D
Disney Donna
Guest
Day 3, January 15, 2007 - Scooter Day
Up and at em' again this morning... burrr, another cold morning, (nice in the afternoons, and got very cold in the evenings)... same routine, went and had breakfast and then off to Disneyland. We got there around 8:30 am and so went in for the Early Morning Entry". That was really neat as we were the only ones posing in front of the Mickey and Flowers as one of the Disney Photographers took our picture. I had wanted a professional one done to purchase. The photographer gave me the "photo-pass" card so that I could wait until I got home to look on-line for the pictures and purchase if we wanted to (I did purchase another one this way, very easy to do and I love this feature) so that if we didn't want to or have time to stop by the "Photo Shop" on Main Street, we didn't have to. I did want to purchase one at the "Photo Shop" and I did so later in the day. After the picture taking, we went over to the "stroller/scooter" rental place and rented 2 scooters, one for each of us. I had finally talked my Mom into using one and also talked myself into using one as well. I knew that we had so much shopping yet to do and that Mom and I were not going to make it and would be in so much pain that there wouldn't as much enjoyment and we wouldn't accomplish what we were hoping to accomplish this day... we were going to use the scooters to go from "land to land" and then park and shop. Mom finally agreed and that was the best $35.00 we each spent. It's $55.00 rental for the day and you get refunded $20.00 upon the return of the scooter. It was also neat that you would be able to go back and forth from Disneyland and California Adventure on the same scooter if you wanted to.
Once we had our "driving instructions" we were on our way. I found it kind of neat and organized how we were let into Disneyland from the end of Main Street... all who had an "Early Morning Entry" on their ticket was told to go to the left of Main Street where it was roped off for us to go all the way in so we could ride the rides that were open, and for those who didn't have "Early Morning Entry" would stay on the right hand side of Main Street behind the rope and wait for the 9:00 am opening. (I hadn't seen it done this way before). I love the "Welcome to Disneyland" you hear on the loud speakers when Disneyland offically opens to the public. the first stop was to be at the "First Aid Station" because my Mom's wrist was very sore and she needed to support it with an ace bandage, which we didn't have. The Cast Member was nice and gave her one. Since my brother was back at home and asked for stickers from Disneyland, I asked the Cast Member if she would give us one of the cute Minnie Mouse stickers that they gave out to kids... even though she might have thought that to be an "odd" request from me, she gave me one anyway. We thanked her and decided that Fantasyland was next as it will be crowded later in the day. We stopped at the Wishing Well" on the left hand side of "Sleeping Beauty's Castle" (another tradition of ours) to put money in the well. I saw the "golden" fish in the pond in the "Snow White" grotto so I took a couple of pictures and some of my Mom. We went through the Castle on the left side into Fantasyland and I was noticing that my scooter didn't go up hills very quickly... in fact, it came to almost a complete stop and then slowly would climb the hill. My Mother's scotter did good. Since I'm a "sizable" woman, I thought it was due to my weight, so I figured I would just have to use it that way. We stopped at the "Once Upon A Time" store in Fantasyland and we were the only "guests" in the store. My Mom got to chatting with "Mary", a wonderful Cast Member and I went looking around the store. I found some pretty neat books called "The Other Side of the Story". They are so cute. One side of the book tells of one characters side of the story and then the other side of the book is told according to the "Wicked Queen's", "Wicked Step Mother's", etc (depending on which story was being told) version. Mom was finally looking around the store after chatting, and chatting (I told you she makes friends where ever she goes). I showed her the books that I was looking at and she got a "kick" out of them. We both were looking around the store and doing our usual, "ohhing and ahhing" when we both stopped and chatted some more with Mary. She was so very nice and spread some "Pixie Dust"
by giving my Mom a Donald Duck pin and me a Tinker Bell pin that she took off of her lanyard. Thank you Mary... when we were ready to leave we went to purchase a coloring book and another Cast Member (I can't remember her name) who also spread some "Pixie Dust" by giving us each a button saying "1st Time Visitors" to Disneyland (even though we told her that we have been coming since 1956)... when we asked her if she had any birthday stickers for my brother (he's birthday was coming up 
) she gave us a "Happy Birthday" button and wrote his name on it... that was really special too. Both Cast Members were very friendly and truely knew how to share the "Magic". Thank you!We decided that "Mr. Toad's Ride" was next since the line was very short... good thing we had "driving instructions" for the scooter so we "drove" through this ride successfully...
