Our FREE trip!! (well, sorta free...) Edited to add pics to some installments :)

[Boston Tea Party]

Yay you're back! Sorry to hear that you were under the weather.

Can't wait to hear more...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

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!

Sorry you were sick - hope you're feelin' better!

Thanks for the fun update! I can't wait to be riding Soarin' Sounds like your daughter found a keeper!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Yay another installment. Sorry you are feeling under the weather, hope you feel better soon.

 

[trodrigue]

Enjoying your trip report. Can't wait for the proposal!

By the way, at least at Disneyland (for some reason, I never get a map at California adventure) you can get the maps from the maintenance folks. You know, the guys with the brooms and emptying the trash bins. The have a pouch attached to them just for that purpose. They are the only CM's that carry them in the park, but they are readily accessible almost all of the time.

 

[TiggerandTink]

Thanks for the update. I can't wait to hear how this proposal goes!

 

[zandjmom]

Keep em coming. I love your trip report!

 

[jas_mom1]

Just found your TR and I'm hooked! Waiting to hear about the proposal!

Dianne

 

[Ferry Joy]

Thanks foe the great update. But I don't know if we can keep handling the stress of your on-going cliff hanger!

 

[Keli]

Installment 7
After taking little Ella through the kiddie area everyone was hungry. I had read about the Pacific Warf’s bread-bowl soups and I wanted to try one so we all headed that way to eat. I got there and decided to eat the chicken salad in a bowl (actually they called it an apple salad? It did have a lot of cut up apples in it and other fruit also) instead of the soup and I liked it very much Dh and I shared it and it was enough to satisfy both of us. Since we both love bread we ate a good portion of the bowl itself. Ashli got the same thing but Matt picked up something else nearby. For the life of me I cannot remember what he got though. D, K, and Ella got food from the counter-service Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill and we all sat together under the Pacific Warf’s terrace.

This was the only time I remember feeling downright cold during the day. It had gotten dark and cloudy and the wind had picked up.
When we were done eating we were looking for shelter so we went into the Mission factory. The tour was interesting. Dh and I make corn tortillas at home now and again and so I was looking forward to seeing how the flour ones are mass produced. I found it interesting. And at the end of the tour one of the machine operators noticed my dh’s birthday badge and handed him a package of 10 flour tortillas and told him happy birthday. (We put them in Ella’s stroller and forgot to get them out. I hope D, K, and Ella like tortillas, lol)

Then we ran over to the bread factory where they make the bread that you eat in the CA Adventure restaurants (specifically the Pacific Warf but I believe in other ones as well). One of the cast members handed Ella a loaf shaped like Mickey Mouse when she spied her first visit pin. Ella was so excited about that bread, lol. She kept saying she was going to eat it for breakfast.

We headed over to Hollywood Pictures Backlot area. There were some characters out along this area so Ashli, Matt, and Ella all had pictures taken with several. I believe it was Snow White, Dopey, Mickey Mouse, Mr. Incredible, and Mrs. Incredible.

Matt and Ashli
Most of them were walking and would only stop for a moment for a shot or two and you could see they didn’t want a line to form. We missed several that we couldn’t catch up with, I’m pretty sure they were all headed somewhere in particular but I have no idea where.

We wanted to see Crush and Aladdin. But we had a little wait before the next Crush showing. Ella was getting tired by this time (according to her mom and dad, she was acting like an angel IMHO, lol). D held Ella in her arms and told her to close her eyes.
Ella didn’t really want to (close your eyes when you are at Disney? Are they crazy? LOL) and K looked down at her and spoke sternly to Ella. Ella closed her eyes and literally within 30 seconds you could see her body relax and within two minutes she was asleep. They said that is how Ella falls asleep every time. They put Ella back in her stroller and she napped while we waited for Crush to start.

