I would've had some heads rolling for treating you and Maddie that way.

But she looked so pretty and I'm glad you made the best of it. Sorry check in at the hotel went rough as well. But the hotel room looked nice, so I guess that's a bonus.

It was so great seeing you again and meeting Maddie. She's a doll!! Hannah said she liked her because she was "cute and funny". They had so much fun with her at the Lilo breakfast! She was so cute with Stitch. I hope that made up for the other meal.

Can't wait to hear more! No pics of me though!!
I hate how I look in pics!!!

I've got some cute ones of Maddie though. I'll have to send them to you. We'll be home tomorrow and then I can get started on my TR. I actually took pics this time!

Keep posting!

 

[daisy_77]

YAY!! I found your TR. I am lovin it so far. Well, not the bad things that happened. I am sorry for that. I wish I'd been with ya'll at the Princess meal. I would've had some heads rolling for treating you and Maddie that way.

But she looked so pretty and I'm glad you made the best of it. Sorry check in at the hotel went rough as well. But the hotel room looked nice, so I guess that's a bonus.

It was so great seeing you again and meeting Maddie. She's a doll!! Hannah said she liked her because she was "cute and funny". They had so much fun with her at the Lilo breakfast! She was so cute with Stitch. I hope that made up for the other meal.

Can't wait to hear more! No pics of me though!!
I hate how I look in pics!!!

I've got some cute ones of Maddie though. I'll have to send them to you. We'll be home tomorrow and then I can get started on my TR. I actually took pics this time!

Keep posting!

Hi!!!
I am so glad to see you here! The breakfast with you guys made up for everything that went wrong. Your family is awesome! You are one lucky lady, Beth.

I am pretty easy going. I was trying not to let all that stuff get to me..but it was hard enough traveling alone with a 3 year old and when things are going well it makes it alot harder. I still had a blast and Maddie loves looking at the pic of her and Ariel (we bought the picture that they take---I know I am a SUCKER! ). She took it to preschool for show and tell. AND she keeps asking if we are going to Disneyland today. Poor kid. Little does she know her next trip isn't for a long while.

I am getting ready to post more report...I just gotta find my notes!

Thanks for reading!

 

[daisy_77]

June 7
I woke up at 5am. I could'nt sleep. Maddie was hogging the bed and laying sideways. She is a crazy sleeper. I got up and did some journaling and cleaned up the room. It was already looking like a bomb hit. Not sure how that happened. LOL

Today was the day we were heading to Disneyland. I was sooo excited!
Maddie woke up happy and ready to go. This morning was a Magic Morning and although Maddie had a morning available for early entry, I didn't. I had an AP. Oh, well. We left the hotel room around 7:00 am because I wanted to go to Guest Services and then take some pics around the Esplanade before it got to busy.

We got through security and I headed to Guest Services. I added a day onto Maddie's 3 day Park Hopper. It was only $15 (if I remember right). It was 7:15 ish and there was no one in line. I asked a CM when I could line up for regular entry. He wanted to see Maddie's ticket and my AP. I thought it was a bit strange and then he scanned them and let us in! He said normally there would have to be 2 MM park hoppers to 1 AP to let the APer in for MM...but he let me in anyways! Thank you nice CM! You rock!!

Well we headed straight for Fantasyland. We rode all this before 8:00 am:
Dumbo (3 times)
Carrousel (2 times)
Peter Pan
Tea cups
Buzz Lightyear (and got FP's for later)


Dumbo:

Look at how empty this place is! It is Saturday! Woot!

That was in 45 minutes! The carrousel CM just let Maddie stay on and she got to ride Jingles, Mary Poppins horse! Wooohoo!!

Maddie on Jingles:

The CM pointed out the hidden Mickey on the front:

Pretty Mary Poppins detailing:

At around 8 Maddie said she was hungry. I was in the mood for a Mickey pancake so we headed to River Belle Terrace. On the way, I noticed that Minnie's Breakfast was going on. I asked the CM how long the wait was..she said we could be seated now. So, in a moment of weakness, I said ok! I was hoping that this would make up for last night's dinner at Ariels.
We shall see....

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Waiting in anticipation for the next update. Hopefully this experience went better.

 

[daisy_77]

So we head into Minnie and Friends Breakfast. It was practically empty! I was so surprised. We paid for our meal and they gave us two buttons. Then a very nice CM explained how the buffet works. Seemed easy enough. We were seated next to a very nice family. They watched my stuff while Maddie and I went to go get food. I got her a Mickey waffle, a Mickey pancake, bacon, strawberries, egg and some chocolate milk. I hoped that was enough so that I wouldn't have to go back for a second plate for her. I got eggs, potato wedges, sausage, some melon, chocolate croissant, and a Coke. I think we were ready!

