Our FREE trip!! (well, sorta free...) Edited to add pics to some installments :)
- Thread starter Keli
- Start date
Disney owl
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looking forward to reading more
Pooh_Friend#1
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I can't stand the wait, I want to know more!!!!
PrincessTrisha
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Very interesting...can't wait to hear more....
wendy darling
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I am enjoying your TP!!! Please post soon, I can't wait to see what happens 
Keli
<font color=darkcoral>We're smarter than the avera
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Installment 5
I checked my purse (um, I mean my backpack, which is what I called it at all times so that I could talk my dh into carrying it when I got too tired, lol
) for our vouchers for the shuttle to the Disneyland Hotel. There they were, safe and sound, so we marched out of the airport and right over to the Disney shuttle service.
The woman at the little kiosk was reading something as I walked up. It was so odd because she never looked at me. I finally just volunteered that we had vouchers for the shuttle and asked her if she could she tell me when it would arrive next. “Fifteen minutes, wait by the sign” was her reply.
So we did. And we were the only ones that were doing that. We all took heart that had to be a sign that the parks were going to be empty too! Whoo Hoo! Our excitement was building.
But secretly I was just so excited to be in CA for the first time. It made me want to stomp my feet a time or two just to make my imprint there! Such a beautiful area, and the weather was wonderful!
Our shuttle pulled up and I walked up to talk to the driver. He said he would wait to board the shuttle for fifteen minutes in case someone else showed up. He seemed surprised when I said “Ok, sounds good” and smiled. I got the feeling that the shuttle crew has to put up with a lot of crabby travelers.
But our crew was anything but crabby, we were all jazzed about the trip in general (Matt seemed to have shaken off his case of the nerves) and talking about all the fun we were going to be having in the next few days.
My dh called his brother, K, who lives in CA to let him know we were at the airport. K and his wife D and their precious, beautiful, smart, sweet, little girl, Ella-Bella (ok, actually her name is Ellesyn) moved to CA a year ago and we hate it. But they are reasonably happy (they’d be very happy except they miss family) and K loves his job. D, seems to like her job pretty well too so I’m afraid that you CA folks will be blessed with their presence a lot longer that I would like. You lucky dogs!
K and D live about two hours from Anaheim so they’ve decided to drive up there and for the weekend and meet us and spend some time at Disney (a first for Ella!
).
Our shuttle driver signals he’s ready so we walk over with our stuff and he loads it in the cargo area and we board the bus. We were the only passengers so we all sat in the front seats (more foot room there). They had screens up so I hoped we’d get to see something about Disney but the driver didn’t turn it on. He chatted with us most of the way to the hotel though and it was a pleasant ride. I took a few pics because I was just too excited not to, lol.
And then we turned into the Disneyland Hotel Drive. The hotel is beautiful. Very impressive. And I loved the giant Mickey statue. I snapped a pic of it right then but a few days later we posed in front of it for a couple more shots.
Yes, they thought they were hilarious...
Our arrival day was set to be a day of travel and then relaxing around the hotel and visiting downtown Disney and finally eating at Goofy’s Kitchen. We wouldn’t be visiting any parks until the next morning.
Check-in was a breeze. I had told our travel agent that our arrival day was dh’s birthday. They had signed pic of Mickey and gang and a birthday pin for him. And they had first time visitor pins for all of us! (Our travel agent must have told them that part)
Our room was ready. We were on the eighth floor of the Dream tower, overlooking the pool. It was a great room! Everything was just so perfect. And the view of the pool was amazing. The theme for the pool is Peter Pan and although it was too cold for us to swim while we were there (but not some of the other guests! They were swimming in the pool too, not just enjoying the Jacuzzi) we enjoyed walking around it and looking at it from our room.
Doesn't the pool just look too cool?
We were all hungry by the time we got to our room since no one had eaten since early in the morning at the airport. So we put all our stuff in the room and decided to take stroll through the hotel and find some food. We’d found a menu for the different restaurants laying on the desk and dh had already decided he wanted some nachos before we’d walked out the door, lol.
