The Race That Wasn't: DLR Labor Day Week 2007 (With Photos)

[TXAng]

I've never written a trip report before, but I LOVE reading them, so I thought I'd give it a try and write my own!

Backstory:

I spent the first 10 years of my life in So Cal, and visited DL multiple times as a child. Then we moved to Texas, and I didn't get to go back to DL until 2002. That was my DH's first ever trip to CA and DL, though he did get to go to WDW as a teenager. He enjoys it, but not nearly as much as I do!

Here is our silly self-portrait from our previous DLR trip in November 2006:

Early this year, DH (Mike) and I decided to take up running together. I found out about the DL Half Marathon and thought that would be a good goal for us to work toward. As soon as registration opened, we signed up. Pre-training was going pretty well until about mid-May.

And then we got some super exciting news: we're expecting our first child!

Well, that of course meant that the race was out, but we decided to go ahead and take the trip anyway. My Dad and his wife live out in CA, so we decided it would be fun to keep the pregnancy a secret until the trip so we could tell them about it in person! Way more fun to tell that kind of news in person than over the phone.

The Trip Begins

We drove to CA, taking it nice and slow and making plenty of stops along the way. We left TX on Friday, 8/31/07, and arrived at Dad's house on Sunday afternoon, 9/2/07. It was a long (but uneventful) drive.

Dad and Stepmom took us to Claim Jumper for an early dinner. We love that place, but there aren't any in our area, so we love to stop there for a meal when we visit CA! We announced the pregnancy, which was fun, and spent the evening visiting with family.

Ok, it's getting late, so I'll stop here for now. Next up: the really fun part - Disneyland!!

 

[eargal]

I'm on board!
Oh, and Congrats!

 

[TXAng]

Yay! I have a reader! Welcome aboard, eargal!

Monday, 9/3/07

Our first day at DL! Dad and Stepmom came along with us for the day.

We left their house early in the morning in order to get to the DLH in time for our 7:40 PS for Goofy’s Kitchen. None of us had ever been to a character breakfast before, so we were all looking forward to it.

We made much better time than we had expected, arriving at the parking garage around 7:00. We’d given ourselves a HUGE cushion of time, since we weren’t sure how hard it would be to maneuver around the area while the race was in progress. Turned out that we needn’t have worried at all.

As we were entering the DTD area, we saw the half marathon finish line, and happened to hear the announcer saying that the marathon winner was already at mile 11, which meant he’d be crossing the finish line within a few minutes. We decided to stick around and watch him finish, which was VERY cool! His time was just a few seconds over one hour and ten minutes – can you imagine running 13.1 miles that fast? Wow.

We moved on and headed over to Goofy’s Kitchen from there.

We were still a few minutes early, but they seated us right away. The restaurant was fairly empty this early in the morning.

We got to meet Aladdin, Chip, Dale, Goofy, and Pluto. Did we feel just a little silly chatting with characters when we didn’t have any children with us? Yeah, maybe a little. Will that stop us from doing it again? Not a chance!

Now that our tummies were full, it was time to head over to the front gate. We had a bit of a wait to cross over the marathon route – by this time, the main pack of runners was coming to the end of the race, which was right in front of DLH.

Mike and I were actually kind of happy that we got to spend some time watching the runners. A little sad, too, since we were supposed to be among them, but it really reinforced my resolution that I will run this race in the future. There will always be another race, and it’s worth it to sit a few out in order to have a healthy baby!

Other guests, on the other hand, didn’t seem too thrilled by the delay. We heard a fair bit of grumbling about it going on around us. All in all, I think we waited maybe 15 minutes or so? Not too bad at all.

After getting across the race route, we strolled down DTD towards the parks, still watching the runners coming in. We even had several runners who had already finished passing us by. I didn’t have enough nerve to say anything to any of them, but I kind of wish I had at least said “good job” to some of them.

We made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare. Stepmom had brought along some cards, so we played a few rounds of Nertz to pass the time.

It wasn’t too long before it was time to go inside!

Our first stop was the First 50 Years exhibit and movie. Neither Dad or Stepmom had been in there since they changed it over. Mike and I, of course, watched that movie about a million times when we were AP holders. Hey, it stars my favorite duck! How could I resist?

From there, we headed over to the Golden Horseshoe for the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show. Mike and I had never taken the time to check it out before (I know, can you believe it?), and it’s one of Stepmom’s favorites.

After the show, Mike got a little lassoing (I have no idea if that’s spelled right) lesson from Farley the Fiddler.

So did Stepmom.

It was already getting pretty hot by this point. Turns out that the Texas heat had followed us to Anaheim. Bah.

Our next stop was the Haunted Mansion. We knew we had to ride this day, since it was going down for the holiday overlay on Tuesday. It had been two years since we’d ridden the regular version, since the holiday version was running when we last visited, and I wasn’t going to miss my chance to see it again! There was no line when we got there – we walked right on.

