Our extra special trip with Papa (TR in progress)

[goofycathy]

We got home yesterday. Wonderful visit! I will start my TR later today. I have a story to tell I will call iPhone vs Big Thunder.

Oh no! I hope its a good story!!!!

 

[MommyWithDreams]

So I was so excited to wake Ayden up to go to Disney. I walked into his room singing it's time for Disney. He lifted his head and all he said was "I feel like I could throw up." I was shocked. Turns out he was totally ok, I think it all just boiled down to nerves. He kept asking about the plane we were flying on. We normally fly Southwest and when I said "Jet Blue" He was picturing a super fast like REAL jet! He also had some anxiety with Chris not coming with us. In fact he cried when Chris dropped us off at the airport. It just wasn't the same without Chris there.

We arrived on time around 10:30am and got a Taxi/van from the hotel to HOJO's. $45 flat rate for the three of us. The guy FLEW! Almost 80 on the freeway.

Arrived at HOJO a little after 11am and was thrilled that our room was ready for us. I had requested an early check in and was so glad we got it. We were on the 3rd floor, all the way at the end closest to the parking lot. Perfect room and loved our view of the pool. I had always been on the 1st floor so this was a nice change.

We unpacked a bit and made our trek to the park. We were ready for lunch so we ate at the River Belle Terrace. I had the Turkey sandwich and Dad had the BBQ sandwich. Mine was tasty and he devoured his saying it was great as well.

Our first ride was Ayden's pick. What a surprise, Big Thunder. (his favorite)
It made my Dad sick. He said it would be his last time on that. Used to be one of his favorites too. I'm just thrilled he gave it a try. We also did Pirate, HM and Small world. Dad was brave enough to try Indy as well. He wasn't thrilled with it either since it made him a little nauseous but he did it again the last night and he said it didn't bother him at all.

We decided to check out the Tiki room. Can't believe I have never taken Ayden in there before. He loves singing it since we have the DL CD in our car. After the show I heard a familiar voice...and low and behold it was MAYNARD. I just had to chat with him. Of course he did one of his little jokes with us and a couple that were also excited to meet him. Here's a picture I got with him.

We got a great spot for the Fireworks. We were in front of the castle, just a little to the left. My Dad got a little uncomfortable standing and waiting for them. He kept saying "Ive seen fireworks before". I kept telling him though not like Disneylands. He was in awe the entire show. He just kept saying WOW,...ooohhh and lots of aaaahs. The show always brings tears to my eyes, but seeing my Dad in pure amazement is what did it for me this time.

So Dad didn't get the Knotts Berry Farm chicken dinner, so I took him to Plaza Inn for dinner our first night. He LOVED it.

Here are a few more pictures from our first night.

First character interaction was with Goofy in his Mardi Gras outfit in New Orleans

We headed back to the room around 11pm, we were all pretty tired.

Day 2...a visit to DCA, a DL "Money shot" picture and Ayden's first time on Space Mountain!

 

[brookies_mommy]

I love it!!!!

 

[rmom]

love your pics.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Looks and sounds like a fantastic 1st day! I love the HoJo's new bedding

 

[MommyWithDreams]

Looks and sounds like a fantastic 1st day! I love the HoJo's new bedding

Their beds are so worth the walk.

 

[kaoden39]

I love how your dad clowned in the pictures and it looks like you all had a ball.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

I love how your dad clowned in the pictures and it looks like you all had a ball.

LOL That he certainly did. Although in some he looks mad since he wasn't expecting the shot. He was such a trooper the entire trip!

 

[kaoden39]

LOL That he certainly did. Although in some he looks mad since he wasn't expecting the shot. He was such a trooper the entire trip!

That's great. I miss going with my dad.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

We got a later start than I'm used to on our first full day. We had breakfast at Mimi's since I had a great coupon. The 3 of us ate for less than $18. Quite a deal! We started our day in CA and caught a Monsters Inc. show going on.

We took my Dad on Soarin for the first time and he L O V E D it!!! We ventured over to Toy Story and he loved that as well. My Dad made a huge mistake and bought Ayden and I both a set of pins to start trading with. I say mistake because wow I didn't realize how addicting it would become. So here he spent $30 each on 2 pin sets. I was a little mad when I found out the current promotion is if you spend $40 in merchandise at certain stores you can buy a starter pin set for only $15. We both got the nerd set which was very cute. It took off from there and was a lot of fun trading wtih the CM's. We ended up buying 2 more sets on the promotional deal and Ayden came home with a book full of pins. Yes it got really addicting!