This is when I first realized that a birthday pin will generate a lot of comments from cast members. My dh balked at first when I asked him if he wanted to wear it but then relented. I think he felt just a little silly but at the same time he wanted to get into a fun and relaxed vacation mode because as soon as dd said “Come on dad, it’s your birthday!” He smiled and put it on. Then the rest of us put on our first visit pins too. Properly attired we were ready to dive into the Disneyland experience.
And I think every single cast member we passed called out a cheerful “Happy Birthday David!” Dh must have grinned and said ‘thank you’ 5 or 6 times in response before we even walked out of the dreams tower.
Ashli and Matt were like little puppies in their excitement. They were running a head of us and calling back comments about how neat this was or that. They both said they’d give the pool a whirl (although Matt looked a little doubtful before Ashli convinced him it would be great). I did notice that they were always going to swim ‘later’ and I’m pretty sure Matt was thankful that Ashli didn’t try to drag him into the water.
Although a lot warmer than home it was still cool to be in an unheated outdoor pool.
We walked around a bit and then ordered our nachos from Crocs Bits 'n' Bites. We sat at a nearby table to wait. There wasn’t anyone sitting at any of the tables so we had our pick. A waitress from The Lost Bar walked up and started to talk to us and that’s when we realized we were sitting at an outdoor table that belonged to The Lost Bar rather than to Crocs Bits 'n' Bites. Opps! The waitress was very nice and told us to stay even though we weren’t ordering anything from the bar. But as soon as our nachos were ready we went ahead and headed back to our room to eat them because no one had grabbed jackets and it was a little too cool to sit in the shade without them.
Ash and Matt decided to go out to explore the Hotel and Downtown Disney while I set up the laptop and did some research for the next day. Dh laid down to rest but I kept talking to him about all the exciting stuff we were going to see and do and I’m not sure he even closed his eyes, lol.
Dh called his brother K and talked to him for a few minutes. K and family were at Disneyland right then and having a blast. Ella loved every character, even those that weren’t a beloved princess.
Normally I would never need to do research while on vacation. I would have had everything so fully researched that I wouldn’t have felt the need to check out anything while actually on the trip. BUT I had researched nothing, the only thing I had was a plan for early morning entry that I’d put together from reading threads on the DIS.
The only PS we had was for that evening at Goofy’s Kitchen with K, D, and Ella. Otherwise we were going to wing it. Just the thought of it left me feeling a little shaky, lol.
K, D, and Ella bounced into our room along with Ashli and Matt (they ran into each other in Downtown Disney). Well, everyone else walked Ella definitely bounced into our room.
Full of smiles, giggles, and hugs.
She told us all about Disneyland and the princess’ in-between all of the talking and hugging the adults were doing.
We spent a little while catching up with each other and then got ready for dinner at Goofy’s kitchen and walked over. Our PS was for 7:20pm.
Goofy’s kitchen was a blast! Even though it wasn’t a busy time of the year Goofy’s kitchen was still pretty full. We were on time for our PS but we waited about 15-20 minutes for a table because they were so busy. I can’t remember how long they said we would have at our table (2 hours?) but it did surprise me that they have a time limit. I do know that however long it was I thought to myself that we’d never need anywhere near that long to eat and visit with the characters.
Ashli and Matt with Goofy
Ella and Goofy having a good time
Ashli and Ella with Aladdin
I have no idea what Ashli was doing but Chip (or is that Dale?) got down on the floor
first and kept motioning for Ashli to join him so she did, Gotta wonder about that kid...
Well I surprised myself, lol and I now understand having a time limit.
We probably took every minute they gave us (although no one ever mentioned anything after we were seated). The food was good and we all enjoyed it, we probably made a dozen trips to the bar that evening. (Ok, not a dozen but quite a few!)
We were all talking and laughing and Ella was so excited about all the characters. We saw Goofy (of course!), Pluto, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Alice, Aladdin. Ella liked them all but she cracked me up when Pluto was signing her autograph book because he lifts it very high, over his nose, to sign it. Ella was staring up at him and then she reached up and touched his tongue.
You could see she was amazed at it’s hard surface because she looked around and then reached up and touched it again.
