The Wilson's Springtime Spree Trip Report

[mommyof2boys1girl]

Well - here goes. Besides getting to bounce ideas off everyone, this is one place where I can try to keep all my facts straight.

Cast of characters:
Me - Disney freak from way back, but live too far away from DL!
DH - Not a big fan till we went in '08 - now a DL convert! Doesn't love it as much as me, but what can you do...?
Ds 1 - 7 years old, too cool for characters but discovered his wild side 2 years ago - rode everything but Screamin! ToT is now his favorite ride, and he's desperate to try the moving cars on the Fun Wheel! (heaven help me!)
Ds 2 - 5, loved the characters last time, wants to see if he can get more autographs this time. Can't wait to fight Darth Maul and ride Star Tours another 10 times...(and me with motion sickness issues - woe is me!!)
Dd 1 - 3, and a quintessential princess...too young last trip to be too involved in anything - but now she's a Princess and Tink fanatic, so our touring plans will need to now reflect "girly" stuff too! We must wear Princess dresses, have our hair and nails done, and have our own way at all times! Wow will this trip be a challenge!

We've travelled a bit since our first DL trip 2 years ago, so I am getting better at being away from home with kids. My biggest challenge this time, is booking everything! We've always booked packages before, but this year we found some cheaper options. We were able to get 7 day hoppers for our 10 day trip through FLightcenter, cheap web rates for the Camelot Inn, and a way cheap seat sale that let all 5 of us fly for around $1500 return!

So we are DL bound on May 16th, to spend 7 days at the parks, 1 day at Legoland (thinking of booking Greyline tour, for simplicity's sake - messing around with carseats, rental cars, etc...not my cup of tea....) and then one day just bumming around the hotel and DTD.

Currently, the bookings are as follows:
- Flights - booked with Westjet
- Hotel - 10 nights at Camelot Family suite (kids have own room!!)

and that is it. I still have to book:
- Supershuttle transfers from LAX to hotel and back.
- PS's for Ariel's (a must for the Princess) and one other character meal - was considering Minnie's, but with the poor reviews on food quality, not sure if it will be worth it for only 1 child (maybe 2) who cares a fig about characters anyway....
- Parkhoppers - TA from flightcenter is away till Mon, so will book those then, and probably get vouchers for character meals and Legoland trip at the same time.

Here is a vague trip itinerary. I still have to figure out a few things, like how the new AP's and blackout days have affected the demographics of the parks - on our last trip, weekends were to be avoided, due to the larger crowds. It looks like this time that may not be the case, so I have a bit of homework to do.
May 16th - Sunday. Arrive LAX 12:45. Probably check in at Camelot around 3pm. Settle in and head to DTD - maybe make ressies at Rainforest Cafe (since we don't have them here in the frozen North!) and an absolute MUST - stop at the Lego store for "souveneirs".
May 17th - Monday. First day at parks. Start out at DL, ride whatever we want, reorient ourselves (its been awhile) and decide what the priorities are for each child. Try to check out parades (PPP was our favorite last time, and I'm interested to see how Celebrate measures up compared to POD, which we loved!)
May 18th - Tues - probably take our MM day, since we will still be fresh and raring to go - later in the trip, it may be hard to get going early, but we will still be flush with the excitement of being there!
May 19th - try to do Jedi training - if boys don't get picked, we still have other days to try again. Dd and I will probably hit Pixie Hollow or the dreaded PFF!! May start day off in DCA to ride TSMM.
May 20th - Thurs - Our day at Legoland (wanted to avoid Legoland on a weekend, since I hear it doesn't handle crowds as well as DL, and since the 20th is a grad nite anyway, it won't impact us if we aren't in DL.)
May 21st - Friday - may be our "day off" from the parks. Wander DTD, shop, swim, regroup, sleep, etc.... since new crowd dynamics say Fridays are busier than Saturdays. Watch fireworks from hotel.
May 22nd - Saturday - use FP's, shop and roll with the punches if the park is busy. See all parades and fireworks, in case Sunday gets cancelled (happened last time).
May 23 - Sunday. Same plan as Sat.
May 24 - Start off in DCA again - TSMM
May 25 - Last day - kids choice.