Since we were close, I wanted to go the the "Mad Hatter's" shop to look around at hats and more knitted stuff. When getting off the scooters, Mom saw a guy that had a "Harley" teashirt on... of course, Mom stopped him and told him that as a teenager, she owned a 1934 Harley Davidson "Flathead"... He told her that "she was his kind of woman" and she said that "you can have me"... he smiled... My Mom's not shy...
Then she told me even though she knew what a "Flathead" was, she always likes to include it when talking about her Harley because it sounds like she really knows what she is talking about... 
We went into the "Mad Hatter's" shop. I hadn't paid much attention while in there before, but I finally discovered the little "rabbit door" up the stairs... and realized that that was the backside of the door that we took pictures of the kids ever since they were little... (tradition again)... too cute to see them sit in front of the little "rabbit door"... it's located outside of the store, across trom the "Teacups" and next to the "Alice in Wonderand" ride.
Next we decided that we would scoot on over to Critter Country. My Mom and I had switched scooters to see if by her being a "smaller" person then me would make a diffence in how the scooter rode. Guess what, it wasn't me after all... she experienced the same thing, in fact, I passed her on her own scooter while she was going pretty slow, and we had the speed set on high... it was back to the "Scooter" rental place again to get another scooter. The Cast Member at the rental place rode it too and the scooter definatly wasn't getting enough power, so he exchanged it for me. This one worked sooo much better... so off we go to Critter Country to shop. While on our way through Frontierland, I noticed that the "Mark Twain" was not in service, but that the "Columbia" was. I was disappointed because I wanted to ride it in honor of my Dad. The Disney Website was correct... so I took pictures of it while it was "docked". As we were getting close to the "Country Bear Restaurant", we saw a lady in her scooter with her daughter walking along with her (they would take turns using the scooter)... anyway, we were playing like we were having a little scotter race since it wasn't crowded at all and all of a sudden, my Mom notices another scarf tat the lady was wearing... it was made out of a material that had a Mickey Mouse on it and was from a personnal friend of theirs that owned a private Disney Store. It was a cute scarf. We finally reached our destination of the "Pooh" store in Critter Country, parked and off to shop. I can't tell you how much fun we were having with being able to go from place to place more easily. We started in the part of the store that has all the goodies that they make. We really enjoyed looking at the different "designs" of desserts and they were also getting ready to dip big, beautiful strawberries into yummy chocolate. There were some "Goofy" zip lock baggies that you can put candy in that I thought were cute and was able to take a few for us to use. We were looking around the store and was "ooing" and "ahhing" over all the cute stuff and also a set to twins, a boy and a girl that were 6 monts old. We just had to stop and have a little "chat" with them and their Mom. We decided that a caramel apple was in order, so I got one and Mom got one with peanuts. We also asked the Cast Members behind the counter for a sticker that they were using to seal the plastic containers with for the apples for the "brother" and they gladly gave one to each of us
We went outside to eat our apples, they were delicious. We people watched and had a good time watching little kids have so much fun. I did see a guy, probably in his 20's with the "Jack Sparrow" dread locks wig on. I was tempted to run up to him and squeal "Jack Sparrow, can I have your atuograph", but I didn't want to embarass him, or me... hee, hee, hee.After the apples were gone, we went to New Orleans, parked and had a restroom break by the Train Station and then off we went to look through some shops. We stopped again in the "Pieces of Eight" store (Pirates) and my Mom bought my brother's birthday present there. It is a very nice looking "dog tag" type necklace with "Dead Man Tells No Tales" from the Pirates of the Caribbean on it. Very nice looking piece of jewelry and something that he would lke and wear.