After dinner we walked towards downtown Disney and stopped to watch the fireworks coming from Disneyland. They were beautiful and seemed to last a long time. We started to walk through downtown Disney but we realized everything was closing or closed so we turned back towards the hotel. Uncle David (dh) put Ella on his shoulders and they walked all through the Peter Pan pool area. Ella wanted to jump right in, clothes and all. She kept saying "Uncle David take me over there!" until they had explored every nook and cranny.
I was pretty beat by this time and I think everyone else felt the same way. So we all headed to our rooms. It wasn’t too much later and the lights were out and everyone was sleeping. I set up a wake up call for 7:00am but I was pretty sure I’d have a hard time getting everyone up and at ‘em that early, lol.
I checked my purse (um, I mean my backpack, which is what I called it at all times so that I could talk my dh into carrying it when I got too tired, lol
) for our vouchers for the shuttle to the Disneyland Hotel. There they were, safe and sound, so we marched out of the airport and right over to the Disney shuttle service.The woman at the little kiosk was reading something as I walked up. It was so odd because she never looked at me. I finally just volunteered that we had vouchers for the shuttle and asked her if she could she tell me when it would arrive next. “Fifteen minutes, wait by the sign” was her reply.
So we did. And we were the only ones that were doing that. We all took heart that had to be a sign that the parks were going to be empty too! Whoo Hoo! Our excitement was building.
But secretly I was just so excited to be in CA for the first time. It made me want to stomp my feet a time or two just to make my imprint there! Such a beautiful area, and the weather was wonderful!
Our shuttle pulled up and I walked up to talk to the driver. He said he would wait to board the shuttle for fifteen minutes in case someone else showed up. He seemed surprised when I said “Ok, sounds good” and smiled. I got the feeling that the shuttle crew has to put up with a lot of crabby travelers.
But our crew was anything but crabby, we were all jazzed about the trip in general (Matt seemed to have shaken off his case of the nerves) and talking about all the fun we were going to be having in the next few days.
My dh called his brother, K, who lives in CA to let him know we were at the airport. K and his wife D and their precious, beautiful, smart, sweet, little girl, Ella-Bella (ok, actually her name is Ellesyn) moved to CA a year ago and we hate it. But they are reasonably happy (they’d be very happy except they miss family) and K loves his job. D, seems to like her job pretty well too so I’m afraid that you CA folks will be blessed with their presence a lot longer that I would like. You lucky dogs!
K and D live about two hours from Anaheim so they’ve decided to drive up there and for the weekend and meet us and spend some time at Disney (a first for Ella!
). Our shuttle driver signals he’s ready so we walk over with our stuff and he loads it in the cargo area and we board the bus. We were the only passengers so we all sat in the front seats (more foot room there). They had screens up so I hoped we’d get to see something about Disney but the driver didn’t turn it on. He chatted with us most of the way to the hotel though and it was a pleasant ride. I took a few pics because I was just too excited not to, lol.
And then we turned into the Disneyland Hotel Drive. The hotel is beautiful. Very impressive. And I loved the giant Mickey statue. I snapped a pic of it right then but a few days later we posed in front of it for a couple more shots.
Yes, they thought they were hilarious...
Our arrival day was set to be a day of travel and then relaxing around the hotel and visiting downtown Disney and finally eating at Goofy’s Kitchen. We wouldn’t be visiting any parks until the next morning.
Check-in was a breeze. I had told our travel agent that our arrival day was dh’s birthday. They had signed pic of Mickey and gang and a birthday pin for him. And they had first time visitor pins for all of us! (Our travel agent must have told them that part)
Our room was ready. We were on the eighth floor of the Dream tower, overlooking the pool. It was a great room! Everything was just so perfect. And the view of the pool was amazing. The theme for the pool is Peter Pan and although it was too cold for us to swim while we were there (but not some of the other guests! They were swimming in the pool too, not just enjoying the Jacuzzi) we enjoyed walking around it and looking at it from our room.
Doesn't the pool just look too cool?
We were all hungry by the time we got to our room since no one had eaten since early in the morning at the airport. So we put all our stuff in the room and decided to take stroll through the hotel and find some food. We’d found a menu for the different restaurants laying on the desk and dh had already decided he wanted some nachos before we’d walked out the door, lol.