Somehow I missed the memo that the bride room had been redone. I knew they were doing work on it at WDW, but didn’t know about the DL changes. So that was a bit of a shock! I like it ok, but haven’t decided if I like it better than the way it was or not.

I was ready for a Churro and a drink, so we grabbed snacks and sat down in New Orleans square (in the shade!) for a bit to eat. Next up: POTC.

It was such a relief to get to stay out of the heat! I love this ride. We were even lucky enough to not have anyone in any of the boats near us taking flash photos. Sadly, that seems to be a rare occurrence these days.

Man, the heat was getting brutal! We decided to do our park hop and go see Turtle Talk. We did stop for the obligatory Mouse photo on our way out!

Next up: DCA and we check in to the DLH!

 

[lawyergirl22]

Congratulations on the baby--I bet you dad was thrilled to be told in person! Please post more. I am taking my kids (3 and 11 months)to DL next week and this is helping me pass the time!

Gianna

 

[TXAng]

Hi Gianna! Welcome aboard!

Is this going to be your family's first DL trip? Y'all are going to have so much fun!

Next TR installment to follow shortly...

 

[TXAng]

Monday, 9/3/07: Part Two

We headed directly to the animation building to check out Turtle Talk. We timed it just right, and only had to wait a few minutes for the show to start.

I love this attraction. So much fun. Stepmom even got picked to talk with Crush! Do I remember what she asked him? Nope. It was pretty cool that she got picked, though.

After Turtle Talk, we headed down to the Beast’s Library. We spent a little bit of time in there, and then decided we were about ready for some lunch. As we were headed out of the corridor, guess who jumped out of the shadows and scared me half to death?

Yup, it was Pluto! He’d been hiding out waiting for us to get close enough so he could literally jump right into our path! Apparently I was the only one who really got startled, much to the amusement of everyone else.

I told Pluto it wasn’t very nice to sneak up on people like that, and he blew raspberries at me and acted quite pleased with himself. Then he grabbed my arm and took me skipping to the main part of the building to get our photo taken.

In all the times I’ve been to DL, that was the first time I’d ever had a character interaction like that. Too funny!

After our photo with Pluto, we headed over to the Taste Pilots Grill for some burgers and fries. We then rode Soarin’, which was practically a walk-on as well (only about a 20 minute wait).

Have I mentioned how HOT it was? I was starting to wilt by this point, so Mike and I decided that we’d go ahead and check into the hotel and relax for a bit. Dad and Shauna decided to stay in the park, so we arranged to meet up again in a couple of hours and go our separate ways.

On our way out, though, we did stop for a quick photo with Lightning MacQueen and Mater.

Our room was ready when we arrived at DLH, so we went ahead and brought our luggage in rather than waiting until late at night to do so. As Mike went out and got the last load, I got busy taking photos of the room!

Just ignore the pile of stuff on the bed:

Bathroom (love the Mickey hands holding the lamps!):

Wallpaper detail:

View from our room:

This was our first time to ever stay onsite at DL, and I had wanted to stay at DLH since I was a little girl. We’re usually too cheap to stay onsite, but when we were planning to run the race, we figured we’d splurge in order to have a nice, close place to crash. Then, when our race participation got cancelled, we decided to go ahead and keep the reservations as sort of our “last hurrah” before baby comes.

We chilled out for awhile in the room, which was really nice. Soon it was time to meet back up with Dad and Stepmom, so we hopped on the Monorail to get back to DL.

They were already camped out in front of the castle, waiting for the fireworks show. That’s something I’ve never had enough patience to do, but both Mike and I were pretty tired, so it sounded good at the time.

We did run over to catch one last ride on HM, though. This time the ride stopped for a couple of minutes while we were onboard. Unfortunately, we were on the descent into the graveyard when this happened. Right beneath the crow that caws at you every two seconds. That did get a bit irritating, but it wasn’t too long before our Doom Buggy was back on its way.

We got back to the Hub in time to see the parade. Stepmom got this cute photo:

The time passed fairly quickly, and before long it was time for the fireworks! If you’ve never taken the time to see the “Remember” fireworks show, you’re missing out. This is my favorite one that they’ve done. And, thanks to Dad and Stepmom’s early bird ways, we had a spot where I could actually get a couple of decent photos!

Have I mentioned that I love this show? Amazing.

Though the park stayed open for another couple of hours, we were all ready to go. Dad and Stepmom had a long drive ahead of them, and it was already well past our bedtime (since we were still operating on Central time, it felt like it was nearly midnight!). We had an awesome first DL day, and were so glad that Dad and Stepmom were able to join us!

Next up: Our one non-DL day of the trip – and why did we think that a long hike up the beach was a good idea?

