Running for my Disney - Finally a TR!

[PrincessInOz]

How cool that your parents were pulled in for audience participation. That would have been a great highlight of the day!

Nice pictures with the characters at breakfast. And I love the ones of you on Screamin'.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I love that your parents went along with it so happily. I don' t think my DH would be so gracious. At Universal he backed right away when I stopped to watch Celestina and shortly afterwards an older gent near me got nabbed and pulled up on stage to dance with a feather boa. He really didn't look happy about it the whole way through-I felt awkward for him. Not sure if DH knew this might happen or was just doing his usual live entertainment avoidance thing.

 

[zanzibar138]

How cool that your parents were pulled in for audience participation. That would have been a great highlight of the day!

Nice pictures with the characters at breakfast. And I love the ones of you on Screamin'.

Thanks. I would have preferred my higher quality camera for the character photos, but you get the gist.

I love that your parents went along with it so happily. I don' t think my DH would be so gracious. At Universal he backed right away when I stopped to watch Celestina and shortly afterwards an older gent near me got nabbed and pulled up on stage to dance with a feather boa. He really didn't look happy about it the whole way through-I felt awkward for him. Not sure if DH knew this might happen or was just doing his usual live entertainment avoidance thing.

I think if we'd have known that there was audience participation involved, we would have gotten out of there. But my parents are pretty good at making the best of a situation once they're in it.

 

[zanzibar138]

Disneyland

After a productive break back at the hotel, we headed back to DTD for dinner. We decided to use my $50 voucher for the Rainforest Cafe. At the seating podium, we heard the group before us be told that there was about a 20 minute wait. There was no wait for us because I was a member of the Landry's club We were led directly upstairs to a table right in front of the elephants.



We had a great dinner, although there were some annoying kids at the table next to us who were pretty much left to run wild through the restaurant while their parents ate. I realise it's a family establishment, but I still expect semi-controlled children

After dinner, we had planned to go to Disneyland. However, Dad got a little distracted on our way out of the Rainforest Cafe. There was a band just starting a set, and he wanted to stay and watch. We decided to split up. Mum and I would go to Disneyland, and Dad could stay and watch the band, and we'd meet in the central plaza area at park closing.

Mum and I decided to take the monorail, since it was right next to the Rainforest Cafe.



Mum was interested in doing the full loop on the monorail, so I told her we could take it back to DTD and we would see the rest of the loop then.

When we arrived at DL, I could hear the parade music, and realised that it was about the right time for Soundsational (which Mum still hadn't seen). We quickly made our way over to the parade route by the Matterhorn, and managed to catch the last few floats. I was surprised with how well my little camera did in the low light.







Once the parade finished, we really didn't have that much time left. We decided to a 'Mum friendly' ride, then pretty much leisurely make our way back to the monorail so that we didn't miss the last ride of the evening. We decided on the Storybook Land Canal Boats, which Mum enjoyed.







On our way back to the monorail station, we stood and watched the teacups for a while.



We made it back to the monorail station with only a couple of minutes to spare.



We were surprised how many people fit on that monorail! There was quite a large crowd there all wanting to fit on that last one.

Mum enjoyed the monorail ride back to DTD, but then of course we had to walk back to the plaza. It was only then we thought that it might have worked out better if we'd have organised to meet Dad at the monorail station

We found him in the end, and we headed back to the hotel.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Glad you got good use of the Landry Club and voucher. Shame about the wildlife at the Rainforest Cafe; but it really is hit and miss with children.

You and your mum maximised your time at the parks. Glad it worked out with everyone getting what they wanted to do.

 

[zanzibar138]

Glad you got good use of the Landry Club and voucher. Shame about the wildlife at the Rainforest Cafe; but it really is hit and miss with children.

You and your mum maximised your time at the parks. Glad it worked out with everyone getting what they wanted to do.

We're all pretty independent people in my family, and have no issues with splitting up to do our own thing. Much better than dragging someone along who doesn't really want to be there

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I'm curious how you tell the difference between Chip and Dale? Had Chip visited my table twice, I would have thought I'd seen both of them.

I love how your pictures portray how relaxed and easy going your family are. When he gets older, I hope my son travels as well with DH and I as you do with your parents.

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm curious how you tell the difference between Chip and Dale? Had Chip visited my table twice, I would have thought I'd seen both of them.

I love how your pictures portray how relaxed and easy going your family are. When he gets older, I hope my son travels as well with DH and I as you do with your parents.

You can see in my pictures Chip has a little brown nose, wide open eyes, and straight teeth. Dale has a reddish nose, his eyelids droop a little, and he has a large gap between his front teeth.

Chip



Dale

 

[zanzibar138]

Disneyland

My parents had decided to do an LA bus tour today. I had decided not to join them, and instead take on the parks on my own. I was looking forward to a day of doing exactly what I wanted

I started with rope drop at DL, aiming to ride Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland (which had opened recently after a long rehab and constantly had around a 30 minute wait). Being mid-week during low season, and having experienced an easy rope drop at DCA, I was expecting it to be a fairly relaxed experience. I was wrong.

The advent of the Anna and Elsa M&G has gotten everyone rope drop crazy! There was a huge crowd at the rope on each side of the castle, with plenty of pushing and shoving thrown in for good measure. I was glad I was there on my own and could just stick to the side and lean on the garden fence.