Ashli and Matt just had to pose with this, it probably had more meaning for Matt than Ashli at this point, lol!
After Crush (which was a cute show), we headed over to the tower of terror. D elected to wait outside with Ella instead of doing a baby swap thing. Ella must have still been tired because she fell asleep again. I got the feeling D didn’t really want to ride but maybe she was just wanting Ella to finish her nap. The line only took about 15 minutes.
Had a great time, especially since the guys were all hamming it up and screaming like girls in high pitched voices. Ashli tried to float a penny but Matt accidentally hit it and it went flying.

We then went to the Aladdin show. Ella was asleep in her stroller and the cast members told D and K that they would need to leave her stroller in the marked area before getting into line.
They were really nice about it though, you could see they hated the fact they would be making them wake Ella up from her nap early (the show wasn’t going to start for another 30 minutes or so).
They suggested that K wait outside the line with Ella until the show was about to start then they would help him get into the line where we were so that we could all sit together and Ella could still get part of her nap in so that’s what K did. I thought it was really nice of the cast members to be concerned about one of their little guests getting enough rest.
It worked out really well too because K and Ella were able to join us in line right before they opened the doors.
But then Ashli and Matt somehow ended up getting lost in the crowd a bit at the stairs and they sat several rows ahead of us! The irony was just too funny. But it certainly wasn’t disney’s fault and besides, Ashli and Matt didn’t care if they were with us, only Ella was a little upset because she absolutely adores her cousin Ashli.

Aladdin, Wow, that’s a great show! Really enjoyed it. It’s a full-blown production. We all had to laugh though when they incorporated the fact the Patriots were ahead by 7 pts into the show (It was super bowl Sunday).
It was the first score we’d heard on the super bowl and my football loving BIL was excited to hear his team was ahead. I think getting the final score later was a real let-down for him.

After Aladdin we walked over to the Candy store. My dh loves candy. All candy. He’s like seriously addicted to the stuff. He’ll eat the picked over Easter and Halloween candy people have sitting around months after those holidays have past.
So we had to stop there and spend a long time picking out the stuff he wanted (can’t remember what he got but I bought a chocolate/cashew/caramel thing on a stick and it was super good!).
After dropping about half a week’s take home pay (not really but that place is expensive ) we strolled out.

We had gotten fast passes for Soarin’ earlier in the day while on our way to the Hollywood backlot since D and K hadn’t got to ride it yet and now there was a line.
Dh and I waited outside with Ella while D, K, Ashli and Matt rode.
Ella was so funny. She had her Uncle (dh) hopping on each of the blue landing lights that are in the walkway in this area.
Ella had a ton of energy so we were letting her burn it off. Finally she got tired and sat on dh’s lap to rest. She asked where her parents were and dh told her they were on the ride and suggested she call them real loud and see if they would come.

Dh was just joking around with Ella because he wanted to hear her yelling (getting kids to do silly stuff like that is right up dh’s alley, never leave him alone with your kids!).
Ella grinned and started calling “Mommy! Daddy!”
And right then, right at that moment, I knew he’d made and error in judgment. Because out of nowhere came a maintenance cast member.

I should explain something here, Ella is adopted and she is biracial. Dh and I look nothing like her. And she was sitting on dh’s lap calling for her parents. It did look fishy.
And that cast member (an elderly man) wasn’t going to just keep on walking. He was very nice but dh and both knew he was looking us over very closely and his questions had a bit more inquiry than the usual “Where are you folks from?” That you usually get from cast members.

He talked to us a while and we explained that Ella was our niece and her parents were on Soarin’. It was obvious that Ella was comfortable with us and she called us by our names a few times.
Finally he gave us a map that showed all the kid-friendly rides in the park (and also in Disneyland) and bid us goodbye walked off. Dh and looked at each other and laughed a little. I think we both felt relieved we weren’t going in for more serious questioning, lol.

