Our Very Own California Adventure!! July 30th-August 11th, 2008

[jaycns]

I am still loving this trip report...and YOU DANCED FOR JACK!!! You must have REALLY wanted that picture...I am very proud of you! I would have done it as well! I think we had previously determined that he was a pirate diva...now we have proof that it is indeed true!

I love the pictures you took...ALL of them! I kept finding new favorites to comment on and I just couldn't narrow it down. I am now really craving a trip to DL and it's all your fault!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing with us!! This is really a GREAT trip report!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I am really itching for a DL trip now! Thanks alot!

Glad I could help!

I think they are working on some DVC rooms at DL, I wonder if you could use your points there? You really should go sometime!

Wow what a brilliant trip report. You have wonderful photos, I love the night shot of DCA. You have reminded me what I have right in my neighborhood! I'm from No. California and haven't been to the Sequoia Park or Yosemite in years and years. Although I do frequent SF regularly (not the wharf though) and it's still one of my favorite cities in the World. It sounded like you guys had a fabulous vacation! Thanks so much for sharing

Thank you so much! You're lucky to live in such a beautiful state (we have NOTHING but flat land to look at around here ) We did have a great vacation!

I am still loving this trip report...and YOU DANCED FOR JACK!!! You must have REALLY wanted that picture...I am very proud of you! I would have done it as well! I think we had previously determined that he was a pirate diva...now we have proof that it is indeed true!

I love the pictures you took...ALL of them! I kept finding new favorites to comment on and I just couldn't narrow it down. I am now really craving a trip to DL and it's all your fault!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing with us!! This is really a GREAT trip report!!

Oh, Jay, you should have seen me dancing for Jack - I'm sure it was quite a sight! He is indeed a pirate diva!

Thanks for the comments about my pictures and report - you are too, too sweet!

 

[got2travel]

I am really itching for a DL trip now! Thanks alot!

West Coast Wenchfest!!!!!!





and yes, they are putting in DVC at the Grand Californian....I might actually buy now

 

[SoonerGirl]

West Coast Wenchfest!!!!!!

Hmmmmmm, I think I could be persuaded to make that trip..........

 

[got2travel]

Hmmmmmm, I think I could be persuaded to make that trip..........

I'm sure it's probably too soon after this one, but I will be there March 13-15 or some time around that weekend.

 

[SoonerGirl]

I'm sure it's probably too soon after this one, but I will be there March 13-15 or some time around that weekend.

HA!! I'm sure if I mention any kind of trip, to any Disney theme park, for anytime in the near future, the Grump will have me committed!

I am hoping to get out there again sometime though. DH's new boss lives in So Cal, so he's bound to have a meeting out there that I can tag along to at some point. Hopefully we can coincide being there someday!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Note: I forgot to mention that during our busy day 7, we also rode Splash Mountain. We had gotten a FP right before we went over to Pirates Lair, and we rode after lunch. It seems shorter than WDWs version, and didn't seem to have as much 'stuff' - it was still great fun though, and as hot as it was, we were thankful to get wet!

Day 8, Wednesday August 6th

Our last full day at DL

This morning we had planned on sleeping in and going to CA at opening, which was 10am. Well, with the constant banging that started at 5:45, we weren't able to sleep in! We did take our time getting ready though and went up for breakfast at around 9am. There was seriously next to nothing left! So, we left and walked to McDonalds and had breakfast there, they were packed!! Whoever owns this location has a goldmine!!

Soon, we were on our way to CA. My one big goal for this day was to see the Aladdin show, and the boys HAD to ride California Screamin'. We were inside the park a little before 10, and the first thing I saw was............a photographer, so you know what that means, more photopass pictures!

