Of Mice and No Men: I become a Dapper Dan! UPDATED 4/13

I kind of stink at this trip report thing. But I want you all to know that I haven't forgotten about it and I'm not going to leave you all hanging before day one is even over! My computer has been having some problems and is currently being repaired right now and while I have the pictures for Day 1 on photobucket, writing a full update on my iPad is a bit harder than you might think. So, as soon as I get my laptop back, I'll be back with a real update with pictures and all! Annnnd, we got our PhotoPass CD in the mail this last week so I'll have those to post too!
 
Thursday, September 22, continued…

After we unloaded all our stuff from the car and got situated, we changed and headed out to Downtown Disney. We had reservations at Tortilla Jo’s at 7:00 and World of Disney was calling our names!

I think this car had some issues...
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This sign made me laugh maybe more than the average person would and looking back, I'm not quite sure why.
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On the walk over my nose started running and my sinuses were getting all stuffy. Crap. I’m going to be just a little bit upset if I get sick during this trip. I had been living on EmergenC, hot tea, vitamins, anything that would boost my immune system in preparation for this trip. I was determined to not get sick!

I decided to call it off as allergies. Yes, allergies! Allergies typically just make my nose all stuffy and don’t impair me in any other way! I was just praying to the allergy gods that I actually had allergies and wasn’t getting the horrible cold my brother had. Julie gave me an Advil Cold and Sinus…just in case.

Anyway…

We walked through the esplanade and admired the new entrance to DCA and the adorable pumpkin characters on top of the entrance to Disneyland.

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I was like a giddy little girl as we approached World of Disney. As the Disney Store Mothership, it calls to me.

Of course I wanted everything in it. I was darting from room to room.

“Oh Mom, look at this!”
“Mom, Julie, look what I found!”
“OMG how cute it this?!”
“Oh this Cinderella statue is only $600!!”

You know how it goes.

Julie, however, did not.

We come to find out she had never been in the World of Disney store before.

All at once now: GASP!!!

I know, how could this be???? I guess with a five year old and a two year old, going into World of Disney is a big no-no.

Anyway, there was basically one thing I wanted. And that one thing would be a tutu.

Yes, people, you read that correctly, a tutu. For a 22 year old. To run in the Tinker Bell Half Marathon with.

And just so you all know, it is REALLY HARD to find a tutu in any size bigger than a child’s large. And I am certainly NOT a size child’s large.

We had been in WoD for about 20 minutes and suddenly Julie comes up to me with this goofy grin on her face and tells me I need to see something. She leads me over to a rack of…BRIGHT PINK TUTUS. OMG, exactly what I wanted. So I grab the biggest size (child’s XL), neglect to try it on, and go buy the $35 tutu.

Let’s just say I was on top of the moon. About a tutu.

So after I got my tutu and my mom got $60 worth of antenna toppers (I know, right?), we headed over to Tortilla Jo’s.

As usual, we gorged ourselves on tortilla chips and freshly made guacamole (and our adult beverages of choice) and hardly ate any of our actual dinner.

But before dinner, we admired the beautiful candied apples in the window of Marceline's Confectionery.
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And now dinner...
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Guacamole! (which should be a food group in itself)
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After dinner we wandered around, went to Build A Bear and Sephora and then went in to the Grand Californian just to look. On our way in, we walked past the Disney Weddings display and basically I found my wedding dress.

I'm claiming this dress. Nobody else can have it. It's mine!
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After I mopped up the drool from looking at the wedding dress, we went to The Jazz Kitchen Express for beignets. Heaven!

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We were getting tired and knew we had to get up early for our first full day at Disneyland so we went back to the hotel. Jess had had class until 10:00 and then was driving down afterwards. While we were waiting, I tried on my tutu…which didn’t fit.

Jess ended up getting there about 10:45. Someone may have driven a little fast...

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Next up: DISNEYLAND!!!
 

Just wanted to tell you I've enjoyed all your trip reports and have read your Pirate Premier report many times!

Looking forward to the next update! :goodvibes
 
Subscribed!

I stayed down at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel in mid/late Sept. of last year and yeah - that place is disgusting.
 
Oh dear, I am really, REALLY blowing this. It has been like 4 months since an update and I am so so sorry!!! I am planning on writing a new installment soon (I have a week of vacation from work the week after Easter with no plans so....updates will come!!). Since the end of this trip, I have run two more half marathons (Tinker Bell was AMAZING! Details to come!), I am training for a full marathon in June and am preparing to buy an Annual Pass!

For now, that is all. I have not forgotten about all of you and I will not abandon this report!
 
Yay, I'm glad you're going to update again! I've through the beginning of this one (and your unbirthday one) quite a few times. You have a really great group to go with!

Congrats on your halfs, btw! Were they both (and the marathon too, I guess!) with Disney?
 
Since the end of this trip, I have run two more half marathons (Tinker Bell was AMAZING! Details to come!), I am training for a full marathon in June and am preparing to buy an Annual Pass!

This is good news. I'll be interested to read a bit about your races.
 
First, I’m BAAACCCKKKK!!!