We smelled some yummy food cooking and so our stomachs started telling us it was time for lunch. We went to check out the menus to see what sounded good to us. The French Market sounded good, but we didn't really feel like eating a "huge" lunch, so we went menu hunting at the "Riverbelle",
the "Stage Door", the "Golden Horseshoe", the 'Mexican Food" restaurant located in Frontierland that I can't remember the name of, "Pinocchio's Restaurant" and then finally decided on the "Stage Door" for chicken strips and fries. We couldn't finish all the chicken strips, so we wrapped them up in a napkin and took them with us for leftovers later. We usually feed the ducks leftovers, but the fries were thrown away so we didn't get to feed them those and chicken strips wasn't on the "ducks" menu...
Okay, more shopping to do so we went to Main Street. Mom had a "brilliant" idea that we would park our scooters by the "Main Street Railroad Station" and walk and shop up one side and down the other back to our scooters. Yep, great idea... NOT... We started with the "Emporium" again and I found HUGE Mickey Mouse slippers that I thought my Hubby would like, but wanted to check out the other side of Main Street first before I purchased them in case I found something else. My Mom bought me a beautiful pin of Tinker Bell in a lantern that I loved and gave it to me from my Dad. We started shopping and went to the "Photo" store to look at our picture taken earlier in the day and purchased one... our feet/bodies were already starting with pain, so much so that my Mom just had to go back to her scooter and wait for me. Her fivermyalgia along with her arthritis was "kicking" in and it was starting to get really cold again and she just needed to sit and bundle up and relax a little. I told her I would meet up with her, because, secretly, I wanted to buy her something and surprise her with it. We also wanted to get a picture of the "Partners" statue (Walt and Mickey) so I took a couple of pictures as the sun was starting dim for the late afternoon. I went back to the "General Store" where I had decided to buy my brother some "Disney Blend" Coffee for his birthday. While standing in line, I just had to pick up the "ear piece" to the "1890's" phone(s) they have on the wall that you can hear a "1890's" party-line conversation... (another tradition). After buying the coffee, I went through the "Crystal Shop" and didn't find any collection piece that I didn't already have or fell in love with. Crossed the street and went back to the "Emporium". My heals and knee were really hurting by this time, but since I didn't find anything else for my husband, I decided the slippers were the thing to buy. I tried them on before and they are very, very comfortable and soft. I also purchased a "Little Short Round stuffed type Mickey Mouse" for my Mom... (Mom and I have noticed these along with other characters such as Eyeore, Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse at other stores too that Mom thought were so cute). We also saw earlier in the morning at the "Once Upon a Time" store in Fantasyland, a beautiful "Snow White" pin that she liked. So I bought it for her from my Dad at the "Emporium". After all the purchases was made, I went and found my Mom just before the late afernoon parade was coming our way in the "Town Square" area. She was sitting on her scooter by the curb in front of the "Opera House". I found a place for me to park my scooter next to her and I gave her the "Snow White" pin and told her it was from Dad. She really liked it. We watched and enjoyed the parade as it came by. A very nice and colorful parade. After the parade was over, we went to see "The First 50 Magical Years" movie in the "Opera House". Even though we have both seen the movie, I really wanted to see it again as I think it is very well done. I asked the Cast Member by the entrance if we were allowed to bring our scooters inside and he said yes and opened the rope for us to enter. Once inside, I began taking pictures and of items behind glass... Mom told be to take the pictures at a side angle that way I shouldn't get the "flash" bouncing back to my camera. Geesh, I should have known this as I took pictures yesterday inside the "City Hall" building of documents behind glass of Walt's accomplishments and the "flash" hit me back in the eyes... don't know if they'll turn out or not... haven't had the pictures developed yet... (we used desposable cameras on this trip). Okay, back on track... Once the show was getting ready to start, they had us line up in our scooters in a certain line so that when the doors opened we would be able to drive the scooters in through the doors to a "wide" aisle to accomodate the scooters... very nice. I thought it would be a good idea to just park the scooters facing the exit and we would just get out of the scooters and sit on the seats provided so we wouldn't block anyones view. The Cast Member came by and said that we would have to park the scooters in the areas provided which faced the direction of the stage, which meant that we had to "back" up the scooters with them beeping when doing so. We finally got them parked. The Cast Member was very helpful and friendly and the audience was very kind and patient... thank you all.