This is when I first realized that a birthday pin will generate a lot of comments from cast members. My dh balked at first when I asked him if he wanted to wear it but then relented. I think he felt just a little silly but at the same time he wanted to get into a fun and relaxed vacation mode because as soon as dd said “Come on dad, it’s your birthday!” He smiled and put it on. Then the rest of us put on our first visit pins too. Properly attired we were ready to dive into the Disneyland experience.
And I think every single cast member we passed called out a cheerful “Happy Birthday David!” Dh must have grinned and said ‘thank you’ 5 or 6 times in response before we even walked out of the dreams tower.
Ashli and Matt were like little puppies in their excitement. They were running a head of us and calling back comments about how neat this was or that. They both said they’d give the pool a whirl (although Matt looked a little doubtful before Ashli convinced him it would be great). I did notice that they were always going to swim ‘later’ and I’m pretty sure Matt was thankful that Ashli didn’t try to drag him into the water.
Although a lot warmer than home it was still cool to be in an unheated outdoor pool. We walked around a bit and then ordered our nachos from Crocs Bits 'n' Bites. We sat at a nearby table to wait. There wasn’t anyone sitting at any of the tables so we had our pick. A waitress from The Lost Bar walked up and started to talk to us and that’s when we realized we were sitting at an outdoor table that belonged to The Lost Bar rather than to Crocs Bits 'n' Bites. Opps! The waitress was very nice and told us to stay even though we weren’t ordering anything from the bar. But as soon as our nachos were ready we went ahead and headed back to our room to eat them because no one had grabbed jackets and it was a little too cool to sit in the shade without them.
Ash and Matt decided to go out to explore the Hotel and Downtown Disney while I set up the laptop and did some research for the next day. Dh laid down to rest but I kept talking to him about all the exciting stuff we were going to see and do and I’m not sure he even closed his eyes, lol.
Dh called his brother K and talked to him for a few minutes. K and family were at Disneyland right then and having a blast. Ella loved every character, even those that weren’t a beloved princess.
Normally I would never need to do research while on vacation. I would have had everything so fully researched that I wouldn’t have felt the need to check out anything while actually on the trip. BUT I had researched nothing, the only thing I had was a plan for early morning entry that I’d put together from reading threads on the DIS.
The only PS we had was for that evening at Goofy’s Kitchen with K, D, and Ella. Otherwise we were going to wing it. Just the thought of it left me feeling a little shaky, lol.
K, D, and Ella bounced into our room along with Ashli and Matt (they ran into each other in Downtown Disney). Well, everyone else walked Ella definitely bounced into our room.
Full of smiles, giggles, and hugs.She told us all about Disneyland and the princess’ in-between all of the talking and hugging the adults were doing.
We spent a little while catching up with each other and then got ready for dinner at Goofy’s kitchen and walked over. Our PS was for 7:20pm.
Goofy’s kitchen was a blast! Even though it wasn’t a busy time of the year Goofy’s kitchen was still pretty full. We were on time for our PS but we waited about 15-20 minutes for a table because they were so busy. I can’t remember how long they said we would have at our table (2 hours?) but it did surprise me that they have a time limit. I do know that however long it was I thought to myself that we’d never need anywhere near that long to eat and visit with the characters.
Ashli and Matt with Goofy
Ella and Goofy having a good time
Ashli and Ella with Aladdin
I have no idea what Ashli was doing but Chip (or is that Dale?) got down on the floor
first and kept motioning for Ashli to join him so she did, Gotta wonder about that kid...
Well I surprised myself, lol and I now understand having a time limit.
We probably took every minute they gave us (although no one ever mentioned anything after we were seated). The food was good and we all enjoyed it, we probably made a dozen trips to the bar that evening. (Ok, not a dozen but quite a few!)We were all talking and laughing and Ella was so excited about all the characters. We saw Goofy (of course!), Pluto, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Alice, Aladdin. Ella liked them all but she cracked me up when Pluto was signing her autograph book because he lifts it very high, over his nose, to sign it. Ella was staring up at him and then she reached up and touched his tongue.
