To a place perhaps you have seen in your dreams *UPDATED 05/19*

[Velvetia]

Tuesday 17th October - Day Three Part Three Under the Sea

so, onto Ariel's Grotto for our lunch reservation.

We checked in and got a pager. Then there was an announcement that Goofy's Instant Concert - Just Add Water! was about to start, so DG and DSs sat outside Ariel's Grotto on the pier to watch the show while they waited for our pager to beep, whilst I went to get a FastPass for Goofy's Flying School. On my way back, Goofy was just finishing his conducting duties.

DG and DSs had enjoyed the show, and could now picture, a bit, what the World of Color was going to be like, which we were planning to see on Friday night - once again it was great timing to happen upon something. We just loved how this kept happening on our holiday!

So, our pager went off just as I returned with the FPS and we were ready to enter the Under the Sea Kingdom of King Triton.

We were led down the stairs to meet Princess Ariel, there was only two parties in front of us and maybe three behind. Ariel was just as elegant and gorgeous in real life as we had been hoping.

I had read in reviews that people had been upset by how little interaction there had been from the princesses at this restaurant. When wed been queuing to meet Captain Jack Sparrow at the Halloween Party we had been discussing a question that the DSs might want to ask him keeping in context for the character of course and it had been a real conversation opener, so that was something we decided to try with all the characters that we met and it proved to be really good! That's a tip that I'd give to anyone wanting more interaction with the characters.

I think the question that DS7 asked Ariel was 'How is Flounder', I don't quite remember how the conversation went from that question but I do remember Ariel was just wonderful with the DSs. She spent a good deal of time chatting to them. She asked the DSs where they were visiting from, when they answered Scotland, she asked if we lived in a castle! ... The DSs were very honest and said no!

She then asked if she could come and visit and swim in the waters near Scotlad. DS7 told her it was very cold in the sea, but she could come and stay with us!

After a good chat it was time to pose for the photopass photo and for some photos that DG and I were taking. It is true that the photographer and character handler will ask if you want a photo with Ariel featuring Ariel and the children OR the whole family group that was fine for us, I can understand that they do have to keep the line of visitors moving, so cant do lots of photo set ups. We opted for the children to have a photo with Ariel:

I think it was clear as we made our way to our table that the DSs were a bit in awe of Ariel, she was just gorgeous! I wonder when they will start saying it's time to write to Ariel to invite her to come and stay...

So, upon entering the restaurant we all grinned in amazement - the décor in Ariel's Grotto is breathtaking, again I had read in reviews that it was a bit tatty I didnt find that at all. We really felt like we were in a Grotto under the sea. I loved all the light fittings:

We were seated in a booth table on the left hand side of the restaurant under a beautiful under the sea mosaic.

Now, I had also read that people can feel a bit rushed through their meal here we didnt find that at all. We were given our menus as we sat down and then a waiter came back in around 5 minutes to take our drinks order. He asked if we were ready to order, but we weren't just yet, and so he came back a little later, with no problem. The one thing that was a bit odd was that our appetizer tower arrived before our drinks, but only by a couple of minutes. The appetizers were lovely, really good quality and plenty for all of us to eat, the prawn and crab (I think) salad was particularly nice, and the DSs loved the antipasti Serrano ham and salamis.

We had a little while to enjoy our appetizers, when the royal messenger arrived and announced that there were some princesses visiting today. I think he sang a song as he walked all around the restaurant. He looked fabulous in a purple velvet doublet and hose& wish Id got a photo of him! He gave a suitably protocoligorically correct speech (that's for any Slipper and the Rose fans out there!), welcoming us all to Ariel's Grotto and asking anyone celebrating their birthday to stand while he issued a toast to them! So cute! Then he announced the first visitor... Cinderella!

We were around the 6th table to be visited and Cinderella was lovely, as were all the princesses. They don't hang around for ages, but they do spend a good deal of time chatting, signing autographs and posing for pictures. We felt like they interacted beautifully and spent long enough at our table that we felt like we had met them properly.

I can't remember what the DSs chatted to Cinderella about. To be honest, she is their least favourite princess, and their least favourite Disney film (oops) and just as Cinderella was leaving our table another trumpet call was issued and Aurora arrived, we had a little time to enjoy our appetizers and DS7 said he had a good question to ask Aurora when she arrived, he wouldn't tell us what it was but he had a cheeky twinkle in his eye...