The movie was very good with Steve Martin and Donald Duck
Once the movie was over, it was much easier ridig the scooters out of the theater since no backing up was required 
Even though I thought I would stay at Disneyland longer at night, my Mom was getting very cold and so was I and we were both starting to feel how tired we really were, so we thought that we would go back to "New Orleans" to the "Pieces of Eight" store again so my Mom could purchase a "Pirates of the Caribbean" keychain for my youngest son who still lives at home and even though we didn't shop at all the shops in Disneyland, it was time to say "goodbye" to Disneyland for this trip So off we scooted and once at the store found a really nice "Pirates" keychain that Mom bought and I bought one too for hubby. After our purchases, we scooted back to the rental place, was credited $20.00 each on our credit cards and with a few more pictures with the lights on and of Mom, we said our goodbyes to Disneyland and it was off to the Hotel.
When we got to the Hotel, I was determined (since the morning) that if I found an unused luggage cart that I was going to take it and store it in our room for the morning departure. There were plenty of unused carts around, so I didn't feel guilty taking one. It would sure help since we accumulated more packages and wouldn't be able to pack the car in one trip.
We got in the room and while Mom went to the bathroom, I put the "Little, Short, Round stuffed Mickey Mouse) on her pillow for a surprise. She didn't notice it at first, but while we were going through our packages and re-arranging them, she finally saw it. She thought it was mine, so I had to explain that it was for her. I wanted to thank her for coming and making this trip so special. I really enjoyed our trip together.
We got a few things packed and started loading the luggage cart. We finished our turkey legs for dinner from the night before and had popcorn and Mom finished up the chicken strips for a late snack. I played with my "Disney" cards and watched some TV for a little while, then it was off to sleep for me. Mom was already snoozing.
Day 4 - January 16, 2007 - Back Home
Up and at em'... NOT... as least, not for me... Mom was up but I was still in bed. I didn't sleep well at all. Kept waking up all night. I got up and dressed and finished packing and putting all the rest of the "stuff" on the luggage cart. Mom had folded dollars bills to make them look like "bow" ties that she would leave for the Maid. They're very cute. We went downstairs for the usual continental breakfast before packing the car. I was very tired still and told Mom that I needed to take about an hour nap before the drive home. We went back to the room and I laid down and about 30 to 45 minutes later, the coffee had kicked in and I was ready to go. We took the elevator down to the first floor, located our car to pack and realized that someone had parked behind us so that we couldn't get out. We packed the car, went to check out of the Hotel and told them about the car blocking us in... we gave them the license plate number and they located the person to have them move their car. It was someone who works there. The car was moved promptly and we were in the our car and ready to leave within 15 minutes. We say "goodbye" to Disneyland again
and off we go 
We gas up and got on the freeway and found that 215 East was not closed
We made one rest stop and then off to the "Flying J" to gas up and get something to eat. Well, I wasn't paying attention because I was concentrating on a little joke that I wanted to play on my Mom when all of a sudden, I missed the turn off... Mom had pointed out how many trucks were lined up going to the "Flying J", but I didn't catch on that that was our exit... geesh, more IQ points... so we went down the freeway looking for a turn off to turn around on and go back, when we saw another gas station with a food eatery place on the opposite side about 2 miles down the rode. We stopped, I filled up the car and we each got an individual pizza and an ice-cream cone. Back on the road and soon we were home. It was around 4:00 pm when we got in the valley, so even though rush hour had started, we got in the "HOV" lane and really made good time. I dropped Mom off at her house and gave my brother his birthday gift along with his stickers and buttons. After giving my Mom a hug, I went home and gave hubby and youngest son their gifts and they really liked them... 
I then sat down and relaxed and enjoyed watching American Idol (Mom wanted to make sure we were home for that)... We had a wonderful time and a wonderful trip. I'm so glad that my Mom and I had the opportunity to be have a Mother and Daughter trip. The second day that we were there, we both gave each other a hug in the "Gag Factory" in Toon Town because we were so happy that we could have this trip together
It was a very special trip and we made wonderful memories together. I sure hope we can do it again someday.I hope you enjoyed my trip report... thank you for reading.
Your love of spending this quality time with your mother certainly came through in your writing. You will always have this memory and I appreciate you sharing this time with all of us!
