Tablefor5 TR *Sept 2010*, Days 1,2, & 3 with WoC

[Tablefor5]

I am single digits now...woohoo!
Yesterday I got the autograph books I made through Vistaprint. It was quite a task but I think they came out very cute. I think I have every character we might come across and several generic and holiday themed pages too...
I may be more excited about the books than perhaps my girls will be

 

[Tablefor5]

YEAH! We leave tomorrow. We are packed (probably overpacked ), the kids are asleep and I cannot wait to get on the road. We will have about a 5-6 hr drive. It won't be too bad since we have the DVD hooked up. I also bought new Hannah Montana Disney MixMax's loaded with movies and music for the girls. I will surprise them in the car with those. I also remembered to pack the new autograph books for the girls and a new hidden mickey book for my son...both surprises. I also stopped at the dollar store for glow necklaces and I found super cool glow wands with stars or butterflies on the top. They are really cute!!! I took necklaces last time and when the peddlers came around during the parade time...WaaLaa mommy brought out ours and saved a bunch-o-money and since I bring so many we share with kids around us, so it's a nice feeling too! I still can't believe I have kept this trip a secret. The kids are excited to go see great-grandma and I really don't think they have a clue about this. They are still too young to understand geographics to know how close Disney is to great-grandma to even put the two together I am keeping the video camera in the front seat to catch their reaction when they finally realize...hopefully as we pull in to the HoJo
I am not too good about keeping the trip report LIVE, but if I don't get a chance I will be posting on our return!
Another of my HoJo dates came up so 4 out of 5 dates are ENT rate!!! and that last one could still pop up.
As Peter Pan would say "Here we goooo...."

 

[Tablefor5]

We are back and of course enjoyed each moment!
The kids had no clue until we drove by the HoJo and they saw the Monorail wiz by. I had the video camera ready and it made a great memory. Our timing was fabulous on EVERYTHING, from rides & shows to character meets & dining. During this trip I was very involved in taking in the moment and realized there were several times I didn't even pull out the camera or I just used photopass. I love seeing Disney in the eyes of children! More to come soon...

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Will we be treated with a trip report? I'ld love to hear about the suprise meet up with DD's friend.

 

[Tablefor5]

Will we be treated with a trip report? I'ld love to hear about the suprise meet up with DD's friend.

Yup, working on the pics for a report. The surprise meet was fun...more on that on Day 3!

 

[Tablefor5]

Day 1
Our drive down was verrry long...ugg. There were several accidents on the 5 and another major accident just as we drove into LA. The kids were getting antsy and I was about to explode with excitment for the surprise.
We finally made it close to Harbor exit and my son says "Look, Disneyland!". My husband and I didn't say anything. As we drove up, the kids spotted the Monorail and as we turned into the HoJo, they finally got it!
It was sweet and the kids remembered the hotel and the fun Pirate area
I flipped open the video camera and captured the first moments of realism for the kids (and my hubby & I)
The kids suite was beyond AWESOME Much more spacious than I had imagined. The kids thought it was very cool to have their own room. I didn't feel that having the opening door from their room to be unsafe, as some have mentioned on these boards. It was weird though that the only sliding balcony door was on the kids side and not the parents
We were on the ground floor, next to the elevator, but the room was very quiet. We could not hear the freeway or elevator. It was very private. We were also right next to the gift store and arcade...another plus!
A few pics...

The room was great..lots of room to play and store the stroller
We also had a roll-away bed because the sofa-bed was a little worn and when we asked to have the bed made, the front desk reccomended we not use the sofa as a bed. But still, even with the roll-away, we still had plenty of room!