It’s a little embarrassing that it has been over six months since the trip and this trip report hasn’t even made it into the park yet…

However, that will all be fixed right here, right now! Let’s get on with Day 2 of this little trippie!

Day 2, Friday, September 23

The morning started bright and early. A little too early for me, in fact. If you remember, I started getting sick the day before but decided to call it off as allergies. Well, after an entire night of tossing and turning and hardly sleeping because my brain was focusing on my ever increasing sore throat, it was official. I was sick.

BUT, because I’m not a man, I wasn’t going to let this ruin my Girl’s Weekend at Disneyland. Oh no no. I had waited too long for this! So I loaded up on DayQuil and some Advil Cold and Sinus and some Sudafed and I was ready to go! (Disneyland in a looped up state is an interesting experience, let me tell you!)

The park opened at…well, I don’t remember when it opened, but we walked to the park and waited to enter the Esplanade for what seemed like days. They finally let us in 15 minutes before the gates opened before Rope Drop.

Can you say awkward?
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I look like a three year old ready to go to preschool on the first day
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We did a classic walk/run to our favorite Gate 13 and waited ever so patiently to be let in – chanting “Let us in!” and rattling the gates with increasing energy as the time got closer. We were finally let in and the turnstile made its magical little “DING” as your ticket is scanned (you know the sound, possible the most magical sound ever). Once again, our classic walk/run came in handy as we were one of the first groups on Main Street.

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If not for this guy, who scooted all the way down Main Street and then disappeared into the candy shop, we would have been the first ones!
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A really attractive picture of my mom's back. She'd be so proud of my photography skills.
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Jess and my mom headed for the rope while Julie and I went straight to the Blue Ribbon Bakery for…wait for it…CINNAMON ROLLS. Just thinking about it right now makes my mouth water. We got way too many cinnamon rolls than needed (which is apparently tradition now) and made sure we got my mom her coffee before we pushed and shoved our way to the front of the rope (yes, that was us) to find our people. We didn’t look back to see who gave us dirty looks.

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All the poor saps behind us.
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Once the rope dropped (but really, where else on Earth can a widdly little rope keep hundreds of excited people from bursting into the rest of the park?), we walk/ran to Tomorrowland. I was in charge of getting Star Tours FP’s while the others mosey’d on over to Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy.

I was pretty excited about SMGG. All the hype I’d read online, the excitement of riding a new version of my favorite ride! I was about to pee my pants.

The tension built as we climbed up into the building and then rounded the corner and made our way down to the loading area. My heart was pounding, my palms sweaty, a perma-grin on my face. THIS WAS GOING TO BE FANTASTIC.

We loaded into the car, waved to Mr. Control Guy in the window and were headed into space!

Annnnddd, then the first incredibly creepy ghost popped out of nowhere it scared the crap out of all of us. Not okay, Disney. I want regular Space Mountain back! This was the only time we rode Space Mountain on this trip, which is very unusual for us since our usual trips include 5+ rides per day on our beloved Spacey.

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We wandered over towards the Castle (we may have rode Buzz?) and had a little photo shoot (PhotoPass, I love you.)

A teaser...I'll post the rest of my pictures for this segment in another post...
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We then went to ride Peter Pan and the wait wasn’t long at all. After Peter Pan, Julie realized she hadn’t taken her antibiotic before we left the hotel, so she and my mom headed off to go back to Hotel De Gross. In the meantime, Jess and I went and picked up FP for Thunder Mountain and then rode (back seat, of course. Is there any other viable option?? The answer would be no.). At some point we got Indy FP too. We headed back toward Fantasyland and rode Pinocchio (freaks me out every time). I lead us to the Castle walk-through which a) I had never been in and b) was air conditioned (it was getting a bit warm!). We found the handicapped viewing area and made ourselves comfortable.

A throne fit for me!
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We went into the Bibbidy Boppity Boutique and, omg, TUTUS GALORE! I found a Cinderella tutu (and actually tried it on this time!) and then dropped a nice $38 on it. To run 13.1 miles in. And never wear it again. YESSSS!

We walked through the Castle and down Main Street and had an impromptu photo shoot with the PhotoPass Photographer (again, PhotoPass, I love you.).

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By that time, my mom had called and they were on their way in. We told them we’d meet them at Indy. So Jess and I meandered our way to Adventureland and plopped ourselves on the rocks in front of Indy and waited. And waited. And took some pictures. And waited.

Finally, we see two brightly colored shirts bouncing towards us. Before we used our FP’s a) we got more FP’s and b) Julie insisted I take another Advil Cold and Sinus (she practically shoved it down my throat). Yes ma’am!

Hopefully this is a good start to the rest of my trip report. Apparently I never finished uploading my pictures to Photobucket so I’m still working on that. There will be more to come, including an installment about my Tinkerbell Half Marathon!
 
Continuing my pictures from the last post... (you can figure out where they go, I'm sure)

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And then, they made us pretend to be pirates!