Not much of a plan so far, I know. But it will come....we are assuming short park hours, lots of closures and parades/fireworks only on weekends.
We will have to remain pretty flexible if WOC opens early, but at this point it seems doubtful that anything but a soft opening would be ready in mid May.

That's enough for now. This report is basically a place for me to get myself organized - we'll see if it works!

 

[Hound 109]

May 19th - try to do Jedi training - if boys don't get picked, we still have other days to try again....

I know the best way for them to be picked.


Looking forward to the report....seven days to enjoy DLR sounds great.

 

[wvnative]

That sounds like a great start!

I did 5 days with teenagers once. I won't be doing that again. haha 7 days with kids the age of yours should be fun though.

 

[WheresTheLove]

7 days at the park should be heaven

The last time I went (November of '09), my family and I had 5-day hopper passes. The thing I like the most about being able to spend multiple days in the parks is that you're actually able to enjoy everything at your own pace. Not having to rush around to try to see everything and accommodate everyone makes everything so much more peaceful and enjoyable.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time! Can't wait to read more.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Have you thought of doing the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique with your DD? We did it with our 3 year old and she LOVED IT! I have attached a couple of pics. We did the $50 package and brought her tink outfit. We hid it in the backpack and secretly gave it to the CM. She told DD that tinker bell must have brought it from home for her. Wonderful!

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

I know the best way for them to be picked.

Thanks Hound! I've read your post on the Jedi Training, made my own notes. DH is robbing file folders from the office and the kids are making signs, and we are packing their Star Wars t-shirts!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

My thought is that since you are doing Ariel's skip PFF and just do Pixie Hollow... the only reason I'd do both PFF & Ariels is if you managed to hit Ariel's on an off-day and got Princess Minnie, Pocahontas, Mulan & the Fairy Godmother instead of real princesses (I've heard it happen--but we've been very lucky and had Ariel + the main 4 each time.) We've done PFF once, and it was horrible... about an hour and a half wait... but we needed Cindy's autograph, as she was not at Ariel's... she got subbed for Mulan... we did get her autograph though, but the line was torture!!! And yes, we went early in the morning, before it officially opened.

We also love Storytellers character breakfast, and since it is close to the park, we usually do a 7:30 ressie for a 9 am park opening.

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

Well, I have accomplished a pathetically small amount of planning since my last post - we now have countdown calendars made, and my dd spends most of her days pouring over our old maps from 2 years ago trying to decide what rides she wants to ride!

We now have tickets, or rather, paper vouchers to cash in for tickets. We're going to try to do that on our first night - we're going to DTD to eat at RC and buy Lego stuff at the store, and perhaps a Princess dress for my dd, so that might be a good time if we have to stand in line, rather than the next morning at opening.
Funny thing is, our vouchers are worded interestingly. and I quote "Inclusions - Admission to Disneyland Park - Admission to Disney's California Adventure park - ONE early entry to Disneyland Resort Theme Park - OneMagic Morning Admission."
I am considering playing dumb and pretending that I don't know that early entry and magic morning are the same thing - reading that, one would think that you get one MM and one EE.

Otherwise I haven't done much. Have more comprehensive daily plans for the first 2 days, but that's about it. Guess I'd better get my tushy in gear, hey??

On a more positive note, I am SO ready for California weather - our schools were closed yesterday due to a lovely spring storm that dumped almost a foot of snow on us! My daffodils are crushed beneath a 2 foot snowbank, piled up by the almost 60 mile an hour wind! YUCK!! So no matter how cold or rainy or miserable the weather could/might/may be at DL, it cannot possibly be any worse than here!!!

 

[mermaid764]

That sounds like you guys are gonna have a great vacation and I second the suggestion on the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We let my niece get this done last year and she was in Heaven. Hopefully the weather down their will be awesome for your trip. We're also getting the snowfall in Saskatchewan and it's never fun, so hopefully you can get out of this weather for awhile.