So when Aurora arrived, he piped up 'Excuse me Aurora, are you feeling sleepy?' Aurora couldnt help herself giggling and then said: 'Well actually, I've just woken up from a long sleep so I'm not sleepy just now'. It was such a sweet moment DS7 was really getting into the spirit of asking a contextual question!

Next to visit was Snow White who was just gorgeous, very gentle, and smiley, just as Snow White is in the movie! The question: 'Do you still like red apples ?' 'Well', replied Snow White, 'I find they tend to make me very sleepy to I prefer to eat green ones these days!' Snow White is one of DG's favourite characters, so we asked a man at the next table to take a group shot which he did willingly:

And then finally the DSs' favourite princess Belle - although she might now be a joint favourite with Ariel now...

Beauty and the Beast is a movie that both boys love and meeting Belle was wonderful, she was so fabulously in character and by far our longest visit. The question: what is your favourite book? Well, Belle said what a good question, because I love reading. She gave it some thought and then replied Jack and the Beanstalk and proceeded to tell us the story! She was just fantastic. She asked DS7 what his favourite book was (My Dinosaur Encyclopedia) and what it was about, and then was regaled by DS7 with quite a lengthy description of the different types of dinosaurs there are! She still didnt rush to get onto the next table, we just didnt feel that at all here. The visit from her was so lovely and genuine, we almost forgot to get a picture!

I did ask the DSs later who theyd enjoyed meeting the most, for DS7 it was Belle and for DS5 it was Ariel.

So, our take on the comments that I see in Tripadvisor that the princesses barely stop to speak to you, and rush from table to table. Now, I dont know if we were lucky to be sitting in a good spot&it is a big restaurant, and we could still see Snow White and Belle making the rounds of the outside tables when we were on our desserts, so they maybe get a bit tired and quicker the later they are out visiting . Or it could be the novelty of having two little boys to chat to rather than little girls maybe meant we got a bit more attention, I dont know if we did as I wasnt really watching other tables visits, or maybe our boys are just quite chatty and corner those pretty princesses into converstions . We know that we all loved the experience and would highly recommend it.

When Belle had left, we did all have a little breath and think, now we can eat! Our main courses had arrived I think just after Belle's visit. I had the pasta:

DG had the sustainable fish:

And the DSs both had spaghetti and meatball lollipops:

We also got given some Ariel's Grotto badges by the waiter the DSs were running out of t-shirt space for all their badges!

We spent our time having our lunch, it was really delicious I was very impressed with the food here. It was DS5s favourite meal of the trip I think it was my 3rd favourite, but thats only because there are two amazing meals still to come in this trip report, that youll just have to wait for . Thats not taking anything away from the quality here though, the food at Ariel's was really really good.

The dessert tray that came was good, but way too much after such a big meal.

DS7 had the chocolate Ariel, DS5 the chocolate conch shell and DG and I each had the berries and we asked for the rest to be boxed up for a doggie bag, which the waiter did obligingly. We also had really cute cups, you can see them in the photo above, filled with fruit punch that come with a clip on character light. DG had an Ariel one and DSs had a Lightening McQueen one. These were extra to the set meal price but worth it for the little light up toys, which the DSs now have as their night light at night time...

So, after lunch we came out into the Paradise Pier area, and were intent to go on Goofy's Sky School but the DSs said they didn't fancy going on it, and wanted to go to for another ride on Ariel's Under the Sea adventure instead. I guess we we were still feeling Mermaidy . This time it was a walk on. As we exited, we came out to Phineas & Ferb's Dance Party right outside. We stood and watched for a while, but the DSs didnt want to join in, I was happily doing a bit of dancing on the spot ... Squirrels in my Pants! until the embarrassed cries of 'muuumm' grew too much and we moved off, in the direction of Carsland.

We had to go into the Cars Land museum again - by popular demand! - and then we headed to Hollywood Boulevard...

Up next: Monsters and Genies and Cars (oh my!)