There were loads of characters wandering around. Maddie was pretty excited to see Minnie and Chip and Dale. So we waited...and waited...and finally the Fairy Godmother comes around. She was so sweet! Maddie was less than interested. FG completely understood and told Maddie that Cinderella was a bit shy at first too. Haha!!

Ok, bring on Minnie....please!!
Nope...we waited...and waited. And Tigger and Eeyore show up at almost the same time. They were trying to enteract with Maddie but she really was not interested. Not sure what this kid's deal is with the characters. She likes some and others can hit the road.

....notice all the balloons and Minnie! We totally got the shaft!

Well, Maddie was done and ready to go. She was looking for Minnie. Not sure where Minnie went. The people next to us said that before we got there Minnie had come by a few times, along with Chip and Dale. And they said they were not sure why only certain characters were coming to see Maddie. It was a bummer. But my kiddo was ready to go. And she wanted a balloon. Side note: My daughter loves balloons. We are always going to the Dollar Tree just to get her a balloon. As we were leaving I asked one of the character handlers where Maddie can get a balloon. She said she didn't know and to ask at the podium. I went to the podium and asked and they told me that they give them out when we check in for breakfast...so....
I asked if they could get her one. They said that the person that does that wasn't there right now. Oh, I was not too happy. I sorta rolled my eyes and said whatever loudly (yeah, that is the meanest I get ). I told Maddie I would get her one later. She whined a bit, but I really wasn't paying too much attention to it. I was too busy throwing a tantrum in my mind. Why were we having such a bad time with these character meals?? I just spent $30 something on breakfast! Oh, well....DH doesn't need to know that. I did send Disney an email letting them know that they really need to have better organization with character meals. And I was glad for two things: Maddie is too young to notice (although she did ask why Minnie didn't come see her ) and DH wasn't there...he would have not been very nice and it would have made him not like Disneyland even more than he doesn't like it now.

We headed for the Jungle Cruise and loved it! The skipper was a major cheeseball and got really into the lame jokes. I got into them too...I laughed out loud. I think I was the only one.

We headed to Pirates and Maddie did not want to get on. She said that it scares her. Well, I sorta made her go on..I knew that once she got on it she would love it! And I was right. At first she was not liking the drops...at all. Then she was fine and was singing along. We even stopped at Pieces of Eight and got a Pirate Minnie plush. She also told me that she wasn't getting back on it. "Only one time, Mom."
Was the Davy Jones foggy "waterfall" thing only at WDW?? I didn't see it this time and I know we saw it at WDW. I was waiting for it to brace for a Maddie freak-out...but I didn't see it. Just wondering. After this, we got a cold drink and headed to Toontown...

Toontown was awesome for us, as always! We love this one sooo much more than the one at the MK at WDW. It is like you are transported into a cartoon world. We saw Pluto...

and Goofy. Goofy was a dud. He didn't interact with Maddie at all. He just stood there. Whatev.

We rode Gadget's go Coaster and wandered around playing. Maddie loved it! We got FP's for Roger Rabbit's Toon Town spin so we could ride later. Maddie wasn't in the mood to ride at the moment.

At this time, I was noticing how warm it was getting and crowded. It was nearing 11:00 am and Maddie was wanting ice cream. No ice cream to be found...none of the stands were open just yet. So we stopped at the Bakery on Main Street and she got a big Mickey head cookie and a chocolate milk. I got a sugar cookie and a Coke.

She was starting to get whiny and tired at this point. We headed back to the room for a really short break...

 

[daisy_77]

Waiting in anticipation for the next update. Hopefully this experience went better.

Hi!

It didn't. Keep reading.

 

[toocherie]

Oh man! I am so sorry Minnie's breakfast was a bust too! You had mentioned the part about the balloon . . . in my experience character breakfasts are either really really great . . . or really really bad. There doesn't seem to be any in-between.

Last December a group of Red Hat friends and I went to the Lilo and Stitch breakfast and had a blast. Two weeks later I went back with my Mom and they practically ignored us--didn't take our picture, didn't give us leis (let alone buttons), sat us at the worst table, terrible service, etc. I got in a fight with the hostess about it (she was a little spoiled brat--I should have reported her). Then when we had the ladies trip, we went to Goofy's for breakfast and had to beg to have characters come by our table (we weren't being singled out--they had ALL gone on break--for like 45 minutes)!