 

[mamaso]

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique sounds like a great idea for your princess!

 

[Karenann*]

So happy for your trip! We love having multiple days in the Parks... 8 days is our record! It really allows a different pace for your family knowing you have plenty of time to see it all and do it all and still relax! Last year we were sitting on the walk near Snow White and ger wishing well and ducks started coming around! Each one if my kiddos hand fed the ducks bits of cracker!!! Can't do that on the run! Enjoy each child, each age and each moment!

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

We're back!!
10 day vacation, 9 miles of walking, 8 times on Space, 7 days of parkhopping, 6 tiki room shows, 5 dole whips... 4 times on Buzz, 3 tired kiddos, 2 exhausted parents and a mouse who started it all!!

That about sums up the trip! I will be posting daily accounts of what we did, once I get organized.
A few thoughts:
DL is way more crowded than it was 2 years ago
tigger tails do taste as good as I remembered
more characters need to wander the parks - just "happening" upon them were some of our most magical moments....
they really need to set the princesses free - we waited in a 45 minute line for a 2 minute encounter with 3 princesses - it was a little silly. Having said that, I'd do it again for dd in a heartbeat, because she loved it. It would probably have been a better experience if the other PFF 'stuff' had been open, but when we were there it was just 3 minutes with the princesses.
Ariel's princess lunch was a bit of a letdown too - sure we saw princesses, but as we were the last table before the princesses disappeared for the next seating, they seemed to be in a bit of a rush. they all came one right after the other, so in a span of about 4 minutes, we were rushed through 4 princesses. They barely took time to sign Allie's book and snap a quick photo, and then they were gone. Thankfully, my dd is too young to really have noticed that they rushed off - she was just grateful to have seen them. I, however, was a little dissappointed on her behalf, and had she been older, she may have been a bit upset that they didn't spend more than 10 seconds with her.

Otherwise, the trip was fantastic!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

We're back!!
10 day vacation, 9 miles of walking, 8 times on Space, 7 days of parkhopping, 6 tiki room shows, 5 dole whips... 4 times on Buzz, 3 tired kiddos, 2 exhausted parents and a mouse who started it all!!

Love this! Looking foward to your report!

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

Our departure was easy - the kids were so excited - they were awake and dressed before we were out of bed! The suitcases all fit into the van (yay!) and we were on our way! Gotta love online check in with Westjet - my heart sunk when we looked at the line for check in, but we were directed to a much much shorter line when we mentioned we had done the online check-in. We were allowed to roll the stroller right up to the plane (last year Air Canada made us check it with the luggage), and the plane wasn't full so we had an empty seat between the 5 of us to juggle kids. The satellite TV was a great distraction, and I even got to read a book on a plane for the first time ever since we had kids!
We landed on time at LAX, and after waiting a bit for the carseat and stroller at the oversize carousel, we found a supershuttle and headed to the hotel. We were early, but the Camelot had a room ready for us, just as we requested, on the 4th floor near the pool.

We unpacked a bit, then headed to DTD for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. The older two loved it, but dd wasn't thrilled when the "storm" would hit every 20 minutes or so!

Then we made the required stop at the Lego store to pick up a small kit for each boy (the part they were looking forward to the most), then returned to the hotel for an early night. Since it was Sunday, we had planned to stay up to watch the fireworks from the pool deck, but only dh managed to stay awake - the rest of us crashed long before they began. I vaguely recall hearing some noises, but that's about it!

Day 2 - Monday.
Park opened at 9, we got in line just after 8. The weather was wet and cold, with a drizzley mist falling. But we didn't let that dampen our mood!

