The Yr of the Annual Pass-COMPLETED-Oct '10-Oct '11 **BONUS TRIP 1/5/12

[jforever52]

Lucky you with WOC. We are planning on seeing it for the first time this trip.

I love, love, LOVE WOC...I hope you and your family enjoy it too!

 

[jforever52]

Today started with a visit to California Adventure. DH and I had discussed the fact that we seem to seriously overlook this park whenever we go to Disneyland and we had made a vow to try to do more activities while we were visiting this time. I would say that we accomplished this goal. I think the main reason we spent so much more time in DCA this trip was because of its close proximity to the Grand Californian. It was so easy to pop back and forth between the park and the hotel!

We started out at Paradise Pier on the swings:

Can you see DH and DS on the bottom right hand corner?

After the swings it was time to take a ride on the jelly fish:

After the jelly fish we headed toward California Screamin'. On the way there we ran into this guy:

The wait for Toy Story Mania was only about 30 minutes so we took the opportunity to play. DH won (as usual) even while holding DD the whole time!!! After Toy Story DH and I took turns riding California Screamin' with DS. Then it was time to ride the carasoal. Can you see how thrilled everyone was with it?

I just love the otter!

After the Carasoul we headed over to Alladin for the first showing. We sat in the lower level next to the nicest guys who struck up a conversation with DH. I was busy trying to get DD to go to sleep....she never did; however she did really enjoy the show. I just love this show and I am so glad they decided not to get rid of it!

After the show we decided to try to ride Grizzly River Run again. This time we were successful! DH and DS rode first:

DS got SOAKED!!!!!

So soaked that he wanted to go back to the hotel...for the record I think it was the fact that his shoes were sopping wet and not really because his clothes were dripping. Regardless, I did not ride...instead we went back to the room to eat lunch and hit up the pool.

Lunch was uneventful..sandwhiches in the room. After that (and waiting the requisite 1/2 hour) we decided to go swimming. The Grand Californian has the BEST slide! DS is finally a strong enough swimmer that I feel confident in watching him a bit less so we were able to let DD go down the baby slide (DH would help her at the top and I would catch her at the bottom) while DS road the slide at least 30 times.

While we were there a family let their son, who COULD NOT swim, go down the big slide alone. The current was strong enough to push him to the side of the pool. Even though he had a life jacket on I did not approve. The poor little guy completely freaked out and swallowed a ton of water before being rescued by his dad!!!!

Up next: Our trip to see the LA Angels play...where did all these Mucho Luchos come from?

 

[stubby]

He sure did get wet. When I rode with the girls last time we didn't get near that...thank goodness. Course it will be July this time so might not mind it.

 

[jforever52]

He sure did get wet. When I rode with the girls last time we didn't get near that...thank goodness. Course it will be July this time so might not mind it.

We rode it a couple of other times during this trip and noone got soaked as badly as DS did that time around. I guess he just "lucked" out on that first ride!!!

 

[jforever52]

So my timeline was a little off when I wrote my last Teaser. We went to the Angels game on Tues, not Mon...more on that later.

DH and I have a running joke that our DVC membership probably costs as much as one of the light fixtures at the Grand Californian, which means the only thing we own there is that one fixture. On the way out to head to Disneyland we found "our" light fixture:

We plan on documenting the life our our little light fixture at the Grand California, Why not, we own it don't we?

So we headed to Disneyland for the evening. The place was a little bit busy!!!!! First up was Tarzan's Treehouse. I stayed with DD while the boys made the climb:

Then we checked in the progress they were making on tearing down the stage from the Pirates Premier:

After checking out the progress, we rode Pirates of the Caribean again...it was so close we had to!!!! Then we decided to head over to Tomorrow Land to check out the wait time on Captain EO and Space Mountain. On the way we stopped at Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. DD LOVED Buzz Lightyear!!!