D and K emerged from the ride and took Ella while we went to ride it. Dh got a little sick again but he said it wasn’t too bad and refused my offers of Dramamine.
It still surprises me since he rode the sun dial twice without a problem, but Soarin’ did get to him a bit while I was perfectly fine after Soarin’ and in serious jeopardy of losing my breakfast on Sun Dial.
Dh and I headed back to the hotel at this point while Ashli, Matt, D, K, and Ella stayed to ride more rides.
The wind had picked up and it was dark now and I thought it was cold. Everyone else seemed fine so maybe I was bushed and ready to give it up faster.

When we got to the hotel I laid down on the bed and then I got sleepy. I guess the Dramamine is fine while you’re moving but if you stop it does make you tired.
There was a knock at the door and a cast member delivered a congratulatory basket for Ashli and Matt from our Disney travel agent. And then another knock and they delivered a sparkling wine and chocolate covered strawberries!

Dh and I were laughing and searching desperately for a good hiding spot. Although Ashli had to be wondering about all the different stuff going on, secret conversations that stopped when she walked up, phone calls that immediately ended at her arrival, stuff like that, these deliveries would give it away for sure.

We ended up putting them under the bed because there was nowhere else we could find on such short notice. A few minutes later Matt, Ashli, D, K and Ella walked in. Whew! Barely got that hid!

The laptop was laying on the desk and Dh had a dvd out that he had been watching. K mentioned that he’d never seen that movie and dh told him to take it, he’d get another one. K thanked him and picked it up and immediately dropped it. You know exactly where that stupid thing rolled, don’t you? Yep, under one of the beds.

Ashli was standing closer to the bed than K when it stopped rolling and she said “I’ll get it Uncle K.” and started to bend over. She’s never mentioned it since but I know she had to be thinking “What in the world?” when I quickly said “No Ashli, let your Uncle K get it”. But she didn’t argue and K bent over retrieved it.

K’s face was impassive when he got up and I never did have time to ask him what he thought about all the stuff hidden under there. Surely he noticed it? I am certain Ashli would have!

We hugged and kissed Ella, D, and K and then they headed back to their rooms. We knew we probably wouldn’t get to hook up in the morning since we would be changing hotels, K and Ella were dropping D off at the airport (D was flying to Las Vegas for a work convention) and then driving home.

We all fell asleep pretty quickly. See I told you it was a fun day!
(And tomorrow will be better!)

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Wow you packed alot of fun into your day! I'm still waiting for the big moment!

 

[tinkermell]

The suspense is too much!!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

OH no, still no proposal....I am at the edge of my seat!

 

[lexmas]

Yay pictures! I am loving your trip report! How lucky that your DD wasn't there when the baskets got delivered...I don't know what kind of lie you could have come up with for that one! Can't wait for more.

 

[Ferry Joy]

Still enjoying your report. I love the addition of the pictures! Your niece is so cute! I love that age.

 

[mommy2kande]

I can't wait to read the rest! You're a great storyteller with a great story to tell!

 

[Keli]

Installment 8
The wake up call wasn’t really necessary on Monday because I was up a couple of hours before it went off anyway. I slept well, those beds are great, but I just woke up early and felt too energetic to sleep anymore.

I was on the internet trying to find an aerial view of the Disneyland hotel, Disneyland, and the Dessert Inn. That’s the bad thing about not having a map or a car, it’s hard to get a good idea of how things are laid out.

I wasn’t sure if we should walk to the Dessert Inn with our stuff or if we should call a taxi. We ended up calling a taxi which was definitely the best idea even though the walk wouldn’t have been all that long. We just had too many pieces of luggage to carry all that way, plus I think we’d have had to take it through Disney security at the end of downtown Disney (not sure though?)

There was a little incident with the cab driver. He was a large man and he was wearing a pair of black pants and a Hawaiian shirt that hung down a little past his fingertips. He looked fine standing upright so what happened next took me completely by surprise.

We carried our luggage to the back of the van and he opened the door and bent over to pick up a suitcase. Ashli and I were standing right behind him. As he bent over his shirt rode up nearly all the way to his waist. His tighty-whitey underwear were waaaay up his crack (I mean it was practically a thong) and then his butt cheeks were completely uncovered while his belt secured his pants somewhere around the top of his legs.