I also stopped to take a picture of the pretty sun

Then we got a fastpass for Soarin' and joined the crowd waiting for rope drop for the rest of the park (Soarin' opens early). Apparently everyone's destination was Toy Story Mania, because by the time we got to the Pier the wait for Toy Story was 85 minutes - I couldn't believe the line! It went all the way through the que, then outside and back up the bridge coming across to the Pier. Thankfully, this was NOT where we were headed, we were on our way to California Screamin', it's wait was only 15 minutes. This is really sad, but I chickened out on riding this one. Rollercoasters that I haven't riden before always make me nervous, and this one looks a little intimidating (at least it does to me - chicken little) so I told the guys to go without me.

While I was waiting I remembered a little tid bit that I had read here on the DIS, that the FPs for Grizzly River Run were not connected to the rest of the park. So, even though we had Soarin' FPs, I decided to walk over and see if I could get us some for GRR as well. SCORE! Now we had two sets of FPs to use. As I walked back to the Pier I stopped to take a picture of the sunwheel.

We never rode this, I'm not a big fan of ferris wheels, just because they take so long to load and unload - and I certainly wasn't about to try one of the cars of death that slide back and forth the whole time!

As I crossed back over the bridge, I noticed that the line for Toy Story had grown way past the sign that said "85 minutes from this point" and people were still getting in it!

I met back up with the boys and DH told me I should have ridden with them, he said it was less intense than Rock N Rollercoaster at DHS which I love, so I would have been able to handle it just fine. Oh well, maybe next time!

We then rode Mulholland Madness (once was enough) and the Golden Zephyr, then it was time to use our Soarin' FPs. As many times as we have ridden this, we have never gotten to sit in the front row, and the boys and I were really dying to. So, since we were about to be lined up in the first "gate", we asked the CM if maybe we could go to gate 2 or 3 to get the front row. He was very nice and sent us down to the CM at gate 2, but of course others in front of us had already asked the same thing and he just had 3 spots left open in row 1, the same was true of gate 3. So, the Grump did something very ungrumpy like, and told me and the boys to take the front row and he would sit in row 2 by himself! He can be a sweetie sometimes! We all three really enjoyed riding with no feet dangling in front us!

Once we got of Soarin', we stopped at the lockers, put our things away and jumped in line to ride GRR!

When we had ridden this the night before, we got a little wet, but nothing too bad. Today was a different story! I, especially, got drenched!!! This picture doesn't really show it too much, but I was soaked through - and I was wearing white pants, what was I thinking??!!

When we went over to get our things out of the locker, DH pulled the code to open the locker out of his shorts pocket, and guess what? It had gotten so wet that some of the numbers were not readable! We tried many different combinations of what we thought the numbers looked like with no luck. I nice young man who was getting his parties things tried to help us with a new set of eyes, but he couldn't figure it out either! Finally, DH went to go ask a CM what we needed to do because we couldn't get into our locker. And, wouldn't you know it, when he was gone I magically came up with the right combination of numbers and got the locker open!

It was time for lunch now, and we were right next to the Grand Californian entrance, so we decided to go in there and eat at White Water Snacks. DH was trying to stay away from anything greasy, so he just got fresh fruit and vegi's, DS7 got chicken strips, DS12 got the biggest chili dog I have ever seen in my life!, and I got the chicken nachos. The chicken nachos were very good - two thumbs up! We picked a table outside in the sun so that I could dry off some, but I was still pretty wet when left! As we were walking back towards the GC special entrance, I said to DH "isn't this a pretty hotel", he said yes and I just smiled and said "we could have been staying here".

It was now time to walk over to the Hyperion Theater to line up for Aladdin. I wanted to get in line early so that we could get a good seat! Of course, on the way I saw another photographer and had to stop - I promise this is the last of our photopass pictures!

Notice a theme here - every photopass photographer we had at CA except one had us pose with our arms out! I think the pictures came out really cute though!