After spending some time in the land of Tomorrow we headed over to Its a Small World for DD who loves it. By that time it was getting to be evening time so we thought we would head back to the hotel to watch World of Color and rest up for the next day.

One more picture of WOC from our room:

 

[jforever52]

Just a quick note to celebrate...I just booked DH and my flight to Disneyland (well, technically to LAX) for our adults only October Trip!!!! Doing the happy dance while I type!

I've calendared 60 days out from the date we want to eat at Napa Rose at the Chef's counter...only a couple more weeks and I can make the reservation.

I am also super excited to check out Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel. Our family loves the Tiki Room and a bar dedicated to its awesomeness can't dissapoint.

Anybody have any other suggestions for our adult only trip to Disney?

 

[stubby]

Your daughter looks sooo happy. Can't wait to get there with my girls again. So glad that we will be there for an extra 2 and a half days this time.

 

[jforever52]

So the next morning we decided to get up early to make the most of an extra magic morning they were offering at Disneyland. Much to our surprise, when we arrived at the gate we found the lines to the park all the way back to the Disneyland (Let the Memories Begin) sign located between Disneyland and DCA!!!
We decided to park it for a while to let the crowds calm down a bit...after about 15 minutes we got in line. As we got closer to the front of the line it became apparant that the majority of the people in the line were being turned away because they did not have room keys (i.e. they were not staying on resort property). We totally could have made it through the line at 9:00. By the time we got in the park it was 9:30ish and the majority of the early morning hour was gone.

We decided to start off by watching some of the old Mickey shorts in the theatre on main street.

Hidden Mickey:

After getting to watch Steam Boat Willey (which is what DS wanted to see above all else) we came out of the theatre to this site:

The picture doesn't do the crowd justice. I have NEVER seen main street this packed before (other than when everyone is exiting after fireworks). It was crazy.

Anyway, we booked it over to space mountain pronto. Surprisingly, the wait was only 15 minutes:

After riding twice (once with DS and I and once with DS and DH) I headed over to Starship Trader while DS and DH went to see Captain EO. I can't remember why I didn't go in...I want to say we forgot sunblock and I wanted to get some before my pasty skinned children burnt.

After meeting back up we headed over to the Hungry Bear for an early lunch. I had been dying to try the fried green tomato sandwhich. DH and the kids went to grab a seat while I ordered. I don't know where my brain was but I ended up ordering a chicken sandwhich and a chilicheeseburger. I was supposed to order a tomato sandwhich and a chicken sandwhich. Anyway, DH graciously ate the chili cheeseburger (I totally would not eat one of those) and gave me the chicken sandwhich. Even though I didn't get to try the fried green tomato, I have to say the chicken sandwhich was really good. As an added plus, it came with sweet potato fries, which I am a BIG fan of. We ate and watched the baby ducks on the lake. It was very relaxing.

After lunch we hit up Pirates again as well as Haunted Mansion. It started warming up so around 2:30ish we headed back to the resort to play in the pool!

Up next: We take on the Angels!

 

[skiingfast]

Glad to see that it may off took a while but you continued. Interested to see how the games went.

 

[jforever52]

Glad to see that it may off took a while but you continued. Interested to see how the games went.

I know huh? Life got in the way of my Disney obsession!!!!!

I hope to have another update done by this weekend covering the first of our two baseball games. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

 

[cinderella-princess]

I love your ongoing TR's so far!! Your kids are adorable and I'm so jealous over your GCH room. DH and I stayed there on our honeymoon and it was amazing!!

I loved the picture of the guys in the Rivers of America taking down the stage. You don't realize how shallow that water is until you see it doesn't even come up to their knees!

 

[skiingfast]

I hope to have another update done by this weekend covering the first of our two baseball games. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

You saw two games? A double header?

 

[jforever52]

I love your ongoing TR's so far!! Your kids are adorable and I'm so jealous over your GCH room. DH and I stayed there on our honeymoon and it was amazing!!

