My AP-ALOOZA Continues (WE RENEWED!!) ~ NEW TR link posted!

[Imagineer5]

Yay for the dessert party!! I hope you can get the Sweet Seats too. Sounds like a fun event. That was actually one of the things I considered surprising Dug with for our anniversary back in 2011, but I think the Sweet Seats were sold out or something (we ended up doing the KTTK tour instead). Glad there was some good news from Disney today!

Well Andrew doesn't see the value in paying $40 per person more for the sweet seats. but I have until 7/31 to convince him! lol! I just hate running and uncertainty of finding a table. So excited that it is coming back though - I have been stalking Disney Food Blog among other sites for more F&W info. I also noticed a Parisian Breakfast on Saturday mornings that I might try to do as well.

 

[Imagineer5]

Working on a new update, but for fun this morning Aria practiced her height-requirement head touching the stick and it looks like she is right at 37" tall now! Which means - 1" to go to ride Seven Dwarfs. We have 5 weeks to go, so combine that with those Cowboy books and she might just make it?!?! (I didn't get a chance to see where she measures with those boots on). I need to see what other 38" rides there are, if any?! She still talks about Barnstormer, so I think she would really love 7DMT!

 

[Imagineer5]

So I last left off heading up to the room to get our swimsuits on! However I was wrong – we actually headed up to get the stroller and go do some shopping at DTD while waiting for it to warm up a little bit, then we planned to come back and spend lunch time through Aria’s nap time at the pool. So – on to DTD! It was only about 8:45 at this point, by the way, so most stores weren’t even open yet! Looking back at the DLH

Then passing the lego store (closed)– our destination was World of Disney though so we skipped it this time.

I had a goal in mind which was to find flip flops for Aria, as the pool pavement had been incredibly hot and I didn’t pack good shoes for that scenario. With my Disney VISA card though I get 10% off…after I spent over $50…which meant I looked around quite a bit. I ended up getting these flip flops for Aria

She tried some hats on to my amusement

A sweatshirt for me, this adorable suitcase for Aria (which is now her plane toys bag and she’s in charge of it for flights – she takes her job very seriously!)

Along with a mug (which unfortunately went in the dishwasher when I got home and started peeling off) AND a set of PJ’s for me, I had only packed 1 PJ set for 5 nights, and wanted some fresh ones haha. Oh, and a couple more plush things for Aria too... Oh, also the very necessary christmas ornament - I chose a Cars one with Mater since we went to Cars Land for the first time!

After purchasing, we stopped at the fountain again outside

Next we headed to the sweet shop, Madame Marcelline’s I believe. I needed to grab something little for Andrew and found these adorable Turkey Leg rice krispie treats! He always goes on and on about needing a turkey leg and then being thoroughly disgusted with himself for eating it, so I thought it was funny.

I also picked up an Olaf rice krispie, and took some pics of the other yummy offerings!

Next we headed into the Vault where Lynda picked up something to bring back to her BF Aron and Aria decided to pose with the Vinylmation Mickey…

Next door was an Art of Disney shop. I am planning a purple princess room for Aria’s “big girl” room (plan is to start on it whenever I finally get pregnant…) but I found this small painting of Beauty and the Beast and thought it was gorgeous, so picked it up! The “purple” room is currently our guest room, and is larger than her current room. I can’t wait to start decorating it

We then headed into Something Silver. Aria spotted the princess tiaras and wanted to try them on! I didn’t buy one at this time – but sent Andrew a photo and he actually asked me if I bought it for Aria because she HAD.TO.HAVE.IT! LOL! For him to be so adamant about buying her something, you better believe I went back to get it! (spoiler alert, sorry!).

continued in next post!

 

[Imagineer5]

Now we had some time to visit the Lego store! Aria wanted to pose with the lego woman!

Here's a pic of the infamous lego-people Aladdin & jasmine which look very weird next to the realistic Genie...