So this mirror was super cool...like a concaved port window! My hubby was laughing towards the end of the trip because I kept saying "I love this mirror"

 

[Tablefor5]

7pm: Headed to the park!
We decided to grab dinner in the park and catch F!
We ate at Riverbelle and the first F! showing was already packed. We are night owls anyhow so waiting for the 2nd show didn't bother us.
After eating we rode Pirates. I wanted to be up near Splash when the 1st F! show exited after the fireworks, so we headed up to Critter Country and rode Pooh. It was about 9pm and we parked the stroller and waited in line at HM (~30min wait). As we exited the ride about 9:45, we walked over to the ROA. The sitting room only was already packed, but we managed to be standing to the left, just in front of the Dessert Dining seating. The CM was just about to rope off the section and said it was standing room only. It was perfect! We were right up by the wall and the view was great, even for my kids to stand and see!

This picture came out really cool!

After the show we grabbed the stroller (still parked by HM), rode Jungle Cruise and then headed back to the hotel.

 

[Tablefor5]

 

[Tablefor5]

Day 2
We decided that Sunday would be our day to drive to see my grandma about 20 min away. My uncle and aunt also joined us. They had a mini birthday party for me and lunch was grandma's famous meatloaf...my fav. Yum!
We visited for awhile but as my children began acting like wild animals, I decided it was time to head back. It was still very hot so we went for a swim at the hotel. Then we got cleaned up and headed for dinner at HoB.
There was no wait for tables and both inside and outside were available. We sat inside because it was still so hot. We started with the calamari app...very good with a yummy sauce already on it! The kids food was ok. DH got a burger and I got the flatiron steak salad. Both were good.
6pm: Headed to park!
We headed straight to Fantasy Land and rode the darkrides and Storybook. Next up was Matterhorn and Nemo. By now it was close to 8:15pm and the Hub and in front of the castle were already lined up with people. I decided to take some dis advice and try the rope trick on the left side of the hub. We made our way to the hubside opposite of the Frontier Land entrance. The rope path was not up yet, but I could see the plugs on the ground so I stood near those. DH and son went to get Dole Whips while the girls & I played with our glow sticks. About 10 min later the CM roped off the walking path, and we were right behind the rope. No one was standing in front of us and we actually sat on the ground for most of the show and the girls in the stroller. There were a few trees to the left but did not obstruct the fireworks view. There was also an umbrella that partially blocked the bottom of the castle, but again didn't take away from the magic! We could see Tink perfectly!

We rode a few more rides in Adventure Land and then headed back to HoJo all the while I started planting the seed about how we should get AP's...

 

[Tablefor5]

Day 3...The Full Park Day in DCA and WoC!

111 degrees!!!​

That was the HOT topic of the day (no pun intended). It was already blazing at 9:30 when we left the hotel. We were supposed to start in DL and I had Blue Bayou PS @ 11:30, but I didn't feel like park hopping in the heat. We headed straight to DCA since we planned to do WoC that day and had picnics to pick-up. We started by grabbing a Photopass guy and snapped a few pics by the Grizzly Peak. Then we headed to see "It's Tough to Be a Bug". As we were parking the stroller...Pluto shows up! Awesome, no one in line! I had to whip out the girls autograph books and find the pen. Our first character in the new books.
My picture is not so good but the photopass does have some cute ones!

So, on to the show...there was no wait and it was nice to get out of the heat. The kids really like the show, I on the other hand can't stand bugs and I remembered to pick up my feet at the end. BUT, I was still surprised by the "bugs" under my tush...gross! My DH looked over and laughed at me.
We then ventured down to tour the tortilla factory...found a hidden Mickey, and grabbed a free tortilla!

We made are way to Redwood Creek Challenge Trail before it got too hot , even if it was already nearing 100!!! The kids had fun running around and playing!

We then decided to brave the rapids and head to Grizzly River Run. I took the two older kids and got a rider switch for hubby to ride after.
What a great refreshing ride!

We worked up an appetite braving the rapids, so we headed to WCT to pick up our picnics. There were plenty of tables (although outside) and we decided to eat our meals then. We had the All American Chicken and The Mediterranean Vegetarian...both very good! The kids got the All American Jr. Our order was a little messed up and they were very accommodating to switch anything we wanted! The kids loved their bracelets and that was one less "thing" to buy!