I know that the gracious thing to do when just such an occasion arises is to pretend you haven’t seen anything and keep a straight face. Of course I’m not as gracious as my mother raised me to be, lol. I took one look and made a strangled sound while I valiantly fought down my hysterical laughter. I will say, that I was able to keep the volume down to the point that I didn’t alert dh or Matt that anything funny (to those of us with juvenile senses of humor anyway) was happening. They were both beside him helping load the stuff in the back and didn’t see anything.

Ashli, on the other hand, clearly should have been raised better. I obviously completely failed to teach her the proper way to conduct herself (are you surprised?) because I looked over and not only is she also silently laughing (laughing quite hard I might add, her whole body was shaking) but she is also grabbing for her pocket. Later I realized she was trying to get her cell phone out for a picture! How awful is that? My child was going to take a picture of the cab driver’s naked butt. Where did I go wrong? Thankfully her ambitions were thwarted when he stood upright.

The change was amazing. Standing upright you had no idea what that shirt was covering up. I had straightened my face up at this point and I wasn’t laughing but I couldn’t trust myself to speak yet. The taxi driver asked us where to and looked at me. I looked at dh who answered but gave me a strange look.
It cost $10 for the cab ride (about 5 minutes or so since the traffic was very light). The cab driver didn’t have change for a $20 and since it really was a ride and a show a part of me felt like a $10 tip wasn’t unreasonable. But dh and Matt both pulled out money so we only gave him a $5 tip.

The Dessert Inn was just ok. It’s not a bad hotel, I didn’t have any complaints really. But after staying at the Disneyland hotel it certainly wasn’t magical. Had we stayed there first I’m sure I’d have felt differently about it because it was clean, we had enough room, tv’s both worked fine (had a mini suite) and had plenty of hot water. And you can’t beat the location. That was fantastic. I was shocked at how close we were to Disneyland. It seemed as close as the Disneyland hotel, just coming from the opposite direction.
We dropped our stuff off in the storage lockers (our room wasn’t ready yet) and headed to Disneyland.

We had a great time that morning walking around and looking at everything, comparing everything to the magic kingdom. Before the trip I thought that Disneyland would not hold up to the
Magic Kingdom. After all, it’s smaller, doesn’t have as many rides, the castle is even smaller, it just couldn’t be as good.
Turns out I was seriously wrong. It was every bit as good IMHO. Different, yes. But really wonderful. I think I was in love the minute I walked under railroad bridge and spotted main street. It’s just lovely.

And right away, there was Captain Hook posing for pictures. Ashli and Matt got in line and got a pic with him. They were the oldest ‘kids’ by far in the line and you could see neither one of them noticed or cared, lol.

I love sleeping beauty’s castle. It’s lovely during the day and beautiful at night with the colored lights on it.
We turned right and spent some time exploring New Orleans square (rode POTC) and Tom Sawyer’s Island.

Ashli and Matt came across the best photopass photographer there! He was awesome. He must have taken no less than 30 shots of them on the island. He walked them all over the whole thing and suggested lots of shots. My favorite is one that he called his ‘signature shot’. Ashli and Matt are in the foreground and the paddle boat is coming up the stream in the background. I don’t know if I am describing it well or not. I just ordered my photopass cd a couple days ago. When it gets here I’ll add one of those pics to this thread if anyone is still reading it by then.

A note about the whole photopass cd thing: I pre-bought the cd on the advice that I read here on the Dis because I thought the idea of adding graphics to our shots would be great. It cost $99.99 vs. $79.00 that a photopass photographer told me it would cost without the graphics option. The graphics are just borders and signatures of some of the characters. I was frustrated because even though our pictures were taken in February at least half the borders said “2007” or variations on Merry Christmas!