Gates opened at 8:30 for rope drop. We met Mickey on the way in, which really seemed to bring home to us all that we were back in Disneyland! I sent dh and the stroller to FL, while oldest ds and I grabbed FP's for Indy. Dad and 2 youngest rode Dumbo, Toad, Carousel, Pinnochio, and Storybook Land boats. FP's for Indy were valid, so we headed there. We hoped wearing runners would give Adam the 3/4 of an inch he needed to ride Indy, but he was just a hair too short. He was very, very sad. The CM at the ride was really great about it - gave him a "someday I will be tall enough to ride Indy" card and told him the next time he came, to hand the CM the card and it would work as a FP for the whole family. That cheered him up a bit, and then he and Allie and I headed to the nearest store to pick something out. Allie bought a Marie stuffy (aristocats), and Adam picked out a plastic sword.
We then walked on to PoTC, HM and Pooh. Headed to Tomorrowland - boys rode Star tours, while us girls got FP's for Space. Ate lunch at Red Rocket's, boys rode Space. We decided to deviate from the plan and head to Jedi Training, to maximize the chance of the boys being picked sometime during the trip. Then the second very sad event of the day....while the Jedi Master was choosing children, I realized Adam just happened to be wearing his Lego Star Wars t-shirt. Of course, he got picked almost immediately. I had lectured the boys on the importance of looking excited and cheering and jumping up and down, but our oldest, Logan, is just too cool for tha sort of thing, so he'd give a halfhearted cheer once in a while, and tried to stand as far away from us as possible (so he wouldn't be embarrassed by his mother!) Unfortunately, this caused his brother to be picked, and he was passed over. It was heartbreaking to behold, as he tried to hold back tears and professed not to care...."I didn't want to be picked anyway...." My heart ached for my big boy who was too cool to cheer but incredibly hurt that his brother was chosen and he wasn't. It also didn't help that he looks absolutely nothing like his brother - perhaps if the Jedi Master had known they were brothers, it wouldn't have worked out that way...who knows.
Anyhow, Adam was thrilled beyond belief, especially when he got to fight Darth Maul!!

We then went to ride Buzz, then took Logan to the penny arcade to cheer him up while dh and his brother rode Star Tours.
Then we hopped to DCA - headed straight to ToT for boys, Monsters for girls. We met Stitch on the way - a highlight of the day for Allie, as Stitch is her favorite character.

We rode Monsters again, all together this time, then headed back towards Soarin'. Adam got to "meet" McQueen and Mater, while Dh and Logan grapped fp's for Soarin.

Dropped boys at GRR to ride, Allie and I rode stationary cars on Fun Wheel. Boys rode moving cars on Fun Wheel while Allie and I rode Triton's carousel 3x in a row! Good thing my motion sickness meds hadn't worn off yet! Checked out the line for TSMM, but it was 45 mins, and we didn't think the kids had the capability of waiting in line that long after such a full and busy day.
We met back up with the boys and headed to Bug's Land. Rode the Chew Chew train, then Tuck N Roll's Buggies - boys loved smashing into one another! Lines for everything else seemed a little long, and we didn't want to miss the parade, so we headed over to pick out a spot. Benches directly across from the Pier were empty, so we parked there. Kids wanted snacks, so I headed to the Farmer's Market for some Chicken and fries. While walking back, we noticed crowds sitting across the walkway, and I headed up to ask the CM why. Turns out the parade route had changed from 2 years ago (it pays to not be cocky and assume you know what's going on!), so we quickly packed up and headed back towards the Zephyr, which was our favourite parade watching spot last trip. the parade was just as much fun as we remembered - it was one of our favorite things last time, and it was like coming home to watch it again.

We headed towards the gates, and the boys rode Soarin' on the way. I had thought to get dinner at Taste Pilot's, but forgot to check my watch - by the time the boys got off the ride, it was 6:02 and they had stopped taking orders for food. So we went back to the hotel, grabbed McD's and Quizno's and turned in early, after packing the sign for Logan to bring to JTA. We discovered that Adam had a new favourite ride - Soarin! He called it the "fly around the world" ride! And Allie's favorite? HM!!??? She has imaginary friends - the "baby ghosties", and she had been looking forward to "taking them to scary house to be with their ghostie family". My kids never cease to surprise me....

Coming soon: our experience at Ariel's, MM, my mission to get my eldest Padewan chosen at JTA, and why cold, rainy days can be your friend!

