My first Trip Report-PTR

[clairabell29]

I'm sitting here with a sleeping baby and listening to my 3 year old son, Ayden, watch Alice in Wonderland for the first time. I thought to myself what a great time to start a trip report!
Here's a little about our family: I am a 30 year old stay at home mom to two beautiful boys, Ayden who is three and 5 months and Alex who is 7.5 months. My husband of 9 years is a 33 year old army soldier who returns home tonight after being gone for 3 months. No he was not at war this time, but has done 3 full tours and has some PTSD issues. I planned this trip for a rebonding experience for our family. It will be our first family vacation without grandma/grandpa or the like. We did a trip to DL last October with grandma for DS 3rd birthday and that was a BLAST! I had forgotten it was spring break time when I bought the plane tickets, but wouldn't change a thing now. Especially since DH won't get any more time off for about 6 months since he's now on recruiting duty. They work 6 days a week at least 12 hours a day. Well enough about our background...its off to getting ready for DISNEYLAND!!
We leave our home at 2:30am Sunday March 29th for 5 fun filled days at DLR. Our flight leaves Portland at 705am and arrives in Long Beach at 925am. We are then taking our shuttle to the Park Vue Inn, am hoping this is as good as I think it is. Then it'll be off to Goofy's Kitcken, High School Musical, and Aladdin, before taking the boys to nap. My DH has promised me the freedom of going into the parks alone while the boys nap! I haven't been anywhere without children for over 7 months as I have been the only food source for Alex. This sounds like heaven to me, even if I don't ride a thing! Maybe I'll have a micky pretzel and not have to share!
I have had so many questions and concerns over this trip and everyone has been FANTASTIC to say the least! I want to give a special thanks to Leazel for the TTMM tickets. Ayden and Daddy are going to go together for some one on one time. Also thanks to all who talked us into doing a Charactor meal. I hope its as fun as it sounds!
Oh there's the buzzer for the dryer, Alex just woke up and needs changed, and Ayden has finished Alice in Wonderland. So all my dear DISers, If I don't get back to this until after our trip, I thank everyone and will bring back lots of pics and I'll have a Dole Whip in your honor!

 

[DizNee Luver]

I hope you have a wonderful trip. What a great way to spend some quality family together. God Bless your husband & what he does....THANK YOU for serving our country!!
Do you live in Portland??? Just curious...my son lives there & we live on the south end of the state....Medford!! Anywho...... I hope you have a great time, eventhough it will way busy with spring breakers.
Will wait for your return to see how it went!!!

 

[Sherry E]

I am crossing my fingers that the character meal goes well and is well-received by everyone (since I was one of the ones encouraging you to do it!!). When you hear Goofy 'banging pots and pans' you will know that it's time for the kids to get up and do the macarena, so if you plan to involve anyone in that, make sure to jump up when you hear the pots and pans (the banging only lasts 2 seconds and then there is a little transition and then the music starts, so Goofy and whatever other characters are in the restaurant at that time start dancing with the kids. You can't help but giggle when you see ample-bottom Baloo shaking and rotating his hips around to the music. He has a lot of lower body weight, and it is hard for him to move around!!!

Overall, have a fantastic time, and I, too, will be looking forward to the TR and more pictures (hopefully some just as great as the ones you posted on the Favorite Character/Spirit of DLR threads!!).

 

[charmama4]

I'm glad you started a TR. We are also a military family (AF). Are you guys taking advantage of the Salute to the Armed Forces deal?? 2:30AM!!!!! Are you crazy? We were going to leave our house at 4:30am, but thankfully DH suggested getting a hotel near the airport the night before.

How awesome you get to explore DL, childless!!! A word of caution, nurse before you leave Alex. It would be awfull if you started to *miss* him, if you know what I mean. Been there, done that and it's not pretty!!!

It looks like you will get back before our family goes, so please please post a TR and lots of pictures!!!

 

[charmama4]

I am crossing my fingers that the character meal goes well and is well-received by everyone (since I was one of the ones encouraging you to do it!!).


It's like you are the DIS GK pusher!!!!

 

[clairabell29]

No we don't live in Portland, we live in Lacey, WA, which is just outside of Olympia. As for the Salute to the Military, we are not taking advantage of that yet, although I'm trying to talk DH into going to WDW in early December with the one for WDW. 230am isn't so bad when you consider DH has been in Missouri and getting up at that time everyday anyway We're just going to get him to bed early and I"m going to sleep on the way! Thanks so much everyone!

 

[kokotg]

Looking forward to reading all about your trip! (and a big Welcome Home to your DH!)

 

[Sherry E]

Oooooh! You should be back by now - or almost back! I can't wait to hear the scoop of what happened and see lots of pictures!