 

[mt mommy]

great trip report. Congrats on your upcoming arrival!!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

WOW! Firstly, congratulations on your little bundle!

Second, loved the trip report and photos. Your fireworks photos came out so much better than mine, they are fabulous!

So glad you had a great time. I'm so eager to go on our trip in a few weeks, and your TR is making me so antsy to go already!!!

 

[momto2nenas]

congrats on your pending arrival! And AWESOME fireworks photos, seriously, awesome! Where were you sitting exactly? We thought we had a "perfect spot" then discovered a tree was blocking 1/2 the fireworks

 

[TXAng]

Welcome aboard mt mommy, Alex2kMommy, and momto2nenas!

Thanks so much for the compliments on the photos! The fireworks photos were really pure luck. This was the first time that I've ever had any come out looking decent (and believe me, I've tried several times). I'm not known for my night photography skills.

momto2nenas, we were sitting on the curb directly in front of the castle on the front side of the hub. I was so glad that Dad and Stepmom decided to snag the spot for us. We usually end up further back and have the tree problem, too.

Next installment coming right up!

 

[TXAng]

Tuesday, 9/4/07

This was our scheduled down day. We slept in, watched a little TV, and got ready to go at a leisurely pace.

We left the hotel around noon and headed to In N Out for a quick lunch. That’s one CA restaurant that we miss! Yum.

From there, we drove out to Huntington Beach. We’re not big beach bums, but we usually try to take at least a couple of hours to visit a beach when we’re in CA. Last time we were out, we went to Newport, so we figured we’d hit Huntington this time. Those were the two beaches that we spent the most time at when we lived out there.

When we arrived, Mike chose a parking spot that didn’t seem that far from the pier (his goal in going to Huntington was to get a shake at Ruby’s on the pier). Well, looks are deceiving! We walked up the beach, pausing here and there to take some pictures. I thought we’d NEVER get to the pier!

I love ocean photos, but I will spare you and only post a couple.

Here’s Mike (no, the pink Mickey Crocs are NOT his – he’s got black ones). This was after we’d already walked for quite a bit. See how far away the pier still is? Ugh.

Well, we plodded on, and eventually made it to the pier.

And Mike did get his shake!

It was nice to sit down for a bit and relax. We took it easy and enjoyed watching the waves for a little while longer before trekking back to the car. It was time to head back to the hotel!

Oh, the walk back to the car was brutal! I'm sure it wasn't more than a mile or so, but it seemed like we'd never make it back! This was supposed to be our easy day, wasn't it?

Well, we did eventually find our way back to the car, and not a minute too soon! I don't think I could have gone another step. I know, I know, aren't we the people who were originally planning on running 13 miles on this trip? Sadly, we both let our running routine fall to the side as soon as we found out about the pregnancy. I was too paranoid that I'd overdo it and hurt the baby. That's my story, at least!

Once we arrived back in Anaheim, we decided it would be nice to go relax in the pool for a little while. No, there will not be any photos of me in my fabulously ugly maternity swimsuit.

There were hardly any people at the pool, which was nice.

Once we were done there, we went back up to the room to shower and change clothes. It was already time for dinner, but we weren’t really starving, so we just grabbed a quick bite at the Coffee Bar at the hotel (salad for me, sandwich for Mike) to take back the room.

We don’t usually take a whole day to relax and go slow when we’re on vacation, but it was SO nice!

Next Up: Disneyland – Day Two – with some Toontown Morning Madness!

 

[TXAng]

Wednesday, 9/5/07

This was our second Disneyland day of the trip. We were at the front gates early, and walked through a few of the shops of Main Street while we waited for the rope drop to happen.

Once the park was open, we booked it to the back of the park to get to Toontown Morning Madness!

We watched the mini-parade come by, and who happened to run right in front of where we were standing? My favorite!

They had a cute little ceremony which declared all of us as honorary citizens of Toontown. We all got button pins and were then free to roam around Toontown.

Now, I have a history of NEVER being able to find Donald to get my photo taken with him. The whole time we had annual passes, the only times I ever saw that darn duck were during parades or Fantasmic.

On our trip last November, I finally found him! So I had figured I’d probably met my Donald-sighting quota for the decade, and would be out of luck on this trip.

Just as I was saying to Mike that I wondered if Donald would be at his house, we both saw the duck himself heading that way! Hooray!!

We saw that Goofy was at home, too, so we stopped there for Mike to get his picture.

The lines to see Mickey and Minnie were fairly long (which probably explains the super short waits to see Donald and Goofy), so we figured we’d try to find Mickey another time. Took a quick ride on Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin just because there was NO line there and we’d never taken the time to ride it before. It was just meh.
We left Toontown right around 11 and hopped in line for IASW. I was surprised that there still wasn’t much of a line for this one even though the park had been open for a full hour.