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I'm a really horrible pirate.
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The photographer really like the over-the-shoulder look
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Her was standing outside of the Peter Pan ride...imagine that!
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Yay! An Update! Seems like you had a great start to your trip (minus the cold)
 
After we ignored all warnings about going into Indy’s little temple (somehow we managed to evade that huge spherical boulder..whew! It was close!), we backtracked to the Jungle Cruise. This is by no means my favorite ride, but getting a really awesome skipper (preferably one with an incredibly dry sense of humor) makes all the difference. I don’t remember our skipper being out-of-this-world-awesome and it was just another boat ride along the rivers of the world (how they go from the Nile to the Amazon in one fell swoop still boggles my mind). I did take a picture of the backside of water, however I didn’t upload it to Photobucket.

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Next, we meandered our way toward New Orleans Square. Pirates was closed for refurbishment so we headed to the Haunted Mansion which was all decked out in its Nightmare Before Christmas costume (I almost just called it the Nightmare Before Halloween…silly me, how embarrassing). The HM is a classic and there is no way I would ever miss riding it. I really enjoy the NBC version with all the super bright colors and after seeing the regular version so many times, the NBC version is always a nice change. My mom, on the other hand, strongly dislikes it. However, not enough to not go on it.

And apparently I don’t have any pictures relating to this segment of our trip.

We then walked 12 steps and got in line for Splash (picking up FP on the way). The line wasn’t too long (10 minutes maybe?) so we walked all the way to where the FP line joins the stand-by line before we stopped.

Now, I have a love/hate relationship with Splash. I love the ride, I hate the water aspect. My hair hates the water aspect. My pants, underwear and socks hate the water aspect. You’d think being a swimmer for my entire life the water would be nothing. *snorting noise* No. The water is something. A big something. And many times I carry an extra pair of pants, underwear, and socks so I can change after I get drenched. Because I have yet to be on this ride without getting completely drenched.

This time was different, though. Julie, our beloved Julie, brought ponchos. Yes, we turned into THOSE PEOPLE wearing ponchos on Splash. And you know what, laugh as you may, I will never go on Splash (or any other water ride) again without a poncho. I was dry by the end and it was a glorious feeling walking off Splash without a drop on me while all the other boofs around us are dripping. Go ahead, laugh. I’m laughing right back at you.

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After Splash, I made everyone go on Pooh. Nobody likes Pooh except me. I like Pooh. We may have gotten stuck in the middle of the ride…coming out of the Heffalump and Woozle room…but I like Pooh!

We went into Pooh’s corner to get a snack at the candy counter. What I got I haven’t a clue. But we were all getting hungry and decided to walk back to the front of the park to see what we could eat. I think we even had decided to go to DTD to eat lunch but when we walked by the Carnation Café, the luscious smells wafting out at us drew us in like ants to a fallen popsicle. We didn’t have to wait at all before we were seated and before I knew it, I had a nice icy water and an incredibly delicious baked potato soup sitting in front of me. And I was happy. Very happy. And I also now have a new favorite restaurant.

On our way to Main Street, look who we found!
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We even met the famous Oscar! What a doll!
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After lunch, we walked toward the train station and we saw some characters. We also had ANOTHER little photo shoot in front of the ginormous Mickey pumpkin.

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The fact they're holding hands is just too precious.
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We walked through the stores on the left side of Main Street (the Emporium side) all the way to the Coke Corner (or whatever it’s called now). The Dapper Dans were out and let me tell you, I love me some Dapper Dans. Apparently all the Dapper Dans had the same idea when they saw us come watch.

We were standing there for no more than 10 seconds when DD#1 (his name was Dan, of course) comes toward us, GRABS MY HAND and pulls me toward the rest of the group. Long story short, I performed 2 songs with the Dapper Dans and am now officially an Honorary Dapper Dan. While this was WAY out of my comfort zone, it is one of my most favorite memories of any trip to Disneyland I’ve taken and it was a completely amazing experience. And how many people are Honorary Dapper Dans?? Don’t answer that, I like thinking I’m the only one.

There are about 1000 pictures in this sequence, but I’ll only post a few. (Where were the PhotoPass people for this???)

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Here I am, being whisked away by a handsome man. Sounds like a fairy tale, right??
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Here I am with my men!
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After that, we went to Star Tours, me still dazed about performing with the Dapper Dans, and used our FP from earlier. What a great ride! So much better than before!

We then headed back to the other side of the park to use Thunder Mountain, Indy and Splash FP. We also dragged Julie to the Tiki Room. My least favorite ride. She had never been on it, lucky girl. She got to experience it Carol and Erin Style (meaning we sat in the back and made snide comments through the whole thing). By the end of those, we were exhausted, hot, sticky, and hungry (imagine that). We got a snack (ice cream I think). We had gotten some more FP for later and then headed back to the hotel room to shower and change before we headed back for drinks in DTD and dinner at Café Orleans!

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That's so cool of the Dapper Dans to do that! I've never stood still long enough to hear them, let alone see any honorary Dapper Dans, so no idea how common it is.

Was Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy good overall? Or not really worth seeing?

That scooter guy (I don't know why I'm writing this backwards in regards to time..) is my new hero. I would totally hit up the candy store ASAP.
 













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