She was being cute and playing with the legos inside the store

Then this happened…

WALL OF LEGOS. She thought it would be really really fun to take handfuls out and run around. Yep, not happening kiddo, sorry! She had a major meltdown as I made her put all the pieces back in the correct colored bins, so much that she ended up getting a time out in the corner of the store. I stood about 15 feet away, which apparently was too far for a cast member (lego employee? IDK) and he went over to her asking if she was lost! Whoops…I quickly intervened and told him she was in time out haha. After about a minute, she hugged me, said Sorry, and we decided to head out.

There weren’t many stores past the Lego store, but we quickly popped into the Rainforest Café store and Aria loved seeing the fish tanks.

She also has a strange love of snakes.

Speaking of snakes, I was telling Andrew that I want to watch the first 3-4 Harry Potter movies with Aria before August’s trip, and he said they are way too dark – even the first one with the snake. Well first of all, Aria has seen the 1st one, and secondly, maybe it will instill in her a healthy snake phobia?! HAHA! I refuse to buy her a toy snake. Luckily she was good about putting it back and heading out.

Now it was finally POOL TIME! YAY! Aria was very happy to be running back to go to the pool!

We quickly got our suits on and were ready to go…but were stopped by “POOL CLOSED” signs!! What?!! The DLH pool was apparently closed for CLEANING today! Ugh! A CM at the entrance said she was not sure if it would reopen the next day or not (our last day) but did give us a Grand Californian room key to go and enjoy their pool. I think we were most annoyed by the fact that we had just walked the entirety of DTD and now needed to make the trek back again! Oh well, it was nice that they allowed us to use that pool, and we still had a fun pool day. Plus it was fun to check out the Grand Californian pool.

On the way, I checked out these cute piggy banks, which I did end up going back for …

And then we made it to the pool! There was this pool here, which is where we set up the stroller and grabbed some lounge chairs

Next to this pool was a hot tub and then the larger pool with two slides. In between the two there is a shallow toddler pool.

Additionally there is a 3rd pool set off to the side a little bit – I don’t know if it was meant to be an adult pool but it was very quiet and we didn’t go in there.

Of course, Aria wanted to try out the smaller slide first thing! Unfortunately the slide just does not have enough water flowing through that you get caught on it halfway down. Aria was able to move herself down and still had a good time, but for adults it is really NOT comfortable at all! Eek!

But back to Aria – she fully enjoyed it!

Then Lynda decided to check out the bigger slide.

We decided it was the slide material though, as this one caught a little too!! Ugh! I went down it once as well and was not impressed.

After a few more slides for Aria, we decided to check out the toddler pool area

There was a little boy (no pic) also in the toddler pool, wearing a mickey swim suit (SPF shirt & shorts) it was really cute seeing them interact together!

Then we ordered some drinks from the wandering waitresses and went to sit down on the lounge chairs – we had a plethora of left overs – chicken, broccoli, pasta for Aria, some of that yummy first-night risotto, some of Lynda’s Monte Cristo sandwich, and even some truffle fries, so we used this opportunity to enjoy them! Aria had a bit and then I laid her down in the stroller with the muslin blanket over head and she fell asleep within 10 minutes, and Lynda and I just had some nice relaxing time chatting and playing on our phones.

Up next...Trader Sam's and a wonderful dinner!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Good job out of Aria growing - I am sure she will love the Mine Train if she makes it!

That Beauty and the Beast lego is really cool - though it has a bit of the same issue as Aladdin and Jasmine in that they are lego-people looking but then with a realistic character

Always tough when you have to spend at least $50

That's funny that we are working on a similar theme for our "big girls" room - though the more serious Disney art will be going in my office. So far I got a few prints from the recent May the Fourth be with you event and I also have a large detailed blueprint architectural drawing of one facade of Cinderella's castle

Looks like fun in the pool - Aria looks like she had a blast on that slide - even if it didn't function super well

Ooh, looking forward to hearing about Trader Sams!

 

[disneygirl2785]

I've been lacking on the DIS lately because...I've been buying MJ! I thought it was funny when you were trying on the flip flops, you could see her Petals in the back ground, then she was wearing her new flip flops at the fountain, and then she was bare foot! Oh and then she had her flip flops back on! Lol!

WHY do they need an entire day to clean the pool? That's dumb! But those lounge chairs at the GC look supper comfy!