Time for some food! As we made our way over to the Village Haus for an early lunch, I saw that there was virtually no line for Dumbo, either, so we made a quick stop to ride.

Ok, now it was really time for food!

(Note Mike’s oh-so-pleased expression. Why are you taking a picture of our plain old burger and pizza when I’m HUNGRY?)

After we ate, we decided to take another ride on POTC before heading across to see the Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. Unfortunately, we were sailing in a boat with Captain Clueless.

Remember how I was impressed that there wasn’t a single person taking flash photos when we rode POTC on Monday? Yeah, well, apparently Cpt. Clueless was on a personal mission to more than make up for that ride. Seriously, the woman must have taken 50 photos while on the ride, many of them complete with having her DH and son lean over in front of a scene (as much as you can in the boat) so she could get their photo with the skeletons/pirates/whatever.

The great thing, though, was that half of those photos didn’t come out. She didn’t allow her flash enough time to charge between shots, so she’d be trying to get a photo of a scene, the flash wouldn’t go off, and she’d pull the camera back to see what the problem was. That’s when the flash would finally go off, and she’d have a lovely photo of her legs. Or the back of the person in front of her.

All that flashing and nothing to show for it except for a boat of irritated people around her. Good times!

Moving on, our next stop was the Pirate’s Lair!

I can’t remember the last time I went over to the Island, so I guess Disney’s plan of luring more guests over there worked!

(Nope, no flash here!)

I think they did a pretty good job on pirate-ing up the place. It was a LOT of walking, though! We explored around for awhile before heading back to the mainland.

Lots of walking + lots of heat (still) = tired pregnant lady who wants to go take a nap. We did stop at the Tiki Room to have a Dole Whip and see the show (yay for air conditioning!) before leaving the park.

As we were getting back to the park, I was taking Mike’s photo in front of the Mickey hat when a very nice lady walking by offered to take a photo of both of us!

That pretty much ends our excitement for the day. We relaxed in the room for the afternoon and then met up with Dad and Stepmom for dinner offsite (another Claim Jumper meal – yum!).

Next Up: Our final day at the parks.

 

[wendypooh22]

Congrats on your upcoming little one!!! I am really enjoying your TR. I was there that weekend too, but we did the 5K instead. I look forward to reading future posts.

 

[KimAshton]

I love this TR. I spend one day at the parks in June and want to go back.

 

[DisDancerina]

Nice TR!

 

[TXAng]

Ok, finally have some time to finish this TR!

Thursday, 9/6/07 (Final Day in CA)

Thursday morning we got up bright and early in order to get to the park for early entry. Once the gates opened, we went in, and who did we see?

We had debated whether or not to hit the Nemo subs during early entry. Fantasyland won out. Though we’re both interested in seeing the new subs, we know we’ll be back to DL within a few years, and by then the hype should be much lower. So, we tackled the dark rides: Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, Pinnochio, and Snow White, as well as the carrousel.

After that, we walked over to Tomorrowland, where we rode the Astro Orbiter and Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters.

By this time, the park was getting ready to open, and we were hungry. We decided to run over to the Carnation Café for some breakfast:

Yummy! With full tummies, we said goodbye to DL for the last time this trip and hopped over to DCA.

We wandered around DCA for a bit and took a quick ride on Monsters, Inc (NO line) before heading over to the Hyperion to see the Aladdin stage show. We had never seen it before, and we were not disappointed! Very well done.

After the show, we walked around the Paradise Pier area for a bit. Then we exited DCA to do a little bit of shopping at the World of Disney store before returning to the hotel.

We mostly just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon/evening and headed to bed early, since we planned to leave Anaheim by 6:00 Friday morning to begin the long drive home.

Friday, 9/7/07

Wow, the alarm went off early! We managed to get ready and packed up fairly quickly, and left the hotel at 5:45 AM. We stopped for a quick breakfast with Dad and Stepmom (we pass through their city on our way out), and then we were officially on our way.

And so ended our amazingly slow-paced, super hot California trip of 2007. We already can’t wait to go back, especially since our next trip (whenever that may be) will include our new little one!

 

[travelmel]

Hi!

So if my math is right, you should have your little one now! Girl or boy?? How do you find time to go on the dis with a NEWBORN???

Great TR..I found you on my TR and so I thought I'd stop by and take a look. I want to eat at the Carnation Cafe SO BAD now! What kind of pancakes were those??? :drool:

 

[TXAng]

Travelmel - Thanks for stopping by! Yes, our little one is here! It's a boy - he's 9 months old now (born in January), so I have a little more free time these days!

The pancakes were apple cinnamon, and they were really good! I only got to sneak a taste, though, since they were DH's, and he didn't really want to share. Men.

 

[travelmel]

Congratulations! January is the best month to be born as you are the same age all year!

My DH will share with me but he eats so fast I find myself feeling like a lion at the kill!