You could see she was amazed at it’s hard surface because she looked around and then reached up and touched it again. After dinner we walked towards downtown Disney and stopped to watch the fireworks coming from Disneyland. They were beautiful and seemed to last a long time. We started to walk through downtown Disney but we realized everything was closing or closed so we turned back towards the hotel. Uncle David (dh) put Ella on his shoulders and they walked all through the Peter Pan pool area. Ella wanted to jump right in, clothes and all. She kept saying "Uncle David take me over there!" until they had explored every nook and cranny.
I was pretty beat by this time and I think everyone else felt the same way. So we all headed to our rooms. It wasn’t too much later and the lights were out and everyone was sleeping. I set up a wake up call for 7:00am but I was pretty sure I’d have a hard time getting everyone up and at ‘em that early, lol.
Boston Tea Party
Truth is truth
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More more more!
TiggerandTink
Mouseketeer
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What a great trip report! I can't wait for more. Sounds like your whole crew is excited and having fun!
Sounds like you had a good time at Goofy's Kitchen, we're thinking about doing it ourselves when we go this year. I was surprised about the time limit when we did Minnie and Friends in November too! But like you, they never said anything to us once we sat down.
I'm with everyone else, hoping for pictures!
Can't wait to hear more, I'm loving it!
I'm with everyone else, hoping for pictures!
Can't wait to hear more, I'm loving it!
Pooh_Friend#1
<font color=blue>Check out my year round tan!</fon
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Goofy's kitchen sounded like a lot of fun.
mindylovesmickey
Proud Marine Wife
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- Dec 30, 2007
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I can't wait for the next installment!! But, I'm surprised no one told you that the Neverland Pool is heated. Dh and dd were down there last week on one of the cold, rainy days and it's definitely not as hot as the jacuzzi, but it is heated.
Boston Tea Party
Truth is truth
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I came back hoping to find more. 
Maybe soon?
Maybe soon?
Pooh_Friend#1
<font color=blue>Check out my year round tan!</fon
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Me too!!!!I came back hoping to find more.
Maybe soon?
Keli
<font color=darkcoral>We're smarter than the avera
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I am so sorry it's taken me so long to write this trip report. I've been working a lot and I also caught the flu which wiped me out for a bit. But I'm up and running now and not working too much so I should finish it up a lot faster.
Thanks for hanging in there!
Thanks for hanging in there!
Keli
<font color=darkcoral>We're smarter than the avera
- Joined
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Installment 6--Sunday Morning, First Day in the Parks for us!
The next morning I woke up with the wake up call. But it didn’t appear that anyone else could hear the fairly loud ringing. Even though I let it ring twice, lol. So Mickey’s cheerful greeting was for my ears alone. I got up and got my shower and came out and turned the tv on. By then my dh was stirring and he hit the shower right after I did.
And the magic of Disney must have been working because, lo and behold, Miss Ashli was soon up and going.
Wow! I didn’t really have to prompt her much and it became obvious there was a direct correlation between her state of wakefulness and her excitement level. Because she and Matt were moving faster than just walking, a little skip in their step, before we even reached the elevator. I could tell it was going to be a fun day. And I was right.
Matt, dh and I had a little discussion when Ashli was in the shower. All along, Sunday night was the time Matt had in mind to propose. But he still hadn’t received final approval from the dream team for any of his proposal ideas. Our travel agent was supposed to contact him on Sat. but she had not and she wasn’t answering his calls on the work-cell number she’d given him either.
He was debating whether to keep trying to coordinate anything with the dream team or to just find a special place himself and propose. I could tell he really wanted to do something different so I asked him if there was something special about Sunday night or would Monday night do just as well.
He said no but mentioned that Ashli’s Aunt D and Uncle D wouldn’t be with us on Monday. Although he did want them to be there (because he felt Ashli would like that) he decided to wait until Monday and see what he could work out.
D, K, and Ella weren’t going to meet up with us until about 10:30 or 11:00am because they figured the day before had probably wiped little Ella out and they wanted to make sure she had plenty of rest before tackling another Disney park.
We walked through downtown Disney looking for a good place to eat breakfast. We stopped at La Brea Bakery Café to eat breakfast. I tried to warn Matt about the prices of everything before we left.