Day 8 to be continued - coming up "Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular"

 

[got2travel]

YUM!!! White Water Snacks nachos....my favorite!!!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Day 8, continued

We arrived at the theater and got into a line, I didn't think that that was where we were supposed to be, but I didn't see any other lines. I had written down to line up for the Mezzanine level and I didn't see any signs that said which level you were lining up for. It wasn't long before a CM came walking down the line informing everyone that that was the line for people with priority seating and us 'regular people' needed go line up behind the theater. I'm so glad he came and told us! So, we walked around back and the only line that was open was the orchestra level, but that is not where I wanted to sit!! We got in line and after a couple of minutes I told DH that I was going to go ask the CM if we HAD to be in that line or if we could line up for Mezzanine. She told us she would be happy to let us out and directed us to a small area off to the side where people who were waiting for the Mezzanine line to be opened up were waiting. There were only about a dozen people there so far, so I felt pretty good about us getting a good seat! It was pretty hot, and we were waiting out in the sun for what seemed like an eternity, it was actually about 40 minutes, until they finally let us into the theater! Believe it or not, even after all that time in the sun - I was still damp!

We were able to get great seats! We were 3 rows up right at center stage. I got a few decent pictures too, so I thought I'd share.

This show was about an hour long and was, as the name implies, spectacular! The genie was worth the wait all by himself, he was hilarious! If you are taking a trip to the DLR before the end of the year I highly recommend taking the time to see this show! Sadly, though, I've read that this is the final year for it. That's really too bad because it's a great show, I'm not sure what they are replacing it with, but it's got big shoes to fill that's for sure!

After Aladdin, DS7 wanted to try his hand at drawing a Disney character again, so we popped into the Animation Building. This time we drew the big cheese himself, Mickey Mouse! After that we explored the other areas of the building. We went into the Sorcerer's Workshop and into The Beast's library to find out which Disney character we are most like. I was Belle, DS7 was Buzz Lightyear, DS12 was Timon and DH was Hades!

Next we hit It's Tough to be Bug

And as we came out we saw Flik!

We walked through "a bug's land" but the attractions there are really geared more towards little kids so we didn't ride anything.

We headed back towards the Golden State area. Being the wine drinker that he is, DH was happy to see a small vineyard

We then did the Mission Tortilla Factory tour and got the free fresh tortillas at the end - yum!

After that we decided to go back to the hotel and give our tired feet a rest so that we would all be ready for our last evening at DL.

Day 8, to be continued.......

 

[SoonerGirl]

YUM!!! White Water Snacks nachos....my favorite!!!!

It was your recomendation that sent me there!! And they were as yummy as you had said!

 

[Lizzybear]

Your photopass pics are awesome! We were going to do it at WDW last year but found we only ended up with maybe 20 pics and it wouldn't have been worth the cost. Luckily we got the CMs to take most of them with our camera aswell so we have some pics together Great pics of the Aladdin show too What camera do you use?

 

[pperfectmom]

Yay! A new update and it was a good one. I love seeing pictures of the smiling faces. Even "The Grump" looked happy most of the time. I really wish I could get my very own Grump to cooperate more with my Disney plans.

 

[jonsmom57]

SoonerGirl

Remember I told you that Grump looked like a celeb - figured it out, he looks like Bill Engvall.

jonsmom

 

[travelmel]

Great update!

You guys were lucky to run into those characters

Everytime we saw anything/anybody it seemed they were either off and running or 1 hr line

 

[SoonerGirl]

Your photopass pics are awesome! We were going to do it at WDW last year but found we only ended up with maybe 20 pics and it wouldn't have been worth the cost. Luckily we got the CMs to take most of them with our camera aswell so we have some pics together Great pics of the Aladdin show too What camera do you use?

Thanks! I just have an old Kodak Easy Share 7590, it takes pretty good pictures, but I desperately want a new camera!!

Yay! A new update and it was a good one. I love seeing pictures of the smiling faces. Even "The Grump" looked happy most of the time. I really wish I could get my very own Grump to cooperate more with my Disney plans.

The Grump had a good time too I think, but he was definitely ready to go by the time we left!

What is it with our men? Too bad we need them for the funds, or we could just go together and ditch them!!

SoonerGirl

Remember I told you that Grump looked like a celeb - figured it out, he looks like Bill Engvall.

jonsmom

Hmmmmm, must be the gotee!

Great update!