 

[julydeya]

 

[justliketink]

Your trip report is fantastic! I have really enjoyed reading it and now have a goal of one day visiting during Halloween. Thanks for posting

 

[Velvetia]

Your trip report is fantastic! I have really enjoyed reading it and now have a goal of one day visiting during Halloween. Thanks for posting

Hey , I'm glad you're enjoying it! Halloween at Disneyland was wonderful - I heartily recommend it!

 

[Velvetia]

Tuesday 17th October - Day Three, Part Four - Monsters and Genies and Cars (oh my!)

As we neared Carthay Circle, the Red Trolley Boys and Mickey were doing their show so we stopped to watch and waved them off as the trolley went up the street. Such a cute show. We followed behind, looking for the Monsters Inc ride. We found it a bit tricky to spot and almost walked right by it - it is left off Hollywood Boulevard, the other side of the Mad T Party stage. This area of the park felt quite deserted during the day. I know it is more of a night-time place when the Mad T party is on, but in the middle of a weekday, it was very quiet - there was hardly anyone about.

This did mean that we got to walk onto the Monsters Inc. ride. Journeying to Monstropolis was just fabulous, the room with all the doors is Disney Imagineering at its best. When we stopped by Roz at the end, she croaked at the DSs in their hats "It's no use trying to disguise yourselves, I know you are human children!!' So funny!

As we came out we were struck again by how quiet it was in this area, we joined a queue of maybe 10 people to wait for the next showing of the Frankenweenie preview, which was showing at the Muppet Vision theatre.

Just opposite, slightly behind here is Stage 17 where you can come to 'Dance with the Disney Stars', the CM told us this was only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we kept that in mind that it would be a good place to come back to at the weekend.

Although there was hardly anyone in the theatre, we thought the Frankenweenie 4D preview was spookily great, we hadnt seen the film yet, so this really when our appetite to go and see it. We decided to go and see the Frankenweenie exhibition next.

As we came up to Hollywood Boulevard, the Pixar Play Parade was happening, so we stopped to wave at Buzz and be squirted with water by Woody and Jessie. We loved how Slinky was half on a float, with his spring trailing and his back legs walking behind!! We really enjoyed all the parades that we saw at the Disneyland Resort, even though they hadnt been high on our agenda of things to do - they sure will be for the next time we visit!

Then we explored the animation building we loved all the Frankenweenie sets. I am a huge fan of Tim Burton, it was amazing to see the models and sets up close.

We all loved the Toy Story Zoetrope and probably would have spent a lot longer there than the three or four rounds of it we watched, had I not looked at my watch and realized we needed to go and get in line for Aladdin, and we had to do it pretty quick!

As we were in line for maybe only 5 minutes, behind a huge queue, I thought we would have pretty poor seats, but we managed to just wander in to four front stalls seats to the middle/ left of the stage. I'm still not quite sure how we managed to get such good seats, arriving so late - a little bit of unexpected Disney magic....

The show was just wonderful. The Genie was fantastic, even though I have to admit a lot of his jokes went over our British heads as they were very US-based, it didnt matter though. Jafar and his bird were just brilliant, and Jafar's transformation into a cobra was spectacular. I knew beforehand that the magic carpet didn't fly up and out over the audience any more, but the Whole New World number was still magical! And Prince Ali's entrance on an elephant is incredible. Loved it! A definite 'do not miss!' show.

As we came out the sun was lowering in the sky so we though we'd better head to Cars Land to catch the neon lighting. As we passed by Carthay Circle this time, the Five and Dime group were doing a show, DG and I liked them, but the DSs were impatient to get to Cars Land so we didn't really have a chance to see them...

When we arrived back in Cars Land, it was a good bit quieter than earlier. There was a crowd up by Flo's which we made our way to. It was DJ's dance party!

DJ was playing fantastic music, lots of Motown which DG and I really enjoyed. The DSs didn't want to dance, - but they did want a photo next to DJ so did some 'standing completely still dancing' whilst the Flo's waitresses and car mechanics danced around them!

There was a very minimal queue for Mater, compared to earlier in the day so we lined up to meet him, which took only 5 minutes or less. It was great to meet the real Mater, and to hear him talking and then watch him drive off up the street!

Then we went back into Sarge's Surplus Hut, the boys loved hanging out in this shop windowshopping. Then we heard 'Life Could Be a Dream' being played. That could mean only one thing, so we dashed outside to see the Neon lights being switched on - SO COOL!!!!! Cars Land really does look amazing with its Neon lit!