I agree with you that Disney needs to get its act together on the character meal thing--for the amount of money you pay it should be a consistent experience for everyone.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Sorry about missing Minnie at the character breakfast. Periodically I entertain thoughts of doing a solo character meal, but if I missed out on the characters I wanted to see, I'd be mighty disappointed and a bit frustrated with the expense to not get what I wanted. Guess I'll keep sticking to the meet and greets. At least that doesn't cost me anything.

In terms of POTC, the Davy Jones waterfall effect is also at Disneyland. However on my June 4-7 visit, I noticed on one occasion that the audio for Davy Jones was working, but the waterfall effect was down for whatever reason. You must have caught it at a bad time because I've only seen it down that one time.

 

[wendylady36]

I had bad service at Ariel's Grotto too. The princesses were great, but everyone else just did not care about anyone but themselves. How awful that you had bad experiences with both character meals!

I love that black and white dress on your daughter, it's so cute!

Your daughter makes a very cute Belle. I love how she ignores all the princesses...I would have been embarrassed too!

I'll go see Muppet's 3D AND Aladdin with you, and I promise not to cry or scream!

That picture with your daughter and Goofy is too funny, Goofy looks like a statue...looks like he didn't want to be there at all.

Great trip report, I love all the pictures!

 

[Daisybelle]

[slightly off topic but only for a moment] I love your Minne Mouse dressed up like Tinker Bell! That is so perfect! Where did you get that?

Oh! And I'm enjoying your report. I get to do a mother daugher trip in July but my daughter is about 10 years older than yours! Still a lot of fun though!

 

[daisy_77]

Oh man! I am so sorry Minnie's breakfast was a bust too! You had mentioned the part about the balloon . . . in my experience character breakfasts are either really really great . . . or really really bad. There doesn't seem to be any in-between.

Last December a group of Red Hat friends and I went to the Lilo and Stitch breakfast and had a blast. Two weeks later I went back with my Mom and they practically ignored us--didn't take our picture, didn't give us leis (let alone buttons), sat us at the worst table, terrible service, etc. I got in a fight with the hostess about it (she was a little spoiled brat--I should have reported her). Then when we had the ladies trip, we went to Goofy's for breakfast and had to beg to have characters come by our table (we weren't being singled out--they had ALL gone on break--for like 45 minutes)!

I agree with you that Disney needs to get its act together on the character meal thing--for the amount of money you pay it should be a consistent experience for everyone.

Believe it or not, this was the worst part of our trip for me. Even more so than Ariel's Grotto. I think it was because Maddie noticed other kids getting balloons and attention from Minnie. It hurt me to see her sad. I think I need to man-up and start speaking my mind. I have been too quiet about things...rolling my eyes at the podium lady was a hard as I get. I need to step it up a notch so I can start getting some respect.

Sorry about missing Minnie at the character breakfast. Periodically I entertain thoughts of doing a solo character meal, but if I missed out on the characters I wanted to see, I'd be mighty disappointed and a bit frustrated with the expense to not get what I wanted. Guess I'll keep sticking to the meet and greets. At least that doesn't cost me anything.

In terms of POTC, the Davy Jones waterfall effect is also at Disneyland. However on my June 4-7 visit, I noticed on one occasion that the audio for Davy Jones was working, but the waterfall effect was down for whatever reason. You must have caught it at a bad time because I've only seen it down that one time.

Yeah, unless there is something on the menu that you gotta have...I would just stick to the meet n greets.

I thought I had seen it on POTC at Disneyland, too! I am glad to know I am not losing it!

I had bad service at Ariel's Grotto too. The princesses were great, but everyone else just did not care about anyone but themselves. How awful that you had bad experiences with both character meals!

I love that black and white dress on your daughter, it's so cute!

Your daughter makes a very cute Belle. I love how she ignores all the princesses...I would have been embarrassed too!

I'll go see Muppet's 3D AND Aladdin with you, and I promise not to cry or scream!

That picture with your daughter and Goofy is too funny, Goofy looks like a statue...looks like he didn't want to be there at all.

Great trip report, I love all the pictures!

Ariel's Grotto is not getting my business again. The only way I will ever take her there is if it is for a cousin's birthday party or someone else is paying.

I will take you up on the M3D and Aladdin on March 5th...

Maddie's dress was a Target find. I loves me some Target! I get most of her clothes there.

Goofy was lame...he was like that with everyone. He would occasionally pat someone on the back but it was as if he was afraid to bend his knees or move his head around...it was weird.

[slightly off topic but only for a moment] I love your Minne Mouse dressed up like Tinker Bell! That is so perfect! Where did you get that?

Oh! And I'm enjoying your report. I get to do a mother daugher trip in July but my daughter is about 10 years older than yours! Still a lot of fun though!

I went to photobucket and put in a search for Disney pics...you can take mine if you want.