I loved the picture of the guys in the Rivers of America taking down the stage. You don't realize how shallow that water is until you see it doesn't even come up to their knees!

I loved the fact that the guys were wearing wet suits! It was 80 degrees outside!

 

[jforever52]

You saw two games? A double header?

We went to see the Angels on Tuesday and the Dodgers on Friday. It was a baseball filled week!

 

[jforever52]

After some time spent in the pool we got ready to head to the Angel's Game. A couple of years ago DH and I decided we want to try and see a major league game at all the stadiums. Since we were spending a week in LA we thought that we might as well get some of our teams off the list! On the calendar was an Angels Game on Tuesday and a Dodger Game on Friday. Originally we had hoped to squeezed in a game in San Diego as well, but the only home game for San Diego was the Sunday we flew in...there was no way our family would have survived another 2 hours in a car after checking into the hotel!.

Here is a homage to the places we've been so far:

...and a homage to our favorite team (we've been there lots as we only live 3hrs away).....

The Aneheim/LA/California Angel's stadium is literally 4 miles from Disneyland so we grabbed our tickets and headed out at around 6:15. You can take the Anaheim Bus System to the game; we opted to drive because we did not want to deal with a large crowd at the end of the night with two kids who were realistically going to be sleeping.

Here is our arrival at the field:

I just loved the giant baseball hat!

We arrived a little early so that we could exchange our computer printed tickets for real ones. This took an act of CONGRESS!!!! It required us to go to a special booth and wait in line for about 1/2 hour. DH was determined to real tickets to the game so I went along with it (begrudgingly though).

After the ticket's were squared away we (finally) got to enter the park. To our surprise it was Angel's Wrestling Mask night (or mucho luchadores...think Jack Black in Nacho Libra). We each got our freebie and headed to our seats out in the left field pavilion.

Here is the view:

Here are the masks!

The game had already started by the time we took our seats. DH left to go buy his Angel's hat and to get some hot dogs. By the time he returned both kiddos had fallen asleep on me!!!!! DH and I watched a good portion of the game with the kids sound asleep...while I am sad they missed out on the game, it was fun hanging out with DH and having uninterrupted adult time!

By the 5th inning DS was awake, and a good thing too because we were about to break a world record!!! A Guiness Book of World Records representative was there to observe the stadium because it was about to break the record for the most people wearing costume masks at one time! We were instructed to put on the masks in the fifth inning and keep them on for 10 minutes....on they went....and we waited...and waited. Let me tell you those masks were itchy and had no ventilation. But a world record was on the line and so we kept them on!!!!!!

In the end over 25,000 people had on their masks and we broke the record.

Here is a link to an article on the historic event!

The games was a blow-out, but was really good offensively (saw two homeruns, which translates to fireworks at the stadium). Go Angels!!!! Overall the stadium was beautiful. The crowds were friendly and there was a lot of families there watching the game. I loved the atmosphere and think it would be a great side trip to add to anyone's Disneyland vacation. As an added bonus, when we left at the end of the game with the masses, even with the majority of the crowd leaving with us, it only took us about 15 minutes to get back to the hotel.

We got home (sorry thats a slip isn't it)...We got back to the hotel in time to watch another showing of World of Color!!!!

As a side note, my dad is a huge baseball fan, and this was the first stadium he ever went to (he grew up in LA). We had fun calling him with game updates and sending him pictures of the stadium. Surprisingly the stadium still has a lot of the features it did in the 60's and 70's...even that giant hat was there originally.

 

[skiingfast]

Since you've only been to old stadium, which have you liked best?

Bummer you didn't get down to Petco for the Padres, but understandable.

 

[jforever52]

Since you've only been to old stadium, which have you liked best?

Bummer you didn't get down to Petco for the Padres, but understandable.