 

[momto2nenas]

Subbing for the TR!

We were there 3 of the same days as your family the 17-19th. (Our trip started the 15th). Maybe we passed each other in Fantasyland during MM?!

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

Ok, Day 2. We decided to do MM as early as possible in our trip, and I'm glad we did. It did sort of feel a bit early, but our next possible day was a Saturday or Sunday, which would have been really early (7am!!) and by that time we were already battling exhaustion!
This was the day we learned (the hard way) that the kids were indeed NOT too old to go back to the rooms for mid-day breaks. I was so astonished with what we had accomplished the previous day without a break! We almost ran out of things to do - we had so much time to just relax and explore places I'd never even seen on our last trip, which felt so rushed and hectic. However, we were soon to discover that childhood tiredness/exhaustion and the resulting bad behaviours are cumulative - the longer they go tired for, the worse they behave!

Anyhow, the day dawned grey and rainy - mostly just drizzle, but it had rained enough overnight to leave puddles all over and dampen most spirits in the breakfast room at the Camelot. But not us - we grabbed our hoodies, rain jackets and ponchos and headed to the gates, with Princess Snow White (aka Allie) firmly strapped into the stroller. We were lined up by 7:40. Kids and I headed to Nemo, while Dad ran for Indy and Space FP's. I was surprised by how few people went for Nemo - most headed for TL and the Matterhorn. We almost missed dh - I was preparing to let families go in front of us in line so that we could all ride together when he finally returned from his FP recon mission. We got on the second sub of the day - the only real difficulty was finding a dry place to park the stroller (it was almost raining by this point) and making sure we got in line early enough to be under the monorail track so that we kept relatively dry. The kids loved Nemo - probably even more than last time, so I didn't feel too bad about "wasting" our MM time for it. Besides, we discovered that a lot of the FL rides were closed due to the rain, which meant the few that were open had insanely long lineups - by the time we got there at about 8:20, PP had a 50 minute line! Allie and I had split off from the boys, who wanted to ride the Matterhorn. The line for Dumbo was long, PP was crazy, and all others but Toad were closed. Since Allie hates Toad, we decided to have some Girl Time, and headed to the Enchanted Chamber for some shopping. I had promised my daughter a princess dress, but sorry, going to expose my cheap nature here - seriously, $65 for a child's costume?? I almost choked! Guess I should have done a bit more research. Thank goodness she zero'd in on all the "accessories" - tiaras and wands and such...which worked better for me! I know - I'm a bad mother for not being willing to fork out the cash for my daughter's future happiness as an authentic Disney princess....but let's face it - she's just as happy with her $15 snow white costume from wal-mart!
So we picked out a wand and shirt for purchase later, then met back up with the boys. Allie and I decided to try Pixie Hollow, while the boys did TL. I was hoping that the poor weather would keep people from lining up for hours...we were lucky - at 9, the line was only about 20 mins long. So we snapped pics and played I Spy, and tried to guess who we would get to see. The group in front of us was rather large, so we really didn't get a good view of anything till it was our turn to go next. I was snapping pics of the fountains and fairy houses when Allie started giggling...I looked over, and Silvermist was playing peek-a-boo with her in between the "blades of grass" that outline the "meeting area". From that point on, her little smile was permanently stuck on! She was too shy to say much, but just so thrilled to get to meet a real fairy!

Then it was our turn to meet Tink and Terrance - she noticed the props right away "Mommy - there's the moonstone that Tinkerbell broke, and the pretty peices her and Terrence made for the wand (what she calls the Scepter)."