I am glad that you are enjoying the report. I hope you and you DD have a great time!

 

[mommaU4]

Hi!!!
I am so glad to see you here! The breakfast with you guys made up for everything that went wrong. Your family is awesome! You are one lucky lady, Beth.

I am pretty easy going. I was trying not to let all that stuff get to me..but it was hard enough traveling alone with a 3 year old and when things are going well it makes it alot harder. I still had a blast and Maddie loves looking at the pic of her and Ariel (we bought the picture that they take---I know I am a SUCKER! ). She took it to preschool for show and tell. AND she keeps asking if we are going to Disneyland today. Poor kid. Little does she know her next trip isn't for a long while.

I am getting ready to post more report...I just gotta find my notes!

Thanks for reading!

Oh man, I'm sorry the other meal didn't go to well either. It's funny she's not to into those characters. I don't want to give anything away, but I never would have guessed it based on how she was with Stitch.

Maybe she needs to go back to Disneyland in October.... The girls would love to see her again!

 

[quest4dl]

Great job with the trip report! We were wandering around DL the same time as you on the 7th. Since I hadn't been on WDW's pirates since the new inserts, I didn't notice the missing Davy Jones until I rode again another day! He was missing again during our last ride (can't recall the number of times we rodes this one!).

I feel your sadness over the character meal. We had a similar experience at Storytellers. I made the reservation there just because my 7 yo ds really wanted to see Chip and Dale. Although I was assured that they would visit us, they never did. The next time we visit DL or WDW he may not have the same excitement about the characters so I was very disappointed. I did express this to the CM and we were presented with a signed autograph of C & D but it really didn't make up for not meeting them since he doesn't care about the autographs. At WDW, the character meals were the best way to spend time with the characters without lining up so it was really worth the cost. DL does not seem to have their act together on this front.

Thankfully we made up a bit for this disappointment by meeting Mickey in his house - he says that was the highlight of his trip! He's a bit reserved with his emotions at times so I didn't realize how much of a big deal it was to him until after the trip. I feel like a bad mommy for not spending more time trying to meet characters - I wish we lived closer to DL so we could visit again!

 

[DisDancerina]

Was somethin' goin on with Goofy? (Got a new girl? Clarabelle has been a little fiesty lately ) DL's POTC usually does have Davvy, how odd... Sorry about your poor dining experience

PS- Did she hear "We want the redhead"?

 

[mommaU4]

January, I was asking Ruben about the Davey in POTC and it was there when they went through. Not sure why it wasn't for you.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing more.

 

[wendylady36]

Maddie's dress was a Target find. I loves me some Target! I get most of her clothes there.

Target has the cutest clothes for kids. Every time I'm in there (basically everyday) I always see outfits that I want to buy for my nieces. Target usually gets my paycheck. I should start getting paid in Target gift cards.

 

[LMO429]

great tr subscribing

 

[mommaU4]

More, more, more!

 

[daisy_77]

June 7 continued....

Maddie feel asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. If was funny, right when we got into the room she flew from the stroller to the bed. Poor thing was tired! LOL While she slept, I played with her Game Boy.

I woke her up at 12:30...we had an ADR at Carnation Cafe for lunch. So she woke up and got cleaned up and we headed out.

When we got to the security lines, I was surprised to see how many people were in line. I had never seen Disneyland this busy in years. It was crazy. We finally got through the turnstiles and headed down Main Street.

Once we got to the restaurant, I had to wait in a small line to even speak to the hostess to check-in. There was also quite a long line waiting to be seated. Ugh. Maddie was whiny, it was hot and I was sooo hungry! I was hoping that the wait wasn't forever. I checked in and was seated immediately! I think the line was people who just walked up and didn't have ADR's. This, of course, is speculation and I am not sure if they had ADR's or not. Just sayin.

We had an awesome spot in the shade. The family sitting next to us had two kids and the minute we sat down the daughter came over and wanted to play with Maddie. The mom kept calling her over and was obviously embarassed. I told her it was okay...she was like, "NO, it's not okay", and gave me the stink-eye. Oh, my. She shocked me with how mean she was. The poor little girl just wanted to make a friend. Oh, well. They left shortly after that. I was surprised at all the mean mommies on the trip. I have seen em before..it just makes me sad to see. I think some moms need a nap just as bad as the kids do...

Maddie had the kids macaroni and cheese. It came with carrots and apple slices. I ordered her the Pirate Punch with the clip on Hook. They were out of Tinker Bell. It was okay. She was dueling with the Tink she already had with the Hook clippy.