One of the things Dh and I like best about Matt is that he is careful with his money. He always lives within his means. As a poor college student putting himself through school his current means are pretty slender. He saved everything he could for this trip and set himself a budget. (This trip was also much more expensive for him since he purchased a beautiful engagement ring right before we left, lol)
I told dh that there was no way I could eat a big breakfast that early, especially since I planned on leaving lots of room for snacks throughout the day. We decided to share one.
Ashli said something like “Me too” and looked at Matt and asked him if he wanted to share one too.
I wanted to laugh so bad when he gave Ashli a casual ‘sure’. His eyes were giving him away, you could tell he thought the prices were too high. And knowing Matt he was probably trying to mentally calculate whether he’d budgeted enough money for food for the rest of the week.
After breakfast we walked over to CA Adventure at opening. We had let D and K decide which park we would visit the night before since it was their last day. We could have run over to Disneyland for a couple of hours before D & K came and then go to CA Adventure and meet them but we decided to just make it a CA Adventure day.
It was cloudy and damp with a misty rain as we entered the park. And it seemed like we were the only ones entering the park because what few people that were around the entrances seemed to be headed to Disneyland. I bet there wasn’t more than two hundred people standing in the area between the two parks when we walked through security. Considering how large that area is it felt almost empty.
I made everyone pick up three or four maps because I lose them constantly. And the only place you can get one (that I know of, anyway) is at the park entrance. I hate that.
We turned right and came right up on Soarin’. I was nervous about this ride because I tend to get motion sickness pretty easily. Especially on rides with a big screen. I got SO sick from riding Back to the Future years ago. I had to keep stopping to find places to, um, empty my stomach, that whole day. It was incredibly miserable. I was not eager to repeat that experience. But I had asked about Soarin’ on the DIS and everyone’s replies made me feel like I could probably handle it and even if I did get sick it wouldn’t be a repeat of BTTF.
So when we saw that there was NO ONE in line we headed in. We walked straight to the doors you enter to get on the ride. We waited there for about 3-4 minutes and then the door opened and we went in and found seats on the second row, middle of the row. Great seats, great ride. I mean really great ride. I loved it! So did Ashli and Matt. But dh got slightly sick to his stomach! I had to laugh, the man can handle everything in the world but that ride did get to him a little.
We walked off the ride and shopped in the gift shop a little while and then headed to our right. We passed the kiddie play area. The only way I kept Ashli and Matt from going in and wasting our precious ‘empty park’ time was to promise them we’d come back when Ella was with us. You’d have thought those two were three years old themselves, lol.
We just started riding every ride we came to that we thought we’d like. For Ashli and Matt that was every ride we came to, lol. I was a little more selective since I get sick on some rides. We all rode Mulholland Madness and then dh, Ashli and Matt rode Maliboomer while I took pics,
See? I took Pics!
then we all rode the Sun Wheel. That was a mistake. A huge mistake! I can usually handle ferris wheels, they don’t bother me so I eagerly hopped on. And when they picked one of the cars that roll back and forth I didn’t think anything about it. I was shocked at how sick I got on that ride. It was everything I could do not to throw up right there and then. Poor Matt got plenty nervous for a few minutes because he sat directly across from me. He took one look and yelled “Quick, Ashli, trade seats with me!” LOL. Ashli and dh were torn between feeling bad for me and laughing hysterically at Matt.
When we got off the ride dh called K and asked him if they could buy me some Dramamine before they came to the park. Turns out they were walking in the entrance right then so they stopped by first aid which directed them to a shop that sold it. The last time I took Dramamine it knocked me out for the whole day. I would have probably not have risked it this time but I felt so nauseated. I don’t know if they’ve changed the formula or what but it worked wonderfully. My nausea subsided within a few minutes and I wasn’t tired.
As you can imagine, it was no hardship for me to wait in front of the sun dial with Ella while everyone else rode it the second time (first for D and K). By the time they got off (no wait in line, literally walk up to the ride and board) I felt good and Ella and I had spent most of the time taking their pictures and waving to everyone.
We headed back the way we’d come since that park of the park was blocked off for the new toy story stuff they are building.