When the rope was dropped, it was on for young and old. Most people literally ran. Being the rule stickler that I am, and knowing that you are not allowed to run, I just got quietly annoyed that this behaviour was being tolerated and quickly walked to Peter Pan, keeping out of the way of any runners coming through before I was knocked out of the way. I decided that I would not attempt rope drop with my parents later in the week. By the time I got to Peter Pan, there was about a 10 minute wait.





I was waiting in line with another solo visitor who didn't seem very friendly (I probably didn't either lol!), and was quite pleased when we were put on separate ride vehicles.



After Peter Pan I hurried over to Alice in Wonderland, hoping that the line would still be good. It was up to about 20 minutes. I got in line anyway, thinking that's what I came to do, I may as well do it.



After a while I noticed that the line wasn't moving. At all. Turned out the ride was down. The CMs weren't turning people away, so I decided to wait it out for a bit longer. Eventually the CM suggested we do something else and come back. I didn't really have a back up plan, but I decided to head back to Fantasyland and ride some of the classic dark rides (even though it may not have been the best use of my time). First I headed to Mr Toad. It was only a 5 minute wait.







Next I headed to Pinocchio, which was something we missed on our last trip. I practically walked onto it.





As I exited Pinocchio I couldn't help but admire the tenacity of the people in line, but I noticed that the line was pretty short. Turns out they had just implemented a FP system.



The castle was fenced off, so I went around on my way out of FL.



I walked up to Town Square to see if I could find any characters or anything. There wasn't really much going on there so I took the omnibus back down to the hub.





I decided to give Alice one last try before moving on. It was up and running, but had the usual 30 minute wait. I went for it anyway. It was a very boring wait on my own lol!



DH doesn't like Toontown, so we didn't spend much time there on our last visit. I decided to check it out in more detail, starting with Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin.







It was getting hot and I was getting pretty hungry, so I decided to head to my lunch stop next. I spied Goofy on my way out of Toontown with practically no line.



Since it was hot and I was getting tired, I opted to take the train to Tomorrowland, and the monorail to DTD.





I relaxed for a while in the air-con at Earl of Sandwich with my free birthday sandwich before moving on.

To be continued

 

[aussie shaz]

I was told that Chip has a chocolate 'chip' for a nose (ie the one with the dark chocolate color nose). That's the only way I remember!

 

[zanzibar138]

I was told that Chip has a chocolate 'chip' for a nose (ie the one with the dark chocolate color nose). That's the only way I remember!

That was how I first learnt too. Once I discovered all the other subtle differences, I can always tell them apart easily

 

[zanzibar138]

California Adventure

One part of my solo adventure was shopping! I was quite surprised over the course of our trip to see that tails seem to be the new ears. Especially in the heat at that time of year, I couldn't imagine anything more uncomfortable.



I was really on the lookout for Marie ears, but the tails were the only Marie accessories I managed to find.



I exited the shops and nearly ran into Goofy.



I spent a while just wandering through the park.

















Down at Paradise Pier, I took a break from wandering to do Screamin'.



I finally met someone from Toy Story!



It was really heating up again, so I stopped for a frozen lemonade. Yum!

I finished my loop around the park, and found a couple of characters at Buena Vista Street.





The parade was due to start soon, so I wandered over and staked out a viewing spot.

To be continued

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm curious how you tell the difference between Chip and Dale? Had Chip visited my table twice, I would have thought I'd seen both of them.

I love how your pictures portray how relaxed and easy going your family are. When he gets older, I hope my son travels as well with DH and I as you do with your parents.

I usually think of Chocolate Chips. Black/brown nose = Chip.
Dale has the red nose.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a great solo day so far! I think I need to do a solo trip at some stage and plan for 10 days there. Some day.....

 

[zanzibar138]

What a great solo day so far! I think I need to do a solo trip at some stage and plan for 10 days there. Some day.....

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I agree on the solo day - I would really enjoy that one day-a whole day just to please myself! We need some work conferences PIO - but I won't ever get one now.

Looks like a great day so far Zanzibar, but those pushy crowds don't sound like fun.

 

[zanzibar138]

I agree on the solo day - I would really enjoy that one day-a whole day just to please myself! We need some work conferences PIO - but I won't ever get one now.

Looks like a great day so far Zanzibar, but those pushy crowds don't sound like fun.

I treated it like training for my Shanghai visit

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Thanks everyone for the heads-up about Chip and Dale. I like the chocolate chip analogy.
I think I now know over half the names of Disney princesses and princesses, but as far as character recognition goes, I still have a way to go.

 

[zanzibar138]

California Adventure

I was a bit too late to get one of the prime curbside sitting spots, but I was in the first standing row, so got a pretty good view of the parade.





















After the parade I headed to Carsland. I was planning to catch the lighting ceremony, but also had some more shopping to do.





I mis-timed it a little, and ended up waiting quite a while for the lights. It was nice to just relax and people-watch for a while though.





I continued people watching for a while, and eventually decided to line up for a photo with Lightning McQueen since there weren't too many people.



I was pretty much done after that, and decided to head back to the hotel. I picked up some of my favourite bite-size churros on the way out.



The room was empty when I got back, and I assumed my parents had gone for dinner, so I busied myself catching on facebook etc. When they got back they told me all about their day and their lovely dinner at House of Blues.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Another great update.

Seems like you got a lot done in the day. Glad you managed to watch the lights-on of Carsland.