The Giant's stadium is by far my favorite. I love the wiflle ball field and the fact that you can get clam-chowder with Boudin bread. But...I also have an obvious bias. So if you take the Giant's stadium out of the equation, my favorite stadium so far has been Boston. They closed the streets outside of the stadium down on the day of the game. There were street performers and vendors. We sat in the outfield and were surrounded by the best fans!!! The view was amazing but the atmosphere by far made it the best park to visit.

My least favorite has been Dodger stadium. We sat in the all-you-can-eat section in right field. I did not feel safe, even with the loads of security present. The crowd was ultra rowdy and it almost felt like someone was waiting for a fight to break out. You had to walk down a dark scary hallway to use the bathroom and the parking lot was huge and equally dark and scary. My husband even he felt like we weren't in the safest of locations and suggested we leave when the 7th inning stretch hit. I've been told that day games are better at Dodger stadium...I hope so, but lets just say we probably won't be going back there again.

I take it your a baseball fan? What is your favorite stadium?

 

[jforever52]

We decided to start our Wednesday morning getting in a mountain ride or two before the park got too busy. I had a spa appointment at 10:30 so we knew it was going to be a quick trip to the parks and back. After eating some cereal we booked it over to Disneyland to get there as close to opening as we could.

We rode space mountain and then booked it over to Big Thunder to get a ride in too. Then it was time for me to head back for my appointment. DH and the kids opted to go back to the hotel with me so we all walked back. However, we did go through DCA to pick up fastpasses for Soarin' on our way.

I had a massage/facial package at Mandara Spa at 10:30 for my mother's day present.

The Spa was wonderful! Once you walk in the door there you find yourself in a peaceful place, free of the hustle and bustle of the parks. You can't help but relax. My appointment started off my changing into a robe and slippers. The women's changing area had EVERYTHING you would possibly need, including this Bliss hand lotion that I am completely in love with (if it wasn't $65 per bottle I'd own it right now). My massage was first. I was offered a couple of add on's (which I declined). Then I had a 30 minute back massage and a 30 minute foot massage. At the portion of the massage table where your head goes they place a large bowl with lavendar oil in it to help relax you. My massage therapist was perfect (I don't prefer really hard massages)!

Once the massage was over I had a 30 minute facial, which was equally as nice.

Feeling relaxed and ready to go I went to pay the bill. The package was $129.00 but they added on a 20% "service charge." My head was not in the right place so I added a tip as well!!! When I got back to the room I realized that the "service charge" was the tip! My therapist and facialist ended up with a 40% tip because I was in a spa haze

I was there almost 2 hours! It was lunch time when I got back to the room. DH and the kids had decided to start cookin' at the BBQ pits so I ran up to the room to get some drinks and met them out at the BBQ area:

Here I am mid hair flip!

Notice DH's new hat!

The BBQ's at the Grand Californian were immaculate. It looked as if they were never used. We BBQ'd one additional time while we were there. It was also rather quiet in the area where they are positioned. Our room overlooked this part of the hotel and we never saw anyone else using them.

After lunch it was back to DCA to use our fast passes and visit Disney Jr. More on this in my next update!

 

[reyasmommy]

Of course as soon as I get 1/4 of the way through your TR my son wakes up from his nap. So I have to come back and read later. I just wanted to comment quickly on how adorable your family is. Your son is so handsome and your daughter is such a cutie pie. Love the pictures thus far. TRs loaded with pictures are my FAVORITE!

 

[skiingfast]

I take it your a baseball fan? What is your favorite stadium?

I really can't make a good choice. I've been to Candlestick, the Coliseum much more, and Jack Murphy a bunch. Love games, but as you can see, haven't been to one recently.

The BBQ's at the Grand Californian were immaculate. It looked as if they were never used. We BBQ'd one additional time while we were there. It was also rather quiet in the area where they are positioned. Our room overlooked this part of the hotel and we never saw anyone else using them.

I'm sure that's why they are clean. Very few people use them. What a good idea though. I'm sure an easy meal with little clean up and plenty of seating room was a lot of fun. A good relaxing family thing to follow your massage.