Come on, who is going to want those borders if they went in Feb. of 2008? It just seemed like a rip-off to me because I really only had the choice of about 7 borders/signatures and I felt like all my pics were going to look alike because I was repeating the same borders over and over.
Not worth the extra money unless you go at a time of year when you can utilize all the borders shown. Also they let you upload your own pics and put graphics on them also but it gives you a different, much more generic, IMHO, selection to choose from. Things like a strip across the top or bottom of pic with the word Disneyland in several colors. A couple with pixie dust sprinkles and one that was suitable for princess pictures.

But I would buy the cd and just find my own graphics on the net and add them at home after I got my cd. It’s not the cd that I think isn’t a good value, it’s the additional cost for the graphics (at least if you cannot use a good portion of them).
I had a little mishap on the island. I was walking down some wooden stairs that were built into the side of hill. They were damp and sandy and close to the bottom I lost my footing. My dh was in front of me but he’d already exited the steps and was a little too far away to help.

Another man was facing the steps and saw me falling and attempted to reach me in time but I kind of caught myself and didn’t take a big spill, just did a funny little off balance dance mostly except I wrenched my ankle when I landed at the bottom of the stairs. I know I must have looked hilarious but the man that tried to help me obviously listened to his mother’s training better than I did mine because he didn’t crack a smile (that I could see, lol)

I mostly just shook it off and kept going because it hurt but not so bad that I couldn’t walk on it. As the day progressed though my ankle started to swell and throb some but not to an unbearable level or anything like that. Honestly it didn’t even slow me down.

Matthew was in contact with our travel agent and the Disney dream team today, I know he had to slip off to take at least three calls before the arrangements were finalized. Since he wasn’t familiar with Disneyland we had a couple of whispered consultations before he was convinced he had the perfect arrangements (I thought so too!).

The only thing Matt failed to tell me was the time that he and Ashli were supposed to ‘accidentally’ run into the dream team member. So a little after three Matt whispers to me that they needed to be at Excalibur at 5:00pm.

I know my eyes got huge because, um, there was a problem. I may be an older member of the female species but I am still a girl at heart. I knew Ashli would NOT want to become engaged in the outfit she’d had on all day running around the parks since it was definitely worse for the wear and her hair, oh no, that was not a pretty picture, lol.
We were in line for the haunted mansion. The park had been slowing filling up all day and although it was by no means crowded in the afternoon we were facing our first wait of more than 5-10 minutes for a ride.

It probably took us about 15 minutes in line but each one seemed like million years for me. All I could think of is how long it would take us to get back to the hotel, check in, get showers, Ashli get her hair fixed (yes, that takes awhile if she’s gussyin’ up for the evening, lol), everyone get dressed and walk back to the park and then find out where Excalibur was (turns out we’d passed it all day and I never noticed it, lol).

So as soon as we get out of the ride I announce we have to head back to the hotel, right now, to rest, shower, change clothes and come back to spend the evening there (yeah, right, there was no resting in those plans but Ashli wouldn’t have bought it otherwise, lol)

Here’s were the best laid plan hit it’s first snag. Ashli didn’t want to go back to the hotel. She helpfully suggested that dh and I go back and ‘rest’ and just meet up with her and Matt when we got back. Um, no, that really wasn’t going to work. And Matt was no help here, I might add. He knew exactly why I was pushing Ashli to go back to the hotel and did he say a word? Nope, and he kinda grinned at me behind Ashli’s back to boot! He didn’t care what Ashli was wearing, what he was wearing, or how her hair looked when he proposed. Men!

I finally managed to convince Ashli to go back with us but I could see she wasn’t happy about it. She was actually pretty mad about it I think. I heard a few furious whispers to Matt behind me as we were walking out and soft answers in response but to be fair, Ashli didn’t say or do anything too much and whatever Matt was saying must have calmed her down because as soon as we got to the hotel she got a change of clothes ready and jumped into the shower.