Then we joined the queue to meet Lightening, I think it was around 10 minutes to wait, again much less that it had been earlier in the day. He was really cool, with his headlights (yes! - headlights, not stickers!) beaming in the dark, and he spoke to the DSs whilst having a photo. DS5 was a little awe-struck! :

Our thoughts turned to dinner, and maybe going to Flo's but we were all still pretty full from our lunch, so we decided to stop at the Cozy Cone to see what snacks we might fancy. What we fancied was churros! I did warn the kids that only on holiday can you have just churros for dinner!! We sat at the Cozy Cone with a good view of Lightening and enjoyed our first ever churrros, we bought two cones to share and they were delicious little bite sized churros sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and with a cup of hot chocolate dipping sauce. Mmm! we'd all found a new favourite snack!

After this we wandered through Radiator Springs and soaked up the neon-lit atmosphere of Cars Land and got some photopass photographer photos by Flo's. I think we had a look at how long the RSR standby queue was but it was something horrific like 2 hours which we just werent in the mood for.

So, we made our way out of Cars Land and guess what - "Can we go to the Cars Museum?" was the cry from DS5, so we obliged and visited the Blue Sky Cellar watched the Cars short again.

Then we headed back toward Buena Vista Street and got a picture by a Photopass photographer at the Partners' Statue at Carthay Circle.

DS7 spotted Pluto just opposite, outside the Candy Store, just wandering around, so we asked him if we could have a photo and an autograph, he was lovely:

So, tired and happy after our day at DCA, we turned our feet towards the Park Vue Inn, looking forward to our comfy beds.

Coming up next time : Having a Magical Time in Fantasyland - and did we get to ride the Lilly Belle?...stay tuned...

 

[julydeya]

 

[Velvetia]

Wednesday 18th October – Day Four, Part One - Having a Magical Time in Fantasyland

We had an early rise as we wanted to make rope drop at Disneyland today – our first day-time visit to this park – and we were hoping to get to do lots of rides today…

We had another great breakfast at Park Vue Inn and then wandered over the road (we never got tired of loving the nearness of the hotel!). We queued up at the turnstiles and waited around 20 minutes before being let in through the turnstiles. As we’d arrived just around nightfall on our previous visit, at the Halloween party, this was our first chance to check out Main Street and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in the daylight – it did not disappoint. I love the castle! I've been trying to steer clear of comparisons between DL and WDW...but The Original Disneyland, Walt's own Main St and Sleeping Beauty's Castle just knocks me out!

Now DS7 loves – as I’ve already hinted – dinosaurs…he also loves trains, so the Disneyland train was the best of both exciting worlds to him. We’d decided that for our first mission of the day, we were going to try to request a ride on the Lilly Belle so we headed straight to the train station and waited there for around 10 minutes. When the park opened, so did the station and we asked the attendant if we could sign up to ride the Lilly Belle. Bad news… we were told it was forecast to be too hot today to utilize the Lilly Belle…ah well, c’est la vie! We could always try another day…

So, we decided DG and DSs would head for Fantasyland whilst I would go to get FPs for Star Tours, and we split up at the hub. My quest nearly defeated me… why oh why are the Star Tours FP machines right over the ‘street’ from the ride, where you'd (okay I'd) think the Buzz FP machines would be? I wandered around without any success of finding these darn Star Tours FP machines, looking all around the actual ride building until I ended up at Captain EO…after checking my daily schedule that it was actually an FP ride, I then had to backtrack to ask a CM at the entrance to the ride who walked me over to them – ah they’re quite close to the ride after all… I felt so dumb!

With FPs (finally) in hand I made my way to Peter Pan to find DG and DSs – the line was posted at 25 minutes at this point and I spotted them about halfway up the line. I waved and said I’d wait for them by the exit, but then a little Disney magic came our way as the very kind people who were behind them in the queue waved me into the queue explaining we could ride four people to a boat so it made no difference, I could ride with my family and wouldn’t be queue-jumping…brilliant news! . So we all went ‘off to Neverland’ together – it is a gorgeous, feel-good ride!

Next up for us was Dumbo – which was practically a walk on, I loved the feathers that the CMs give you prior to boarding:

I loved the view of Fantasyland that Dumbo afforded – it was really quiet in this land at this time, apart from a big queue at Peter Pan.