 

[Dugette]

Wow - grow, Aria, grow!

Sounds like you met your $50 minimum spend with ease. I love the idea of the little "airplane toys" suitcase!

Did Andrew enjoy his turkey leg rice krispy treat? That's funny!

Hope you get to decorate that purple room soon. (Related - I saw someone with your stroller, but with the two seats on it, today. Man, that thing really is a Gigantor!!)

That's cute that Andrew reacted like that to the tiara. You've trained him well!

Aw, that's too bad the pool was closed! At least you were able to check out the other pool area, though. Those chairs do look nice! And I bet it was adorable to watch Aria and the little Mickey-suit boy play together.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the day!

 

[Imagineer5]

Good job out of Aria growing - I am sure she will love the Mine Train if she makes it!

That Beauty and the Beast lego is really cool - though it has a bit of the same issue as Aladdin and Jasmine in that they are lego-people looking but then with a realistic character

Always tough when you have to spend at least $50

That's funny that we are working on a similar theme for our "big girls" room - though the more serious Disney art will be going in my office. So far I got a few prints from the recent May the Fourth be with you event and I also have a large detailed blueprint architectural drawing of one facade of Cinderella's castle

Looks like fun in the pool - Aria looks like she had a blast on that slide - even if it didn't function super well

Ooh, looking forward to hearing about Trader Sams!

Aww I can't wait to see. I love the idea of architectual prints for the castle! What is Olivia's room currently? Will she be sharing with her little sis??

Yeah, I still haven't tried out the cowboy books with the stick but might as well wait until mid-August. She grew from 35.5" to 37" from May-July, so anything is possible I guess!

The pool was okay - Aria enjoyed it a ton so that's what mattered anyway!

I've been lacking on the DIS lately because...I've been buying MJ! I thought it was funny when you were trying on the flip flops, you could see her Petals in the back ground, then she was wearing her new flip flops at the fountain, and then she was bare foot! Oh and then she had her flip flops back on! Lol!

WHY do they need an entire day to clean the pool? That's dumb! But those lounge chairs at the GC look supper comfy!

Hahahha I was going to comment on her shoes - they are WAY too easy to take on and off so we lost them a few times while walking around.

YEAH and they weren't sure if it would be open the NEXT day - which was also our last day!!

Wow - grow, Aria, grow!

Sounds like you met your $50 minimum spend with ease. I love the idea of the little "airplane toys" suitcase!

Did Andrew enjoy his turkey leg rice krispy treat? That's funny!

Hope you get to decorate that purple room soon. (Related - I saw someone with your stroller, but with the two seats on it, today. Man, that thing really is a Gigantor!!)

That's cute that Andrew reacted like that to the tiara. You've trained him well!

Aw, that's too bad the pool was closed! At least you were able to check out the other pool area, though. Those chairs do look nice! And I bet it was adorable to watch Aria and the little Mickey-suit boy play together.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the day!

The rice krispie was a hit! Disney rice krispies are the best anyway. Olaf one was great too.

Yeah I had fun shopping. Wasn't hard to get past $50 LOL!

The stroller is huge. I actially asked on the Universal boards about Hogwarts Express and having to fold up the stroller on it - because I'll have a car now in August and would really prefer the bigger stroller. Reports are varied though between having to fold it or having it "valet parked". So jury is still out on which i get to bring.

We spent the weekend on Block Island though via the boat, and brought our umbrella Maclaren, and both City Mini and City Select are amazing compared to that awful thing!

Aria will get to wear her tiara in my upcoming photo shoot for her, can't wait! I loved how much Andrew loved it though, made it a lot more special to me.

 

[JulieODC]

Note to self...next time, pack lightly, and use it as an excuse to "freshen" up the wardrobe!!

The picture of Aria admiring her new flip flops is really cute!

Your shopping sounds remarkably similar to your Downtown Disney trip in May...right down to the meltdown.

Sounds like a really nice pool night --- and so smart to accumulate leftovers like that! Dining out is nice....but sometimes a low-key, relaxed night is the way to go!

 

[Imagineer5]

Note to self...next time, pack lightly, and use it as an excuse to "freshen" up the wardrobe!!