And just as I’d hoped she picked out something a little nicer than just a t-shirt. I figured she would since it was evening and Ashli tends to dress up a little more when she’s going out at night. Not that she was really dressed up, she wore a jean skirt, black long sleeve t-shirt but she put on a little bordello jacket that I thought was adorable. Although she didn’t spend much time on her hair she did make it look nice.

She was moving pretty fast and it was obvious she had no intention of taking a ‘rest’, lol. All the better since time was running out but Ashli didn’t know that! She seemed surprised when Matt asked dh and I if we were ready to go and dh said ‘sure’ (we’d also changed and stuff but Ashli expected us to take a nap or something before coming back to the park, where’d she get that idea? LOL).

Ashli and Matt at the Desert Inn
So we all headed back to the park. I’d grabbed another map on the way out and now knew where Excalibur was. Matt was sending/receiving text messages while we were walking back to Disneyland but since that is not unusual I didn’t think anything about it and apparently neither did Ashli. Turns out he was texting with William from the dream team to let him know what they were wearing so that he would approach the correct couple.

We get close to Excalibur and Matt turns to Ashli and says “Let’s see if we can pull it out of the stone!” That’s exactly the sort of thing Ashli and Matt would have been doing anyway so it really took very little acting on Matt’s part. They waited a minute for a couple of kids to finish trying and then I took some pics of them giving it their best shot. A guy kinda walks up to them and starts to talk but dh and I stayed back so I couldn’t hear what he was saying…

More in installment 9….

 

[Keli]

Installment 9
…Ashli looked up with an excited look on her face and said “Mom, Dad, come here, we’ve won a private tour on the Storybook ride!”. After we start walking towards the ride Ashli drops back to where I am and tells me that this guy is a part of the dream team that we heard about on tv at the hotel and that they pass out surprises to guests at random in the park. We had seen a clip about them on tv and Ashli was buying it hook, line, and sinker. She said she knew we were going to get something the minute he told them he was from the dream team.

We follow William to the exit of the ride and he asks us to wait there. A young cast member joins us and starts to chat. After a few minutes William steps over to us from where he’d been standing talking to a few cast members working the ride.
Another man joins him and he introduces himself as Dave, another member of the dream team. He chats with us for a minute and William explains they are working on getting a few people through the ride before they start our private tour.

Within 5-10 minutes a woman named Pat walks up, introduces herself and says she will be our tour guide. I have to say here that both William and Pat were very, very sweet. I really enjoyed talking to them the whole time we were together.

We walked to the boat they had selected for us and dh and I sat on one side while Ashli and Matt sat on the other. William whispered in my ear and asked me if I wanted him to take pics during the ride with my camera. I said yes and handed it to him. He did an excellent job and all the pics you will see in this part of the trip report were taken by him.

We started the ride and Pat (who is an excellent tour guide!) started telling us about all the miniatures that were on either side of the canal. They were both interesting and charming.

We went through the ‘Cave of Wonder’ and Pat told each of us to make a wish on Aladdin’s lamp. As we came out of the cave Pat said “I think someone just wished very hard that her prince would come” and stopped the boat.

Matthew's no dummy, he knew his cue when he saw it, lol, and the next thing I know he is on one knee in front of Ashli with a jewelry box in his hand.
I was tearing up here a little and I couldn’t tell if I heard everything Matt said because he was speaking somewhat softly but intensely to Ashli. But I definitely heard him say “Will you marry me?” and I teared up a little more.
I looked around and no one else is crying or about to cry. And no one appeared to have looked at me. I took a couple of careful swipes across my face to wipe away the tears unobserved and gave a little sigh. I am the emotional one in our family and I take lots of teasing about it. So a few tears skating past everyone’s attention was good news for me!

Ashli’s face was so bright when she said “Yes”. I tease her a lot though because by the time William snapped the picture Ashli had shifted her gaze from Matt to the ring in his hands. I keep teasing her, saying she was saying “Yes!” about the ring.