Then the DSs tried their luck with the Sword in the Stone:

And we walked on to Pinocchio and then Snow White. Don't touch that apple...!

The older rides are noticabley a lot jerkier – and we found it quite an abrupt ending to the Snow White ride…with a non-sequitous 'And they lived happily ever after' board as we exited. Maybe this was added later - like the figure of Snow White - to put the rider in a happier place as they leave? Anyone know...?

By now it was 10am and we were pretty pleased with what we’d achieved in Fantasyland in the first hour. I headed to ToonTown to grab FPs for Roger Rabbit whilst the others rode Mr Toad.

As I came back towards Fantasyland from Toontown, who should I see but Mary Poppins and Bert just wandering around, (no handler and no photographer, I just loved that) in this pretty deserted area (on the way up to Small World) so I waved a jolly ‘hello’ to them.

I met DG and DSs just coming out of Mr Toad and we all went to see if Mary and Bert were still having a jolly stroll – they were:

Bert loved that we had an autograph card for him to sign with his picture on it! Ms Poppins told us 'DociousExpi...' oh, you know...the biggest word you've ever heard, backwards, which was in DS5's words 'awesome' !

Now, we had another mission - we had all seen and loved the only Disney animated film to be set in our native land, and the DSs were really keen to meet a real Scottish princess.

First, a little exposition… we visited Walt Disney World in July 2011, and I had taken along a few little ‘presents’ to give to any CMs that we might meet who were exceptional in our opinion. This was a DISboard tip, as they are not allowed to receive gratuities. So, that holiday we had taken some little boxes of Edinburgh Rock (it’s a sickly sweet soft candy). These proved really effective, we handed out about 5 boxes I think to show our appreciation to various different CMs.

Well, when we had been planning this holiday to Disneyland, and had been speaking about meeting Merida, DS7 said he wanted to take some Edinburgh Rock to give her, to remind her of home aww… I thought that was a sweet thought and so didn’t point out that Merida’s from the highlands, nowhere near Edinburgh …anyway we bought three boxes of the stuff to take. One box simply had to be 'tried' by the DSs themselves of course, they pointed out , so we would give one box to Merida and then have another box for another CM whom we should meet.

So, there was no getting around the fact that to achieve our mission, we would have to queue up to meet Merida. It was probably our third longest queue the entire holiday – around 35 mins… (only Universal’s Studio Tour and the yet to be reported Meeting Mickey were longer). We spotted colouring at the nearby tables but these weren’t open - shame, this would have been good to do whilst waiting.

Well, we eventually made it to Merida and she just loved her gift, which made DS7’s day!

She was great fun, and quite feisty as she is in the movie, having a ‘who has the loudest roar’ competition with the DSs –it was a close call, her roar was pretty loud… and the bear cubs behind her joined in too!

She asked if we wanted to try our hand at archery and took us over to some other of her clan members who gave the DSs some tips on hitting the targets. They really loved this activity:

At this point we nabbed a photopass photo as we passed the castle:


Then headed to New Orleans Square for our upcoming lunch reservation - and my favourite meal of the entire holiday...where could it be…(Club 33? The popcorn stand?)... you’ll just have to wait until next time to find out…

 

[PrincessInOz]

Enjoying your TR. Looks like you're all having a fantastic time.

 

[Velvetia]

Hi PiO - I'm glad you're enjoying it, thanks for the comments! We did have a wonderful time, our best holiday ever! Ready for another instalment? Here goes...

 

[Velvetia]

Wednesday 18th October - Day Four, Part Two - ARRRRGH!

As we headed through Frontierland we saw Woody meeting and greeting, and a street show by cowboys just outside the Golden Horseshoe. This is a great area, there was always something going on here.

So...where were we lunching? Our reservation was for an early lunch at Blue Bayou.

There was quite a line for check in and this area is really quite a busy thoroughfare, but eventually after around 10 minutes queing we checked in and asked politely if it would be possible to have a waterside table. We waited in the foyer of the Blue Bayou along with lots and lots of others…this sure is a popular place.