Ashli and Matt rode the Golden Zephyr with D, and then some rode Maliboomer again (can’t remember who rode that time). Then Ashli and D rode the Orange Stinger together while Matt took Ella to play on the SS Rustworthy ship that’s directly across from the Orange Stinger. I’m pretty sure that Matt volunteered more for his sake than Ella’s, lol. He loves stuff like that and he and Ella had a good time.
Then we headed over to the area with all the kids rides for Ella. The first thing we did was watch It’s tough to be a bug. I thought it might scare Ella. She’s only three. But she was a trouper. She laughed at all the right spots even if she did clutch Ashli’s arm with a vise grip throughout the presentation.
I love to look at the rides in this area of the park. They are all so creative and cute. We rode: Flik’s Fliers, Francis' Ladybug Boogie,
Ella with her Mama
Tuck and Roll's Drive'Em Buggies,
Ella and Ashli...Hope Ella doesn't take any driving tips from Ashli, she drives like a bat outta Hell!
and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.
More to come in installment 7!
The next morning I woke up with the wake up call. But it didn’t appear that anyone else could hear the fairly loud ringing. Even though I let it ring twice, lol. So Mickey’s cheerful greeting was for my ears alone. I got up and got my shower and came out and turned the tv on. By then my dh was stirring and he hit the shower right after I did.
And the magic of Disney must have been working because, lo and behold, Miss Ashli was soon up and going.
Wow! I didn’t really have to prompt her much and it became obvious there was a direct correlation between her state of wakefulness and her excitement level. Because she and Matt were moving faster than just walking, a little skip in their step, before we even reached the elevator. I could tell it was going to be a fun day. And I was right.Matt, dh and I had a little discussion when Ashli was in the shower. All along, Sunday night was the time Matt had in mind to propose. But he still hadn’t received final approval from the dream team for any of his proposal ideas. Our travel agent was supposed to contact him on Sat. but she had not and she wasn’t answering his calls on the work-cell number she’d given him either.
He was debating whether to keep trying to coordinate anything with the dream team or to just find a special place himself and propose. I could tell he really wanted to do something different so I asked him if there was something special about Sunday night or would Monday night do just as well.
He said no but mentioned that Ashli’s Aunt D and Uncle D wouldn’t be with us on Monday. Although he did want them to be there (because he felt Ashli would like that) he decided to wait until Monday and see what he could work out.
D, K, and Ella weren’t going to meet up with us until about 10:30 or 11:00am because they figured the day before had probably wiped little Ella out and they wanted to make sure she had plenty of rest before tackling another Disney park.
We walked through downtown Disney looking for a good place to eat breakfast. We stopped at La Brea Bakery Café to eat breakfast. I tried to warn Matt about the prices of everything before we left.
One of the things Dh and I like best about Matt is that he is careful with his money. He always lives within his means. As a poor college student putting himself through school his current means are pretty slender. He saved everything he could for this trip and set himself a budget. (This trip was also much more expensive for him since he purchased a beautiful engagement ring right before we left, lol)
I told dh that there was no way I could eat a big breakfast that early, especially since I planned on leaving lots of room for snacks throughout the day. We decided to share one.
Ashli said something like “Me too” and looked at Matt and asked him if he wanted to share one too.
I wanted to laugh so bad when he gave Ashli a casual ‘sure’. His eyes were giving him away, you could tell he thought the prices were too high. And knowing Matt he was probably trying to mentally calculate whether he’d budgeted enough money for food for the rest of the week.
After breakfast we walked over to CA Adventure at opening. We had let D and K decide which park we would visit the night before since it was their last day. We could have run over to Disneyland for a couple of hours before D & K came and then go to CA Adventure and meet them but we decided to just make it a CA Adventure day.
It was cloudy and damp with a misty rain as we entered the park. And it seemed like we were the only ones entering the park because what few people that were around the entrances seemed to be headed to Disneyland. I bet there wasn’t more than two hundred people standing in the area between the two parks when we walked through security. Considering how large that area is it felt almost empty.
I made everyone pick up three or four maps because I lose them constantly. And the only place you can get one (that I know of, anyway) is at the park entrance. I hate that.