 

[clairabell29]

So, who would have guessed it would take this long to start my report. Life is finally getting back to normal, so I can tell all of you about our wonderful trip!Let's see, I guess we'll start at the beginning...

Sunday morning at 2am I woke my DH, Bob, to pack up the car. He'd been asleep since 7pm. I had yet to sleep, due to packing and my 7 month old DS, Alex, deciding he didn't want to go to bed. Thankfully my DS3, Ayden, went to bed early, so he was better rested. We then left our house for Portland airport at 3am. I was able to catch an hour nap before Bob woke me up because he was getting tired. Finally we got to our car park at 5am and got to the airport in plenty of time for our 705am flight. Ayden and Alex were wide awake until the plane started to taxi and out they went until we landed in LGB at 9:35am. I also slept on the flight for about an hour and a half before Bob woke me to tell me I was snoring too loud

Anyway once we landed our shuttle was there waiting for us. I had to schedule a new shuttle due to the one we always use having a disconnected number and their website was down. I assumed they had gone out of business...well, you know what they say about assuming... So while we're in one shuttle the other one is calling us. They called us a total of 7 times even after we explained the situation...oh well. So we arrived at the Park Vue Inn at 1030am. We checked in and our room wasn't ready yet, so they held our stuff in the office for us and we were off to exchange our vouchers and get Ayden his first set of Mickey Ears and autograph book. We waited for about 15 minutes to exchange our vouchers for our park hoppers and Goofy's Kitchen tickets. At the window the nice lady gave both my sons "Celebrating" buttons, that way we didn't have to wait in line at City Hall. We then made our way to the "Mad Hatters" on Main Street. Ayden picked out his first set of Mickey Ears. He wanted the Toy Story ones, but being a one size fits all they were way too big and just fell off of him. He ended up with a plain pair of infant ears. While we're there there is only one autograph book and one type of pen to choose from, so that was easy. As I'm paying for these, my husband runs outside with Ayden because Pluto has come out for a meet and greet! So I run out his autograph book while his name is getting put on his Mickey Ears. Pluto tends to be his favorite of the fab 5 because last October he played with Ayden for about 10 minutes. Ayden was thrilled. Now it was time for us to get going, since we had PS for Goofy's Kitchen at 1230pm!

Ayden didn't know we were going, since I had told him our plans had changed due to it costing too much. So when we get there he didn't know what to expect, and neither did we, since this was all of our first Charactor meal. We had to wait about 15 minutes to get our names called to be seated. We then got our whole family's photo taken with Pluto...Ayden was thrilled! Here's our picture from our camera. We did end up buying the professional one too! When we got to our table there was a nice card waiting for my husband that said "Welcome Back" which was very nice and unexpected

We then got our food, and even though I'm not a big meat eater I had to try the bacon, since I'd heard how good it was, and it was very good! He're my first plate for a bit of food porn

The breads were my favorite part. They were really moist and sweet but not too sweet. The potatoes were pretty flavorless, although they looked yummy.

We were first visited by the Mad Hatter, and Ayden was so hungry he wasn't much interested in him. Although they did have a nice little conversation. It was the first time I'd seen the Mad Hatter, but it wouldn't be our last on this trip!

Then came Snow White. My son is in love with just about every princess, but Snow White is by far his favorite so this was a real treat! He gave her a big hug and said "I love you". Unfortunately due to his hair, she mistook him for a girl, like most everyone does, but he was fast to correct her!

Notice he's holding her hand. He didn't want to let her go!
After Snow White, Ayden went and did the dishes thing with Goofy, which was rather cute. When he got back, Chip was there. Look at the look of worship on his face. This isn't a good picture of Chip, but I love the look on Ayden's face.

To me, this says, I'm the happiest boy in the world! We were then visited by Goofy himself. This was the last Charactor to visit, but that was ok because we hadn't eaten much and we'd been there an hour already. Ayden did get to get up and bang on some dishes again though.

According to my DH, this meal was his very favorite part of the trip. I'm so glad we didn't forgo it even with the raised prices.
Well I have to go and take care of my family again, but I will continue Sunday later. I have to tell you all about us going to DCA and later that day DL.

 

[Sherry E]

I am SO glad to read the pro-Goofy's report.

Um...ahem....ahem....and WHO was it that urged you to keep the PS for Goofy's and not cancel due to the price increase, hmmmmm?? Hint hint. WHO was it that said you would have a great time there? Hmmmmm??? Don't mind me as I pat myself on the back!!