You guys were lucky to run into those characters

Everytime we saw anything/anybody it seemed they were either off and running or 1 hr line

We did luck out as far as length of the lines for the characters we did see, but we really didn't see too many, not as many as we tend to see in WDW anyway. I was kinda bummed because we saw the penguins from Mary Poppins and we have never gotten a photo with them, but they were on the run.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Day 8 continued

With our tootsies all rested, we walked back across the street for our final evening in Disneyland. We saw Mickey as we walked inside and we hadn't had our picture taken with him yet this trip, so stopped for a photo.

After that I drug the kids into "Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years". This was well worth the time spent to look at the displays and watch the movie. I think anyone who is interested in Walt's life and his dream of building this theme park would really enjoy it!

Then we took the train back to Toontown. It was still pretty crowded, but not quite as bad as the day before. We still didn't get to ride Roger Rabbit, the wait was just too long for us, but we did go through Mickey and Minnie's houses. First Minnie's:

Sorry this one is so blurry!

I loved her shopping list!

And, her wishing well out back

Now Mickey's, I could have sworn that I took more pictures in there - I thought I had some of the boys sitting in his living room, but they are no where to be found

Wow, Mickey's got a busy day!

Pluto's bed

After we toured the homes, we got back on the train and got off in Tomorrowland. The kids wanted to ride Space Mountain one more time, but the wait was over an hour, and I just won't do that. We were really hoping that this evening would be a repeat of our first evening there with reasonable lines and moderate crowds, but it was anything but - it was packed! And, since we had been at DCA all day, we hadn't gotten any FPs and they were all gone. We were a little bummed and were almost ready to just leave, but DS12 suggested we try Jungle Cruise. There was just a short wait, so we traveled though the jungles of Africa. Then we rode Pirates one more time!

And, BTMRR. I love riding this in the dark - I don't know why but it seems faster and less bumpy in dark!

Now, we were all pretty hungry, so we took the shortcut to Fantasyland to Village Haus, but once we were inside DH decided that he didn't want to eat there. OK, so we walked over to Redd Rocket's Pizza Port in Tomorrowland. The kids each got pizza and DH & I got a ceaser salad and the chicken fusili to share. It was all really good!

I lied earlier too, when I said I was done posting photopass pictures, I have one more! We saw a photographer in front of Space Mountain when we came out of the Pizza Port and I thought that would make a pretty cool photo!

Our options for rides were pretty small on this night, unless we were willing to wait for a very long time, which we weren't. So, we took one more spin on Buzz Lightyear and decided to call it a night. I wanted to stay and do a little shopping on Main Street, but the Grump was grumpy by this point, so rather than make him more grumpy I agreed to leave!

I did stop at the firehouse though, and saw the light on in Walt's apartment.

I then said a silent goodbye and headed back to the hotel.

Coming up - Breakfast with Goofy, and goodbye Anaheim, hello San Diego!

 

[reyasmommy]

Great update! I thought I was a big Cheese addict, that was until I read Minnies shopping list! Geezzz! She must have really high cholesterol.

I love looking at your photopass pictures. I thought about doing that, but I don't think my husband would allow it. He hates when I make him pose for pictures, and I'm really lucky if I can get my DD to look directly at the camera with her eyes open.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Great update! I thought I was a big Cheese addict, that was until I read Minnies shopping list! Geezzz! She must have really high cholesterol.

I love looking at your photopass pictures. I thought about doing that, but I don't think my husband would allow it. He hates when I make him pose for pictures, and I'm really lucky if I can get my DD to look directly at the camera with her eyes open.

Wasn't Minnie's list just too funny?! I like cheese too, but that is taking it just a bit too far!

My DH has learned over the last 22 years to put up with my constant picture taking, and truth be known, I really think he got a kick out of posing for the "magic" shots.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Day 9, Thursday August 7th

We had to leave today, and we had been up late the night before, as well as getting up early that morning, thanks to the banging above our heads, so DH & I weren't in the best of moods. We had gotten new neighbors the night before and they had NO hotel etiquette what so ever! There must have been at least 30 people staying in the room next to us and they were constantly slamming the outside door, going in and out and screaming in the hall until about 1 in the morning. I know that their behavior was not the hotels fault, but that was the last straw, I decided right then and there that we would never stay at this hotel again. Looking back on it, I sure wish we had asked for a new room as soon as we realized that we were right under the dining room - that is really not a fun way to wake up every morning!