The picture of Aria admiring her new flip flops is really cute!

Your shopping sounds remarkably similar to your Downtown Disney trip in May...right down to the meltdown.

Sounds like a really nice pool night --- and so smart to accumulate leftovers like that! Dining out is nice....but sometimes a low-key, relaxed night is the way to go!

Hahaha it is fun to shop. I don't wear disney stuff on a regular basis at home, but LOVE PJ's and am in love with my new disneyland sweatshirt even if the colors are super "loud"

LOL Which shopping trip? Too funny you remember that!

Yeah, lunch was nice and delicious even after a couple days!

 

[Imagineer5]

Something I meant to mention in the last update. Until our time at the GC pool, I had been thinking that on the next trip to DL, I wanted to stay at the Grand Californian due to its even closer proximity to DL/DCA. HOWEVER the pool definitely made me re-think that - specifically how much fun the DL Hotel pool was.

Also, I tried on the cowboy books this morning and Aria was excited to see how close she was to 38"!! She is literally just a hair underneath it. Maybe some napkins inside?! LOL! I already changed one of my FP's on the first day to 7DMT just in case! Figured it's easier to change it to something else on the day-of vs. trying to get a 7DMT then! Oh, I also looked up other height requirement rides - Kali River Rapids is 38" (though I don't think cowboy boots would be the best idea on that). For Universal after the 36" requirement, the next one is 40" so nothing new to ride here.

Back to the TR...



Around 2:30 we headed back through DTD with a sleeping Aria, back to the resort. On the way I stopped and decided to get one of the castle piggy banks, also for Aria’s eventual princess room! So glad I did – it is beautiful! One of our goals for the day had been to visit Trader Sam’s and try out the shared Uh Oa!. Which we did not want to give up despite the pool being closed! The description is: Light and Dark Rums, Orange, Passion Fruit, Guava, Pineapple, Grapefruit Juices, Falernum, Cinnamon, and fresh Lime Juice and it came with the glass. (which, btw, there was no price for on the menu…hmmm)

We sat outside of Trader Sam’s for a bit, waiting for Aria to wake up, and after she had been asleep for about 2 hours I decided I should get her up. Never a good decision, but needed to be done! LOL.

There were only booth tables left so we grabbed one of those and ordered. Aria was not thrilled to be woken up, and even less thrilled to have thunderstorms and volcano eruptions going on inside! I held her a lot during the first 15-20 minutes of being inside.

We placed our order for the Uh Oa! And also a kid’s fruit punch type drink, and when hers came she perked up quite a bit. Her cup was super cute (and we got to take it home) so it was totally worth the $10 cost…she was much happier now!

Inside Trader Sam's

They brought ours over though and she didn’t appreciate all the chanting going on and the volcano erupting, and all the people inside looking over at us! Poor kid! We enjoyed the drink though and once they left us alone we were all happy to enjoy our fun.

A little sugar helped out!

The fun was short lived, however, when we received the bill. $54!?!?! WHAT?! The Uh Oa! Was $40! Holy moly. We did not feel like it was worth that at all – the drink was not that great (the previous ones had been much tastier) and we didn’t even care about the stupid glass it came in. Oh well – lesson learned! DO NOT ORDER THE UH OA! I now realize why everyone was looking at us when ordering – they were all thinking “poor suckers, have fun with that bill”. Luckily Lynda and I just laughed it off, but it does irk me still.

On that note, we headed up to the room to shower and change for our DTD evening! We had a dinner planned at Ralph Brennen’s Jazz Kitchen!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Aww I can't wait to see. I love the idea of architectual prints for the castle! What is Olivia's room currently? Will she be sharing with her little sis??

Olivia is moving from one of the smaller rooms to the biggest bedroom other than ours and she will be sharing with Emma ... so we had to do some furniture tetris to figure out how to get everything in there.

Definitely will post some pics after it is done!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

funny reading your post about the "GC Pool" - I grew up in a town called Garden City that had a town pool that, of course, would be referred to as the GC Pool - so a little thrown off at first

Well, I guess we know why it is called the "UH OA" ... because when the bill comes you go "UH OA - that was a mistake!"