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

What a great report! The look on your DS's face when he is with Chip is priceless! My DS is 13 now, but I remember his first trip to GK when he was 3. He was in awe also! What wonderful memories you brought back to me.
Oh, and Sherry......I've always meant to ask....Exactly how much are they paying you to give the reviews on Goofy's and get everyone to go there. They SHOULD be paying you, ya know! .....LOL

 

[Sherry E]

What a great report! The look on your DS's face when he is with Chip is priceless! My DS is 13 now, but I remember his first trip to GK when he was 3. He was in awe also! What wonderful memories you brought back to me.
Oh, and Sherry......I've always meant to ask....Exactly how much are they paying you to give the reviews on Goofy's and get everyone to go there. They SHOULD be paying you, ya know! .....LOL

Sadly, they are not paying me But, you are right - they should be (considering their high prices)! And I am always happy to rave about any place that I like, BUT the questions about character meals come up so often on the DIS that I end up always raving about Goofy's. If there were weekly questions about ESPN Zone food, I would be raving about that too! In any case, I will also gladly plug any character meal I enjoy, and I think they are all worth trying at least once. I love the character meal concept in general. I am eager to try Lilo and Stitch and Minnie and Friends at least once, but I honestly felt Storytellers was missing something for me. It was okay and it was good enough to recommend, and it is a nice restaurant, but as an overall character meal experience I just thought it was so-so. I wish I COULD rave about it but I don't feel that way. I think Goofy's has the right combination of variety and quality of food, as well as classic characters and a fun atmosphere.

 

[charmama4]

first off, having fun reading your TR. Loving the pictures and the uhem food porn. Question: when you got your vouchers, did you go to the ticket booths area and the celebration button, did she have birhtday ones???

 

[clairabell29]

I am SO glad to read the pro-Goofy's report.

Um...ahem....ahem....and WHO was it that urged you to keep the PS for Goofy's and not cancel due to the price increase, hmmmmm?? Hint hint. WHO was it that said you would have a great time there? Hmmmmm??? Don't mind me as I pat myself on the back!!

Yes thankyou Sherry! It was a great time and you did talk me into doing it. I am glad we did brunch though, as you will find out later in my trip report, dinner wouldn't have been ideal.

 

[clairabell29]

first off, having fun reading your TR. Loving the pictures and the uhem food porn. Question: when you got your vouchers, did you go to the ticket booths area and the celebration button, did she have birhtday ones???

Yes we went to the ticket booths. She asked us if it was our first time or if we were celebrating anything. She had first time and Celebration buttons, I'm pretty sure she would have a birthday button too, but I didn't ask.

 

[Sherry E]

Yes thankyou Sherry! It was a great time and you did talk me into doing it. I am glad we did brunch though, as you will find out later in my trip report, dinner wouldn't have been ideal.

I'm glad you did brunch too. Not only do I like the food better then, but I think the crowds at dinner are a little worse. Not to mention the dinner is more $$$. By the way, Snow White is sort of rare at Goofy's. I have seen her there once, I think. They always have at least a Princess or two on hand to mingle with guests (like Aurora and Jasmine were there together when I was at Goofy's in December), but Snow White doesn't come out as often. So that's cool that she was there and made a lifelong fan of Ayden!! And the Mad Hatter has not always been there on my Goofy's trips - I have seen him there only one time, but I hear he is there semi-regularly, so it's great that you got a Mad Hatter day. Now I saw Chip in the picture - but where was Dale? And where was Baloo? Baloo is ALWAYS at Goofy's? Was he not there when you went?

Anyway, I can't wait for the rest of the TR!!!

 

[clairabell29]

Ok here we go with more of Sunday After we left Goofy's we went to DCA. We were hoping to catch High School Musical 3 and Aladdin as this was one of the two days it would be playing while we were there. We knew being there in the mid-afternoon on the Sunday that the "Celebrate" parade premired, rides were pretty much a no go. So we get into the gate after about a 3 min wait. Here's a pic of the lines at 2pm!

First thing I do is go work our way over to Soaring to get a fast pass, which is something I think Ayden would love. On our way there we see the meet and greet for Mater and Lightning McQueen. Ayden loves them so of course we had to stop.

When I got to Soarin' the return time was 720pm! We then went to the center plaza and saw Minnie! We were lucky enough to be the last in line! And, yes, Minnie is a girl, therefore Ayden "loves" her!