Matt searched a long time trying to find the perfect ring for Ashli. He even called me one day and asked me to meet him at the jewler’s so that he could get my opinion. I thought the one he picked out would fit Ashli to a T.

William handed Ashli and Matt a bundle of gifts in congratulations to their engagement. He had bride and groom Mickey ears, Just Engaged pins (that had originally said Just Married and the word Married was crossed out and Engaged was written in, lol), bubbles, and a tiny Cinderella slipper for Ashli.

They loved it all and immediately put on the ears and the buttons. When we got off the ride William had us walk around the castle and he took some pictures of Ashli and Matt. He did a great job and those pictures turned out great. He had Matt reenact the proposal in front of the castle for pictures too.

Ashli and Matt holding up the pennies they will wish on

Making a Wish!
And then he whisked us over to Snow White’s wishing well and took some pictures there as well. He was just so kind. Then he asked us if we had any plans for the rest of the evening and we said no. He and Pat grinned at each other so we knew something was up.

Pat produced a large bell, it reminded me of the sort of thing a school teach would have at the first part of this century to draw her students back into the classroom.
She asked Ash and Matt what rides we had ridden so far. They told her and as it turns out we hadn’t ridden much in fantasy land since we were planning on covering that the next morning at early entry.

Pat said “Would you like to ride some rides?” Of course we all said yes and started off. Pat walked out front and rang her bell over and over, all the while announcing in a LOUD voice “Newly engaged couple, everyone congratulate Ashli and Matt!”

Pat ringing her bell in front of Ashli and Matt

Ashli later said that she was just a bit embarrassed but honestly, she did not look embarrassed at all. She looked thrilled. She was grinning from ear to ear (as was Matt) and they were yelling back “Thank You” to all the congratulations.

And when people would say “Let’s see the ring!” Ashli was quick to throw her hand up, lol. Ashli and Matt both looked like they incredibly excited.

Pat took us to the exit of Peter Pan Ride, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Mr. Toad, Dumbo, and Pinocchio (at least that's all of them that I remember).

On Dumbo

On the Matterhorn

William had to leave after the first ride so Matt and Ashli thanked him repeatedly (so did dh and I) and said goodbye.
We all hated to see him go.

Matt, Pat, William, and Ashli

We finished it up by riding the Matterhorn and then Pat had to go. She gave them two fast passes for any ride except Nemo for up to five people and saw us on the ride.
We didn’t realize she was actually leaving before the ride ended and Ashli and I were disappointed that we didn’t get to give her a hug goodbye and thank her for everything.
She was so nice and she really made things special for Matt and Ashli. I just wish we could have thanked her properly.

After we finished the Matterhorn we walked around a rode a few rides. I cannot remember which ones specifically but I do remember riding Buzz Lightyear.
As expected, Matt and dh both did much better than Ashli or I. To be fair to Ashli she was far above my terrible score also, just not nearly as high as the guys.
We all liked emailing our pictures from the ride to people too. Mine was hilarious, I looked ferocious! Ashli and Matt's was pretty funny too since they still had on their bride/groom ears.

After leaving Disneyland we grabbed something to eat and then crashed at the hotel room.
Oh, and I wasn't quite as slick as I had thought. After we got back to the room Matt said "Hey Ashli, your mom cried when I proposed". Oh yeah, I was busted!

It had been a long day and by the end my ankle was killing me. I knew I'd walked on it too much since hurting it that morning. I took some aspirin so that it wouldn't keep me from falling asleep.
I have no idea how long it took everyone else to fall asleep because I was out like a light, lol.

 

[Ferry Joy]

Okay, I was tearing up as I read it! It was amazing. A truely Disney story. I was so jealous! (and I am old!). That was worth waiting for!!
More! More! More!

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Finally the big day!!! What a fantastic story! You get to cry as mother of the bride, but a stranger on the internet is truly sappy when she's got tears rolling down her face after your report!

 

[kylieh]

What a beautiful proposal. I have tears, too, running down my eyes.