I ordered the Half Sandwich with Soup. The sandwich was the Smoked Turkey and the Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Holy mackerel! This stuff was good. I wish I could have had more... Sorry no pics of the food.

After we ate, we walked toward to Main Street Railroad Station. We looked at all the neat displays in the windows. We loved the Little Mermaid one! So cute! I think that everyone should take the time to check these displays out. They are well done!

We got to the railroad station and had just missed the train. I had just heard that they had two trains running so the wait was going to be long. I am not sure how many trains they normally have running....so I thought I would just wait and see. Well, the wait was long. Very long. But it was nice and cool in the waiting area for the train. It finally got to us and we rode around twice. Maddie loved it and it felt good to get out of the heat. There was a nice breeze while riding on the train. It was hard to get off and get back in the hot sun.

I decided since we would be out late tonight, we would head back to the room and relax. We headed back and walked around the hotel. We took a look at the pool, which was super small and crowded. It didn't matter since I forgot our swimsuits anyway. I KNOW!! Who doesn't pack a swimsuit for a trip in June? I guess me! LOL

Maddie ended up taking another nap and slept until about 5:00pm. She slept about 2 hours. She hardly naps at home, so I was surprised at how well she would nap while we were at Disneyland. It was nice.

We headed to California Adventure around 5:30 and the crowds were not as bad as they were earlier. It was still busy but not as bad.

We were meeting some Diser's at 7:20 for dinner so we had some time to kill. We made a beeline for a bug's land. She rode all the rides there except the bumper car-ish ride. I can't remember what it is called. Anywho, we had some fun!

We started going towards the Wine Country Trattoria for the Dis meet. I walked up into the restuarant area and saw a group of women standing in the middle. I already knew Beth (mommaU4) from the WDW Ladies only trip. The other ladies Chris (Califgirl), Cheryl (toocherie), Cheryl (bsballmom), Katie (MamaKate), were ladies I had chatted with on the Dis Ladies Disneyland trip thread, but had never met. It was a nice meal, I had the Vegetable Lasagna and DD had the Perfecto Pasta that came with apples. It was yummy! The breadsticks were pretty good too! Everyone was super nice and it was nice to put some names with faces. I am looking forward to hanging out with these ladies again in March!

In the middle of dinner, Maddie had to use the restroom. On our way, Maddie made a friend.

Sorry it is so dark...didn't want to scare the cat with the flash..
He was cute! I love black cats. He was just chillin'. He wasn't afraid of Maddie at all. He was gone when we came back from the restroom.

MamaKate and Califgirl had to head home. We said our goodbyes and toocherie, mommaU4, bsballmom, me and Maddie decided to go see the Electrical Parade. Maddie loved seeing this parade again! Here is a pic of mommaU4, bsballmom, and toocherie:

After the parade we said goodbye to toocherie and walked over to see the que for Toy Story Mania. It was neat and I am looking forward to riding this in March!

It was nice walking around without any body around. It was so quiet. Too bad it was closed. It would have been nice to get on some attractions.

After the stroll, I said goodbye to Cheryl (bsballmom) and Beth (mommaU4). Maddie and I headed over to Disneyland to get our Dumbo on!

I was not prepared for the sight I beheld! The crowds!! Holy smokes!! It was busy. People coming in and people trying to leave. Main Street was a nightmare. We booked it to Dumbo where there was a 40 minute wait. For being 10pm, I thought that it would be less busy in Fantasyland. Well, once we got on, the wait was more like 15 minutes. Not bad at all.
The ride wasn't moving yet...but look at her hair and facial expression!

We rode the Carrousel a few times, then Dumbo again. That is pretty much all the girl will ride. She is afraid of everything. I think that it is her age...once she gets older, she may not be afraid of everthing. I hope!

After that she wanted an ice cream. We head to Main Street to the ice cream shop. The line was sooooo flippin' long! So I asked her if she wanted a churro instead and she said ok! So we head towards the train station. We get in a semi-long line and once we get in line, they had to make more. It was going to take about 3 minutes...okay with me! Well, as I was paying, the CM loading the water in the cooler part was so flippin rude! The nice CM said "$6.00", and the grumpy CM looks up and says "Sheesh, SIX churros! You must be hungry, lady!" Okay. What the heck! He was not nice and he was not joking. I just looked at him and rolled my eyes. The girl CM was like, "No, I said $6.00, don't be so rude." I appreciated her correcting him but my goodness, what is with some of these CM's? I have met more rude CM's on this trip than ever. Maybe it is the heat, who knows.

We ate our churros on a bench and people watched. Maddie fell asleep with half the churro hanging out of her mouth. I guess that meant it was time to head back to the room. She woke up and I gave her a bath and we both headed for bed.