We waited maybe another 10 minutes in this area - quite a few parties were seated before us, as each one was called we were thinking of our diminishing chances of having a water-side table. Ah well. At last our name was called, and a waitress showed us to an amazing table right by the water!!!! Woo – hoo! Our luck was in!

The atmosphere in this restaurant is just amazing, photos do not do it justice, it outdid what we had imagined and hoped. As we were seated and given our menus in the swampy darkness, under the paper lanterns and listening to the cicada chirrup we were all a bit in gleeful shock and awe! We just couldn’t believe that we were here, we had been so looking forward to this meal for so long, and we had such a wonderful table –we really did appreciate it!

We were all very happy!

This lunch was my favourite of the entire trip. The setting and the food were just wonderful. It was amazing to watch the boats passing on the POTC ride. As we hadn’t ridden this yet, we didn’t know whereabouts in the ride you passed the Blue Bayou, so we decided that we would definitely have to ride this afternoon and pick out where we had been sitting earlier!

The food was wonderful, I had the salmon dish, with perfect creamy dauphinoise potatoes and vegetables (green beans I think) with a delicious citrus butter. DG had jambalaya and gumbo. The DSs had mac n cheese. We all ordered the Minute Maid punch drinks with the light up characters, which were perfect in this very dark restaurant. DG and I had light up Tinks and the DSs were very happy with their skeleton pirate lights! I didn't take any food pictures (sorry!)...

The portions here are huge, we were all too full to think about desserts and agreed we would have Dole Whips later on in the park for a dessert.

We all left very happy, full and feeling piratey – how could we get even more piratey?…well by hitting our next stop:

Pirates League

The CMs here were just brilliant – really keeping in an ‘aaarrgh’ Pirates character, with lots of ad-libbing. The DSs were given a choice for their pirate makeover, DS7 chose Blackbeard and DS5 chose Jake (from the Neverland pirates)…

The setting for the Pirates League is the Court of Fools (I think that’s right?) and it was a wonderful backdrop.

As we were there, the wandering pirate band, the Bootstrappers came down the stairs singing a song, which added brilliantly to the atmosphere. I’d highly recommend this experience for any little would-be pirates out there. The DSs loved it!

Here is Blackbeard in the making:

...and Jake in the making:

They had to take the pirate oath:

And were finally, fully certified pirates ARRRRRGH! :

So with Blackbeard and Jake in our party... we had to ride Pirates of the Caribbean now – and spot the Blue Bayou, which is right at the start of the ride, before the drops! This was one of our favourite rides – it is just brilliant, and we really liked spotting Captain Jack throughout the ride.

After our trip to Tortuga, we decided to get those desserts, and made our way through Frontierland, to the Tiki rooms.

We stopped to peruse the wonderful Ray Bradbury tree:

There was a huge queue at the Dole Whip stand but using the DISboard tip of joing the (much shorter) queue inside the Tiki Rooms courtyard, we soon had our Dole Whips and found a shady bench in the courtyard to enjoy them. Mmmm!

Up next - Heading Big Thunder way...

 

[Riniel]

Great trip report so far! My mum is British, so the quest for good tea on Disney trips is a familiar one! I'll be following along

 

[julydeya]

 

[Velvetia]

Great trip report so far! My mum is British, so the quest for good tea on Disney trips is a familiar one! I'll be following along

Glad you are enjoying it - good to have you along

 

[kayleigh83]

Such a wonderful trip report, I'll be checking back for more! I love seeing how awestruck your boys were by the princesses and all the sweet questions they asked them!! It's lovely to see a TR by someone who truly "gets" the Disneyland magic and makes the most of it!!

 

[Velvetia]

Such a wonderful trip report, I'll be checking back for more! I love seeing how awestruck your boys were by the princesses and all the sweet questions they asked them!! It's lovely to see a TR by someone who truly "gets" the Disneyland magic and makes the most of it!!

I'm really glad you are enjoying it Kayleigh! We did all truly feel we were in the happiest place on earth!

 

[Velvetia]

Wednesday 18th October - Day Four, Part Three - Guess What the Goats Did...