We turned right and came right up on Soarin’. I was nervous about this ride because I tend to get motion sickness pretty easily. Especially on rides with a big screen. I got SO sick from riding Back to the Future years ago. I had to keep stopping to find places to, um, empty my stomach, that whole day. It was incredibly miserable. I was not eager to repeat that experience. But I had asked about Soarin’ on the DIS and everyone’s replies made me feel like I could probably handle it and even if I did get sick it wouldn’t be a repeat of BTTF.
So when we saw that there was NO ONE in line we headed in. We walked straight to the doors you enter to get on the ride. We waited there for about 3-4 minutes and then the door opened and we went in and found seats on the second row, middle of the row. Great seats, great ride. I mean really great ride. I loved it! So did Ashli and Matt. But dh got slightly sick to his stomach! I had to laugh, the man can handle everything in the world but that ride did get to him a little.
We walked off the ride and shopped in the gift shop a little while and then headed to our right. We passed the kiddie play area. The only way I kept Ashli and Matt from going in and wasting our precious ‘empty park’ time was to promise them we’d come back when Ella was with us. You’d have thought those two were three years old themselves, lol.
We just started riding every ride we came to that we thought we’d like. For Ashli and Matt that was every ride we came to, lol. I was a little more selective since I get sick on some rides. We all rode Mulholland Madness and then dh, Ashli and Matt rode Maliboomer while I took pics,
See? I took Pics!
then we all rode the Sun Wheel. That was a mistake. A huge mistake! I can usually handle ferris wheels, they don’t bother me so I eagerly hopped on. And when they picked one of the cars that roll back and forth I didn’t think anything about it. I was shocked at how sick I got on that ride. It was everything I could do not to throw up right there and then. Poor Matt got plenty nervous for a few minutes because he sat directly across from me. He took one look and yelled “Quick, Ashli, trade seats with me!” LOL. Ashli and dh were torn between feeling bad for me and laughing hysterically at Matt.
When we got off the ride dh called K and asked him if they could buy me some Dramamine before they came to the park. Turns out they were walking in the entrance right then so they stopped by first aid which directed them to a shop that sold it. The last time I took Dramamine it knocked me out for the whole day. I would have probably not have risked it this time but I felt so nauseated. I don’t know if they’ve changed the formula or what but it worked wonderfully. My nausea subsided within a few minutes and I wasn’t tired.
As you can imagine, it was no hardship for me to wait in front of the sun dial with Ella while everyone else rode it the second time (first for D and K). By the time they got off (no wait in line, literally walk up to the ride and board) I felt good and Ella and I had spent most of the time taking their pictures and waving to everyone.
We headed back the way we’d come since that park of the park was blocked off for the new toy story stuff they are building.
Ashli and Matt rode the Golden Zephyr with D, and then some rode Maliboomer again (can’t remember who rode that time). Then Ashli and D rode the Orange Stinger together while Matt took Ella to play on the SS Rustworthy ship that’s directly across from the Orange Stinger. I’m pretty sure that Matt volunteered more for his sake than Ella’s, lol. He loves stuff like that and he and Ella had a good time.
Then we headed over to the area with all the kids rides for Ella. The first thing we did was watch It’s tough to be a bug. I thought it might scare Ella. She’s only three. But she was a trouper. She laughed at all the right spots even if she did clutch Ashli’s arm with a vise grip throughout the presentation.
I love to look at the rides in this area of the park. They are all so creative and cute. We rode: Flik’s Fliers, Francis' Ladybug Boogie,
Ella with her Mama
Tuck and Roll's Drive'Em Buggies,
Ella and Ashli...Hope Ella doesn't take any driving tips from Ashli, she drives like a bat outta Hell!
and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.
More to come in installment 7!
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Could You Rock This New Disney Character Accessory?
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New PhotoPass Magic Shot Available at Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After
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Do We Really Need Two Monsters, Inc. Comedy Shows at Disney World?
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Grab This New Cake Slice at Gideon's Bakehouse Disney Springs
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'Jason Un1v3rse' Coming to Universal Orlando's 2025 Halloween Horror Nights
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Why Disneyland's Frontierland Has Always Been Superior
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Disney Confessional: A Series of Unpopular Opinions Part 8
Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!
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