She had a quick visit with Tink and Terrence, who tried to involve her in conversation, but she was just too star struck to do more than nod and smile....it was just so cute to watch - my daughter is almost never speechless!!
She practically floated back to the stroller - the Disney Magic was sure with us that day!
Unfortunately, things weren't working so well for the boys. We met back up at TL and went to attend the first JTA show - determined this time to get eldest DS picked! Dh stopped at the Star Trader, bought them both shirts and Lightsabres (not for JTA, but because he wasn't going to get them out of the store without one!!)
The loudspeaker came on about 10 minutes before showtime, warning us that the show may be cancelled due to the rain (it wasn't really raining anymore, but I guess the characters couldn't do all their tricks with slippery floors). Logan's mood began a downward spiral - all the dissappointment of the previous day was written all over his face. Then they announced that they were, indeed, cancelling the show, but that the characters would be coming out for autographs and photos. I tried to convince Logan to stay (all I could think of was that you don't usually get a chance to get autographs from the Darth's, or posed photo ops, so I really wanted him to stay.), but I could tell that he was almost in tears, and didn't want anyone to see him cry, so we decided to go over to DCA, as it had just opened, and we had 12:30 ps's for Ariel's anyway. Adam and I rode Soarin' together (my first time - I have really bad motion sickness, so I was scared, but he really wanted me to come, and I was darned if I was going to let a little nausea stand between me and some bonding time with my middle child! Mind over matter, right??)
The other 3 rode the Zephyr, which we've never actually ridden before (last visit was windy, so we only saw it running once that whole trip), then met back up at Screamin'. Oldest boys rode, while we noticed Jesse coming out for a photo op, so we met Jesse, then headed to Ariel's.

We got our buzzer, and requested indoor seating. We were waiting just outside, shopping etc...when the Pixar Army Men stopped their truck on the boardwalk and began their drum show. It was a good distraction for the kids - filled in the time well, and our buzzer went off just as they were packing up.
I wasn't sure what to expect at Ariel's - I had warned Allie that she would meet Human Ariel, so she wasn't upset that there was no mermaid By this time she was an expert at the "chat, get an autograph, turn, pose and smile" routine!

As we were seated, it was explained to us that the princesses would be coming out shortly, and would do a circiut around the room, stopping at our table last. At first, I thought this would be a good thing, because they wouldn't be rushing off to other tables, but it turned out a bit differently. The kids started to work on their crowns right away, and the drink orders were taken and the antipasto tower arrived before we were even settled in our chairs. Normally I would have been pleased at the efficiency, but right then I was a bit irritated - it felt like we were being rushed already! We were seated in a booth, which was akward because we weren't able to separate the kids, as we usually do - one parent in between each child, so they aren't able to elbow one another, steal stuff onto or off of each other's plates, etc...But Allie and I both had to be on the outside of the booth, so she could see princesses and I could photo the event, which left dh with both boys in the middle of the booth. Not ideal. sigh....
Our order was taken about 3 minutes later, and arrived just at the time the princesses began to descend. Yes, I did say descend. The whole "magic" of the experience was completely lost on me - we had a rapid fire meeting with each princess, for about 30 seconds each, in quick succession. Snow White, then Mulan, Aurora and Cinderella. Cinderella and Aurora actually arrived at the same time; one signed an autograph while the other posed for a photo, then they switched. Our entire princess experience was over in less than 5 minutes. It was a bit anticlimatic, and for me, a huge letdown. It was good that Allie was as young as she is - she was just thrilled that she got to see the princesses, and Snow White especially (her favorite). Snow did stay for an extra second and actually talk to Allie - probably because she was dressed up like her and said "hi - you're my favorite".

Snow White - 12:25 timestamp

Mulan - 12:26 timestamp

Aurora - 12:28

Cinderella - 12:28


So, in conclusion, I'm not sure I would even go again, but if we ever did, I would request to be seated NOT at the end of the "curcuit" through the room - each princess seemed to be in such a rush to leave, they coulnd't spend an extra minute with my daughter, which was kind of sad. She didn't realize she missed out on anything, but I did.