We then heard an announcement for HM3, so we worked our way over there. Ayden loves music and we knew he'd love this. Alex slept through it! What you can't tell by this picture is Ayden is rocking his dad's head back and forth to the beat

At this point we had about an hour until Aladdin. Ayden wanted to go on Monsters Inc, which had a 45 min wait! Since Alex was asleep and we didn't want to disturb him, Bob went and got in line for Aladdin, thinking he could hold our place. Anyway, Ayden and I waited the 45 minutes

and rode Monsters Inc

We had just enough time to walk quickly over to Aladdin, where we are told they are at capacity and can not let us in. I had my DH work his way out to us. He didn't get out until after they let some more people in who were waiting in line. We were bummed but understood. We'd have another chance on Thursday. So we started our way out of DCA but stopped at turtle talk with crush on the way. We make it in with all 4 of us, but forgot to grab my purse, so Bob exits to grab it. When he tries to get back in, he's told they are at capacity and he would have to wait for someone to leave. We told her he hd been in and just stepped out for a minute. She said she was sorry but there was nothing she could do. So we waited for someone to leave and one man did and we asked if Bob could come in. Believe it or not she said No! The law is 2 people have to exit to let one person in. Now let me remind you, I have very little sleep and we have just been rejected at Aladdin to. So, I'm sorry to say I start to break down and cry. I told her that this seemed to be becoming a nightmare trip and all we were trying to do was rebond as a family. I told her about Aladdin and the 45 min wait at Monsters Inc. I normally wouldn't have done this, but again I remind you I have very little sleep and by now its about 4pm! At that point a group of people leave and my hubby is allowed in. She said she was so glad everything worked out for us. I appologized for my breakdown. So we enjoyed the show. Crush was quite funny and Ayden was enthralled. We then worked our way over to DL.

Ayden wanted to "Shoot Zurg" so Astroblasters was our first ride there. The line was "only" 25min long!

I also picked up a space mountain fast pass.
We then made our way over to IASW. This was Ayden and Alex's first time on this. The wait was only 15min which was GREAT! Both the boys were enthralled! I couldn't get a good picture of Alex since he was strapped to my chest, but here's Ayden again

Ayden then asked to "go to the shoot shoot without Zurg" meaning TSMM. So I sent Bob back to the park Vue to get our jackets and rain gear because it was getting really cold and cloudy. We met over at TSMM. When we got there it was starting to rain and I was thrilled that everything was empty. I saw there was no line for TSMM, or so I thought. The ride had broken down and we could wait for it to be fixed but they didn't know how long that would be. We didn't want to waste a good rainy night at DL so we headed over to bugs life and rode the chew chew train. Then we went back to Monsters Inc and rode that with a 5min wait. Then we decided to head over to DL and take full advantage of no one wanting to be in the rain. It wasn't raining hard, but enough to make you wet. We had a rain cover for the kids and rain jackets and all plus we're from Washington where it rains ALOT. As we were heading out of the park the rain had stopped and the fireworks were going off at DL so we watched them from between the parks.

So I will continue the rest of our Sunday night in a bit. This segment has gotten long again. I warned you I like to talk

 

[clairabell29]

I'm glad you did brunch too. Not only do I like the food better then, but I think the crowds at dinner are a little worse. Not to mention the dinner is more $$$. By the way, Snow White is sort of rare at Goofy's. I have seen her there once, I think. They always have at least a Princess or two on hand to mingle with guests (like Aurora and Jasmine were there together when I was at Goofy's in December), but Snow White doesn't come out as often. So that's cool that she was there and made a lifelong fan of Ayden!! And the Mad Hatter has not always been there on my Goofy's trips - I have seen him there only one time, but I hear he is there semi-regularly, so it's great that you got a Mad Hatter day. Now I saw Chip in the picture - but where was Dale? And where was Baloo? Baloo is ALWAYS at Goofy's? Was he not there when you went?

Anyway, I can't wait for the rest of the TR!!!

Dale skipped our table, but that was ok since Ayden didn't know they were different. As for Baloo, he wasn't there, but Capt'n Hook was. He didn't make it to our table either, but he was there. We did ask that he come over, but the hostest said he had to go back to Fantacy Land and had already left. As you'll read above most of Sunday was kind of a bust, but the night gets much better and the rest of the trip is fantastic!

 

[disneydance]

Subscribing
Cant wait to read more

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

Sadly, they are not paying me But, you are right - they should be (considering their high prices)! And I am always happy to rave about any place that I like, BUT the questions about character meals come up so often on the DIS that I end up always raving about Goofy's. If there were weekly questions about ESPN Zone food, I would be raving about that too! In any case, I will also gladly plug any character meal I enjoy, and I think they are all worth trying at least once. I love the character meal concept in general. I am eager to try Lilo and Stitch and Minnie and Friends at least once, but I honestly felt Storytellers was missing something for me. It was okay and it was good enough to recommend, and it is a nice restaurant, but as an overall character meal experience I just thought it was so-so. I wish I COULD rave about it but I don't feel that way. I think Goofy's has the right combination of variety and quality of food, as well as classic characters and a fun atmosphere.

I think it's wonderful that you love it so much and answer questions about it! For us, it was our first character meal when DS was 3 years old (now 13!), and I will absoutely never forget it. You're right that the combination of food and character interaction make it a great one!