I skipped riding on Screamin our last trip since I had been having issues with vertigo right before our trip. Well I should have skipped it this trip as well as it took me about 3 hours to feel somewhat normal again. I just felt lightheaded and icky. I'm getting too old for this stuff. I mainly did it because Ayden really wanted to see me ride it, oh the things we do for our kids. I did the single rider line which was pretty much a walk on. I ended up riding with some Austrailian guy that asked me if it went upside down. I thought he was joking at first but he was serious. Anyway after I told him yes, once we were getting in the seat he said "I sure hope I can handle that." I quickly said I hope so too LOL

Just for you Michele

THis is what I call the MONEY SHOT!!! All three of them at once!

Ayden rode Space Mountain for the very first time and LOVED it! About 30 seconds into the ride he said yep, this is my new favorite ride! The HUGE surprise was that my Dad rode it too. Well he didn't love it so much, he was so sick afterwards. I was actually kinda worried about him. He was actually flushed and sweaty when we got off. He really thought he was going to throw up. Turns out he had his eyes shut the entire time. No wonder he was sick. Anyway, that was Dads last time on Space. Kudos to him for even trying. This is them before the ride.

We ventured to ESPN zone for dinner. It was my first time there. It was pretty good. Dad and I split a turkey wrap. We let Ayden go into the Lego store for a bit too.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

That's all for today...next day will be Jedi Training, toontown and more CA.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh Janelle thank you for the Duffy picture.

I love the pictures. I think that your dad did great going on Space Mountain. Yay for him. I love all of you pictures and it looks like you guys had a blast.

I ended up with one of those beginner sets of pins that they had for $15 on the last day. I don't trade but my mom collects pins and I am going to give it to her for her birthday. I also got that green and blue bag they had too. I love a bargain.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

Oh Janelle thank you for the Duffy picture.

I love the pictures. I think that your dad did great going on Space Mountain. Yay for him. I love all of you pictures and it looks like you guys had a blast.

I ended up with one of those beginner sets of pins that they had for $15 on the last day. I don't trade but my mom collects pins and I am going to give it to her for her birthday. I also got that green and blue bag they had too. I love a bargain.

I knew you'd like the Duffy picture. I don't think I sent the one of him sitting with the flock of Duffy's did I? It's on my phone so I'll post it to FB here in a few minutes so be sure to check it out. Duffy's Duffy's everywhere!! LOL

Those pins were a great deal. On top of the nerd sets we ended up getting two more packs of the $15 ones and traded those too. I should have gotten that bag. Would have been great for a trip to the beach

 

[Bungle]

Looks like you guys had a great time. Loved the money shot. I have never been able to get more than one character at a time.

Excited to see handy manny in there too! That's one that my kids were hoping would be there.

 

[kaoden39]

Looks like you guys had a great time. Loved the money shot. I have never been able to get more than one character at a time.

Excited to see handy manny in there too! That's one that my kids were hoping would be there.

In June the 4 year old in the party loved Handy Manny so much she went through his line more than once. It was so cute to see.

 

[burly]

Loving the trip report with your dad.
One of my biggest regrets was never getting back to one of the lands with my daddy.

Great memories you are building for your son and dad.
Loved the pic with your son, dad, and green army man. Priceless!


KIM

 

[MommyWithDreams]

I almost felt guilty about having Ayden try for Jedi Training again, this was actually his 3rd time! The sign trick works wonders. Ayden's sign was on lime green paper saying The Force is Strong wtih This One. It had arrows pointing down towards him. I really just wanted my Dad to see him do the training. He was one of the first ones picked. My Dad had to sit at the tables which was great because Ayden got to train actually up on the stage so he could see him well. He loves doing it and my Dad loved watching it.

Here's some goodies being made at Disneyland.

We took my Dad to Toontown for the first time. Although we didn't stand in line to see Mickey here, Dad did venture into their houses as Ayden and I road Gadget's Go Coaster. Dad and Ayden loved goofing off together in Toontown. I think I got some great shots of them.

We rode the train from Toontown back to the Main Gate and ran into some characters.

We headed over to CA for awhile and did some rides in Bug Land. Ayden was so excited he was old enough to do the bumper cars alone this year. He and Papa had so much fun chasing each other in the cars. I can't tell you how many times I had tears welling up in my eyes on this trip. Happy Tears.

Next day...Magic Morning. Pirates Lair

 

[Bungle]

Were there pictures in the last post?

If so I can't see them

 

[MommyWithDreams]

Were there pictures in the last post?

If so I can't see them

Sorry I had typed all that and my pictures were taking forever to upload. I just edited the post so you should see the pictures now

I think I may have lost half my readers. Glad you're still here

 

[kaoden39]

I'm still here!!