Peter is like that when he gets up from naps - have to get some sugar in him right away or he is Mr. Cranky Pants

 

[Dugette]

Way to grow, Aria!! Maybe you can just give her “big hair” to get her up a hair.

Whenever we make it to Disneyland, we had thought it would be awesome to stay at the Grand Californian. But it’s so $$$, even renting points. We’ll see – no idea when we’ll get there at the moment.

That is a cute little drink cup that Aria got!

Wow, I’d demand unlimited length-of-stay refills for $40!

 

[mandas08]

I have been terrible at commenting for a long time but i really do love your trs. We were doing Disney twice a year but now that lo is over 3 (get all the free trips in u can haha) and we have another one on the way we prob won't make it back for at least a year a half . Guess I will have to live through your trips for awhile

 

[disneygirl2785]

$40 for a drink? That is insane! I was expecting expensive, but not that bad!

Was the GC Pool (Sorry TheMaxRebo...I'm not typing out GC! ) smaller than DLH? Or just different atmosphere? Maybe more relaxed? We're DVC, so we'll probably stay GC. Just wondering if there was something you didn't like about it? ...Seriously, the chairs look ridiculously comfy!

 

[JulieODC]

$40 drink?! Craziness!!!

(Oh, and in my last post I had a typo...your shopping trip was a lot like OUR last downtown Disney shopping trip! )

 

[Imagineer5]

Olivia is moving from one of the smaller rooms to the biggest bedroom other than ours and she will be sharing with Emma ... so we had to do some furniture tetris to figure out how to get everything in there.

Definitely will post some pics after it is done!

Glad to see the pics!! Hope the transition to sharing a room goes smoothly!

funny reading your post about the "GC Pool" - I grew up in a town called Garden City that had a town pool that, of course, would be referred to as the GC Pool - so a little thrown off at first

Well, I guess we know why it is called the "UH OA" ... because when the bill comes you go "UH OA - that was a mistake!"

Peter is like that when he gets up from naps - have to get some sugar in him right away or he is Mr. Cranky Pants

That's funny! YEP that was my thought too. We could NOT believe it. Luckily it didn't leave a bad taste in our mouths (figuratively) as we did end up ordering more drinks the next day... just no UH OA!

Way to grow, Aria!! Maybe you can just give her “big hair” to get her up a hair.

Whenever we make it to Disneyland, we had thought it would be awesome to stay at the Grand Californian. But it’s so $$$, even renting points. We’ll see – no idea when we’ll get there at the moment.

That is a cute little drink cup that Aria got!

Wow, I’d demand unlimited length-of-stay refills for $40!

I know right?! Crazy cost - esp when they hide the darn prices up front. The GC is by far the best location. Amazing to be able to walk right into DCA. But I just wasn't impressed by the pool. Spoiled from the DLH, I think. Maybe if they DIDN'T have such an amazing pool area then I wouldn't hestitate to stay at GC...

I have been terrible at commenting for a long time but i really do love your trs. We were doing Disney twice a year but now that lo is over 3 (get all the free trips in u can haha) and we have another one on the way we prob won't make it back for at least a year a half . Guess I will have to live through your trips for awhile

Awww congrats!! Yeah - the same thing is going to happen to us next year - Aria turns 3 January 30th and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I'm going to see if I get a small bonus this year (government there are like ZERO bonuses but sometimes they have a approx. $800 one, which would cover an Annual pass with a little left over). I'll know in September -so fingers crossed. If i get that, then I will feel better about buying two - Andrew will stay home.

$40 for a drink? That is insane! I was expecting expensive, but not that bad!

Was the GC Pool (Sorry TheMaxRebo...I'm not typing out GC! ) smaller than DLH? Or just different atmosphere? Maybe more relaxed? We're DVC, so we'll probably stay GC. Just wondering if there was something you didn't like about it? ...Seriously, the chairs look ridiculously comfy!