Then, behaviour really began to unravel. Each child had at least one meltdown, refused to eat their now cold lunch, and after the "princess invasion", no one seemed to be able to settle down to their meal. We ended up asking for a take away container, and requested that they not even bring the dessert - just asked for it "to go". Then came the challenge of getting out of the restaraunt! Why they ask people to wait on the stairs, I have no idea. It must have been time for the next seating, because the restaraunt was almost empty, but all the patrons were on the stairs! At least 30 people, completely blocking the way out, and some were very miffed at the effrontery of our "please excuse us" while we tried to file past with our 2 take away containers, 3 kids, crowns and various other paraphenelia....
all in all, can you tell the whole experience left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth....perhaps I was just cranky, and circumstances were not ideal. I think I had built up the whole "Ariel's" thing too much in my own mind, and when it was anything less than ideal, I was feeling let down.

Anyhow, needless to say we went home for a nap.

Coming next - our day improves....

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

We had naps at the room, and returned to the park around 4:30. We went straight to JTA to get a spot, and Dh took DD to FL to ride while we waited (she wasn't much into waiting right then). They returned with a Snow White light up scepter and a princess t-shirt - Dad's such a pushover!
So this time, Logan knew the drill - held up his sign, cheered and jumped up and down....he was one of the first kids picked! It might have helped that the 4 of us were also jumping and cheering and pointing at him - even his little sis!

He got chosen to be one of the last to fight Vader, which I thought might be an issue, since his little brother had fought Maul, but he didn't seem to care too much, to my everlasting relief!

After JTA, we wandered towards NOS, and noticed the Columbia was running. Grabbed a popcorn snack, and hopped on. The kids loved it - we'd never ridden on the ROA last time, and riding in a "pirate ship" was perfect for them. Allie spent her time belowdecks - she thought it was great that most of the beds were "just mine size!!". It was very crowded on deck, and I was kind of regretting not waiting to ride another time, but it turned out that this was the last day the Columbia was running. The Mark Twain was up and about the next day, and after that we never saw the Columbia running again. One more reason to "do it while you can!!"

After the Columbia, we headed to Allie's new favorite ride, the Haunted Mansion. Cute story - our daughter is our only child who has ever had imaginary friends. She has some who she calls "baby ghosties", and they have tea parties, come on trips with us and go with her to school. They followed us to DL, and came with us to ride HM. They decided they liked it so much there with thier family (apparently that's where their family lives - at HM in DL), that they decided to stay. Now they come visit us in Calgary, but they live at the HM. Which is why, while we were there, we had to ride HM at least once every day - so Allie could see the "baby ghosties" and check to make sure they were doing ok.

Ate dinner at French Market - Dad loved bread bowl! A side note on eating - we almost never got 3 kids meals - Adam and Allie would share one, Logan would get one to himself, and we would usually share an adult meal and a salad. The food would kind of go in the middle of the table, and everyone would help themselves to what they liked. We drank mostly water, sometimes the kids got juice boxes with their kids meals.
Then the big boys went to Indy, while we went to the Tiki Room to await their arrival. Stupid me - we waited in the line for Dole Whips, thinking that was the line for the Tiki Rm! I should have known there wouldn't be a line for the Tiki Rm! Anyway, after about 10 minutes, I figured it out and we went inside the waiting area. I grabbed a Dole Whip, but the kids were so full of popcorn, no one wanted to help me eat it! Adam had a bit of a meltdown when they had no little paper umbrellas left - that was the highlight of a Dole Whip for him, and he was heartbroken.
Met back up with the boys, saw the show, which became a fast favorite with ALL the kiddos - they all asked if we could please see the Tiki Rm show every day!

It was getting late by now, so boys went for one last ride on Space, then we stopped at the Penny Arcade for a few pressed coins, then headed back to the room for a much needed sleep, and to eat our goodies from Ariel's lunch!

My first nighttime shot - not great, but I loved the contrast of the pink lighting and the dark clouds in the background....

Goodies from Ariel's - YUM!

 

[chickyann]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

Sorry about the drought of posts - had to edit and develop all my 600+ pics (that's not how many I TOOK, that's how many I PRINTED!!!) We had 3 cameras, so not sure how many we actually took - somewhere in the realm of 3000 or so - thank goodness for digital technology!!