After the meal we decided to head into Bugs Land again and cool off in the spray water areas! Sooo glad we were at this park on this day!
We rode Heimlich's train...

Then we made our way to Hollywood Backlot to ride Monsters Inc. and dropped in for the Muppets show. Just as the show let out, it was time for the Drawn to Magic show. Awesome timing again! I thought it was cute but felt it was cut short. There was no one picked from the audience and the characters split right after...no meet-n-greet! Thinking maybe due to the HEAT!
So, for those that have been following my PTR, all morning I had been texting my friend for the surprise meet with our girls. They were headed into the park and just as the show ended, my daughter spots her friend from across the way! I had the video camera out and it was another magical memory! The girls hugged and stared at each other in astonishment! So cute!
We were originally going to go on some rides together but opted for some cool down time in the Disney Animation building. We watched the zeotrope...

While waiting for the next Crush show, Stich walks in! My youngest loves Lilo & Stich so she was a little star-struck to get her picture with him!
(I cropped my daughters friend from the picture cuz I didn't know if her mommy would want her pic on here)

We let the girls play a little more and then parted with our own families. We do meet up a few more times during the trip
We grabbed a table for 5 for some ice cream and was hoping to catch HSM but that was cancelled "for unseen circumstances" so we then headed to Soarin, but first stopped by for a family pic with the famous Cars and we got a cute one but photopass only so will post later.

We rode Soarin and again did Rider Switch since the youngest was too little.

It would have been perfect timing for the Pixar parade, but that too was cancelled for "unexpected circumstances" or something like that.
I read it as "it's too darn HOT for outside performance".
I also think the heat was to blame for the lack of characters out...but I don't blame them one bit!

We walked down to Paradise Pier and grabbed a table at Cove bar. It was about 6pm now. The waitress stated there would be a $10 cover if we wanted to stay after 7pm to watch WoC. We already had FPs anyhow, but I don't think the view would have been best for the first time seeing the show.
We ordered the lobster nachos and a pizza. Both were very good. I wanted to try a cocktail but I already felt very dehydrated even though we had been chugging down H2O all day!
Here is a view from our table at Cove Bar.

As we left the bar it was close to 6:45. I noticed the bridge was already lined up thick with people. We trucked our way to the Yellow section and made our way to the first available "railing" view, which was on the 2nd tier. We were directly in front of the performance box for the pre-show and directly to the left of us was the Preferred Dining section. So really, for about $20 less/pp we were only about 5ft to the right...
The wait wasn't too bad...the kids had their new WoC bracelets and mommy pulled out more glow necklaces that kept them occupied. I played some with my camera...

The pre-show was cute...

And World of Color was very cool! My real take is it seemed to drag out towards the end and even my kids lost a little interest.
But, with that said, I did appreciate the magic behind the show!

So, totally exhausted from the heat and a long day...we headed back to the hotel, thankful for earlier closing hours on off-peak season and cold beer waiting in the mini-fridge!

 

[wdwfan22]

I just found your trip report. Your family is so adorable!! I'm really enjoying reading about your trip. So sorry it was a million degrees outside!

Waiting to hear what your husband said about upgrading to AP.

Looking forward to more!!

 

[Tablefor5]

I just found your trip report. Your family is so adorable!! I'm really enjoying reading about your trip. So sorry it was a million degrees outside!

Waiting to hear what your husband said about upgrading to AP.

Looking forward to more!!

Thanks!
The upgrade to AP progress will be updated as the trip goes on
I will try to get the next day up soon...
I was starting to think no one was reading this TR

 

[justliketink]

I am really enjoying your trip report. I didn't know you could watch the WOC show from the Cove bar. We are planning on doing a dining package one of the nights we are there, but we may have to catch it again while eating nachos and having a margarita!! Hope you get your ap's! We live in the bay area and the year I convinced my husband to get ap's, we visited four times My husband wasn't too happy with me But boy did we have fun that year