Yeah plus tax and tip! LOL! Ridiculous!! The pool itself was smaller due to the giant water slide area at the DLH, though I guess the actual "pool" size was larger since DLH had two actual pools in addition to the water slide area, and GC had three? IDK. Like I mentioned - the water slide was horrible, even the big one, so that wasn't any fun for us whereas the DLH ones are new and a lot of fun.

$40 drink?! Craziness!!!

(Oh, and in my last post I had a typo...your shopping trip was a lot like OUR last downtown Disney shopping trip! )

Hahahaha ohhh! Silly girls!

 

[Imagineer5]

Hi everyone!! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! I can't believe I am 3.5 weeks away from Universal & Disney!! Plus, tomorrow is the Disney VISA cardholders early F&W booking date - for the 3D dessert party and possibly the French breakfast (might just do that myself if Andrew is unintersested). Andrew and his parents do not want to do the Sweet Seats (bummer) so I'm not tooooo worried about the tickets, but fingers crossed anyway! Also, I got a recommendation for a babysitter who has a Universal annual pass, so I contacted her about possibly watching Aria for a few hours on the morning of 8/23. That way I'll be able to ride Gringotts and Forbidden Journey, plus maybe a few others. I wasn't going to, but I found a $55 cheaper room rate for the Royal Pacific Resort via the Universal Annual Passholder rate, so that will almost pay for the babysitter for 4 hours. Hoping she is available!

Anyway, back to Disneyland!

We last left off going back to the room to shower, change, and go back out to DTD!

We were ready with enough time to go back to Something Silver and get that tiara! Some of my favorite photos from the trip right here!

Then we checked into dinner right on time. I absolutely love the theming of this. Can you tell I LOVE this type of food? Blue Bayou, Café Orleans, and now Ralph Brennen’s! I think a trip to New Orleans MUST be in my future sometime soon (I was last there in 2002. I was not 21 yet, but that didn’t stop me….).

Anyway…we were one of the first tables to be seated and were directly inside the courtyard area at a great corner table. They gave Aria some crayons and she had a lot of fun putting them through the holes in the wrought iron table…over and over…whatever!

I ordered Aria the chicken with fruit, and got her some ketchup to dip, and she was in dinner heaven. It also came with a carrot "appetizer".

I decided to start with the Gumbo, despite the sausage: Gumbo Ya-Ya
Chicken, andouille sausage, dark roux, Creole seasoning, rice 9

It was fabulous!

Lynda had Grilled Chicken & Gnocchi Pesto
Potato dumplings, oven roasted tomatoes, crimini mushrooms, creamy pesto sauce, shaved Asiago cheese 24

And she loved her dish! For my main, I actually got another starter which is no longer on the menu, but it was a creole fried goat cheese dish. Very tasty! I was saving room for dessert though so that is why I didn’t go too crazy with the dishes.

We also split a bottle of wine!

Dinner was fantastic. Aria was being amazing, especially for the much slower pace meal than I’m used to doing with her present. Lynda and I spent the time catching up on how great her boyfriend is, stuff in our lives going on, etc. that we just hadn’t had a chance to talk about while on the go so much.

Aria had some fun with her tiara

Then turning her menu into a Jake and the Neverland Pirates telescope, while singing the main song…

And just being cute...

Then it was time for dessert!! If you remember from my pre-trip posts, I had a dessert predicament. Ralph Brennen’s has two of my all time favorite dishes on the menu – a souffle (in the form of a Bread Pudding Souffle) AND tableside Bananas Foster. Lynda was down for ordering both, so that’s just what we did!

First the bread pudding – which unfortunately was delivered right before the bananas foster “show” and cooled off a little while we were preoccupied, but was still delicious

Then our fabulous waiter doubled as our dessert chef for the bananas foster!

He nicely split it into two plates, much of mine was consumed by Aria but I didn’t mind sharing. She also really enjoyed the bread pudding souffle. She has good taste!

After the fabulous meal, I picked up the personalized castle piggy bank and then we headed to the room to relax, watch a little TV and get a good night’s sleep! It was a wonderful day!

 

[KerTggr]

I too love that type of food and must visit Café Orleans and Ralph Brennans on every trip to DL. Aria looks adorable in her tiara. Thanks for sharing your trip plans & reports!