So, we rejoin the intrepid Wilson family on their 3rd day at Disneyland - main objective for today was to ride TSMM at DCA, but we started out at DL since it opened an hour earlier. Rope drop again on Main St., big boys headed to Indy to grab FP's and ride, I headed to Space to get FP's. FP machine broken, had to bother poor CM to get me my FP (2 tix worked, one didn't, and no way was I showing up to hand over only 2 out of the 3 FP's I was sent by my boys to get!!!) Buzz was down, so we went to ride Alice - Allie's new "ride of the day" (each day she changed which ride was her favorite!). Boys met up with us and went to ride Space, us girls decided to hop over to DCA and get a spot in line. Didn't anticipate rope drop at DCA (forgot they do that now...), and since I told DH we'd meet him in line outside the gates, we decided to wait under the bridge. We messed around doing Photopass pics, but my heart wasn't really in it, since I like to do the Photopass pics with the whole family. Allie loved the result of the digitized Stitch picture, though! She says she can remember Stitch sitting beside her and stealing her ice cream cone....
Then, disaster struck. I noticed my daughter was walking funny and reluctant to sit down. I asked her what was wrong, and she replied "had a accident, mommy....sorry...." Well, I was NOT PREPARED!!! In hindsight, it could have been worse, but at the time, it was a disaster. She'd had a call of nature, which she did not heed, and now we had soiled underwear to contend with. Thankfully the clothes were still intact, so once I determined the undies to be unsalvagable, they were sealed in a bag and tossed into the trash, and we proceeded to clean up and "go commando", which Allie thought was the best thing ever! Unfortunately, her lack of underwear now permitted her skort to shimmy down her little hips to her ankles, which we avoided by having her hold her hands on her hips all day! It really is funny now, however, at the time I didn't think so.
Then it occurred to me that, while we were cleaning up in the bathroom, the boys could have come into the park and gone almost anywhere! We looked for them at the gates, then headed to the Pier area to see if they headed there to wait. By this time the anal retentive planner in me was having an apoplectic fit - the whole point of us being there early was to guarantee a short wait in line for TSMM, but I couldn't find half of our group, and didn't know where to look....I finally buckled and pulled out my phone, to place an insanely expensive call to dh's cell (we didn't upgrade my cell phone plan for international travel, since it was costly - we did dh's instead, since he could expense it back to the Company for work), when we saw them heading down the street towards us. We had missed rope drop, but at least we were back together. We headed down to TSMM while I told dh about our messy morning. So we missed getting in line early, but it still worked out ok. Only a 20 minute wait. The ride was fabulous - even Allie loved to play!

I have to admit, my best score was this first ride - i got progressively worse every time we rode! We went to ride the Zephyr - rode it twice, then went to GRR. Boys rode, and us girls waited. Heading home for naps, we ran into Koda and Kenai.

After this point, I began carrying spare underwear for Allie in my park bag!
We headed back around 4, rode Monsters and ToT, then big boys rode Screamin' while we rode the carousel. Kids wanted to ride TSMM, even though the wait time was 40 mins, so we got in line. Thank goodness for Disney movies on my iphone - it kept at least 2 of them from fighting with each other, and dh and I could handle amusing the other one. After the ride, we got churros (the kids' new favorite snack) and went to ride the Fun Wheel.

This had been a tradition on our last trip - riding the Fun Wheel as the park closed, but somehow this time we only did it this once - a bit bittersweet for me, as it has been a memory of our last trip that was close to my heart. We'd sit there in the relative quiet and talk about what we liked about that day, and what we wanted to do the next day, and spend time reconnecting....
We headed back to DL, the youngest 2 and I went to Pooh while the eldest went to ride Indy. We had to ride HM on the way back (Allie couldn't walk by it without riding it), then we met the boys at Tiki Rm as planned.

We discovered that Logan hates pineapple and pineapple juice, but literally inhales Dole Whips!! He even loved it after we told him it was pineapple ice cream! We watched the show, then headed home with tired kiddos.

To follow - Thursday - Legoland will never be the same!!! Our review of the Greyline tour to Legoland....

 

[deejdigsdis]

Just discovered your TR...what a cute family you have. Hope you come back and share some more!