My original plan had been for us to sleep in a bit this morning and have a late breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. I had made a PS for 10am. However, since sleep was not an option, we were up and packed by about 8:45. We went ahead and checked out and loaded the car, then just left our car there and walked to the Disneyland Hotel. Since we were so early, we walked slowly through Downtown Disney (too bad nothing was open yet!). DH commented that maybe we should have come there to eat a couple of nights - I told him we would have if we had been staying on site and it would have been more convienent. Soon we arrived at the place where we should have spent the last 4 nights!

We checked in at Goofy's Kitchen more than 30 minutes early, the lady had me go in and pay (you pay in advance) and had the boys take a seat.

We were seated in just a couple of minutes! First they have you stop to take a photo with Pluto though

They took one with just the boys as well

Goofy's Kitchen is a buffet, and it's more like a brunch than just a breakfast. DS7 LOVED this because he is not a big breakfast food eater. So, he had mac & cheese, chicken nuggets and cheese pizza for breakfast. Both kids also had cupcakes for dessert! This was a really good breakfast, they have made to order omelets which made DS12 very happy.

We also had some really good character interaction. We saw Chip

Wendy, this was a fabulous Wendy! She talked to the boys for a long time, and when she found out that we were leaving that day, she asked the boys "why, don't you like us anymore?" They were a little shocked and at first didn't know how to answer. But, eventually, like any good child would do, they blamed their parents - "they're making us leave!"

Then we saw Goofy, he has been DS7s favorite since his first trip to WDW. We had a bit of a funny interaction with Goofy too, DS12 went to scoot his chair back so that he could stand up for the picture and he happened to catch Goofy's foot with the leg of his chair. Of course, Goofy hopped around and made gestures at DS that he was naughty for hurting him and that he only wanted a picture with DS7 (DS7, of course, ate this up!). When DS told him he was sorry and that he didn't mean to do it, they made up and he was allowed to be in the picture.

We also saw Alice, she was very "in character" too and a lot of fun.

And finally Dale

Baloo was there too, but he never did make it around to our table.

As we left the DLH, we stopped and peaked in at the Neverland Pool - this area is so cute!! Now I had the boys really wishing we had stayed there as well!

DH was giving me a bit of time to shop in Downtown Disney, but not much, he had had enough Disney and was ready to go - Grump!!! Our first stop was at Pin Traders so the boys could pick out some pins. They like to collect them, but aren't in to trading (I think they just don't want to part with their pins!). They each picked out 3 pins. Then we went to World of Disney. I got a new Pirate Mickey antena topper because I had lost my other one in the car wash, silly me I forgot to take it off before I went through!! I also got a shirt and a scrapbook. I could spend hours in that store, but DH was already waiting outside, ready to go, so I paid for our stuff and we began the walk back to our car.

As we made it to the promenade between the parks though, we saw some green army men outside promoting Toy Story Mania, so the boys stopped to say hello.

We made it back to our car by about 11:30 and we were on our way to San Diego.

We really enjoyed our time at Disneyland/California Adventure. And I would love to make a return trip someday! The only things that I can think of that we would do differently, are 1)stay at one of the Disney properties (DH and I still have differing opinions on this one - when will he ever learn?!), and 2)make Toontown more of a priority by getting there early so that we could really enjoy it - it's such a cute area of the park, but it was so crowded that we really spent very little time there.

There's more to come, so stay tuned!!!

Day 9, to be continued

 

[mt mommy]

I still CANNOT believe your DH was posing for all of those photo pass pics!! You call him Grump, but he's really NOT! My DH would NOT do all of those poses! What a good guy!! Can't wait to hear more!