After our Dole Whips, we made our way back through Frontierland to head towards Big Thunder Ranch. DS5 was a little disappointed that Woody wasn’t meeting and greeting in Frontierland this time, as he had decided that he wanted to meet him…why he didn’t decide this earlier when Woody was actually here, I don’t know …

As we headed towards Big Thunder Ranch we saw there was a huge queue waiting to get in – I hadn’t realized the ranch was only open at certain times. We didn’t fancy queuing, so instead we went to the petting zoo just outside the Ranch, where we all really enjoyed meeting the goats.

A CM explained that all the goats have Disney names, the one we were petting was Leota. We loved their Halloween bandanas.

There was one cute little (lost?) sheep, maybe he thought he was a goat ?

The DSs were really enjoying themselves, and both had a go with the goat grooming brush but then things got even more memorable… as they were watching, one of the goats decided to poo – well, what can I say…little boys… this was just hysterically hilarious to DS7 and DS5…they were giggling away for a good five minutes! A highlight of the day for them! Goats pooing! (ha ha). We had the request a couple of times in the next few days “Can we go back and see the goats poo?”…little boys are strange creatures…

When they’d finally got themselves together after their hysteria… we left the petting enclosure to go and wash our hands at the washing station, and we saw that the queue had gone, and the big ranch gates were open, so it was time to explore the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree.

The line to conjure a villain was tooo long for us. We all loved the carved pumpkins:

And we even came across a familiar Pirate Pumpkin!

And one of the artists was kind enough to show us the Tinkerbell pumpkin she was working on. They are so artistic and creative!

The DSs really enjoyed the carnival games – this bit of the ranch was really well done, and as ever the CMs were great at engaging the kids in the spooky games.

And they both had their fortune told by the magic fortune telling wheel:

Now, Billy Hill & The Hillbillies were going to be on soon and so too were characters, I guess, BUT the DSs did not want to hang around to see them, so I can’t report on what the character interaction was like. Neither did they want to go visit Toon Town and ride Roger Rabbit with the FPs we’d got earlier - they desperately needed to go on Mr `toad again...

And then to ride the train and see the dinosaurs! So we headed for the Toon Town train station. Good news! The train we got on was one with the seats facing sideways, so DS7 got a perfect view of the Dinosaurs!

Coming up next - Heading into Tomorrowland...

 

[julydeya]

 

[kayleigh83]

Great update! I love that petting zoo!! The goat up top in your first picture seems to be the same one in a picture I took in July! I've got a few of the goats and probably that same lamb too! They're so adorable!

 

[Velvetia]

Despite my best intentions to get this trip report finished by the end of 2012, it now well into 2013, so high time I got back to work here! Apologies all, I hope some of you are still interested to read along and that you'll join me to journey back to October 2012 and our Halloween Disneyland trip.


When we left off, we had just ridden the train and seen the dinosaurs...

Wednesday 18th October 2012 - Day Four, Part Four

We went all the way round on the train plus 1 extra journey between stops so we could get off at Tomorrowland and ride Star Tours with the FPs we had got earlier. Even with FPs we had to queue for around 20 minutes, but the ride was excellent and guess who was the rebel spy yours truly! The kids thought that was hilarious. Of course for the rest of the day I was channelling Leia, saying "Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope" at every given opportunity!). Our sequence was Darth Vader/ Princess Leia/ Pod racing on Naboo/ Asteroids/ Boba Fett & The Death Star&really good the 3D is amazing here!

After this we came out in the amazing Star Traders store so cool in there! The DSs found the make your own light sabre area but accepted that they didnt have enough pocket money to buy them. They surprise me sometimes with their understanding and good behavior!

DS5 was cooing over the vinylmation monorails which were made over as characters from the Cars movie. And he decided to spend some of his pocket money on one. He got one that was made to look like Doc Hudson. He loved it. I can understand why people love these little Vinylmation creations, and the mystery and suspense of not knowing which one will be inside the box and the silver wrapping paper. DS5 was very happy with his Doc. DS7 got a fabulous Pirate key chain that he was very excited about could be that this is the key to the Dead Mans Chest??

As we came out of the store the DSs loved the fountain in this area.

We had a wander around Tomorrowland, and then we decided to ride the monorail. There was a bit of a queue for this but that gave us a good chance to have a look at the yellow submarines, and decide we would all ride them on Friday when we were going to come again, and we decided wed aim to go on the subs first. As we were waiting for our monorail, we asked a CM if we could ride in the nose cone but were told it was tooooo hot&eh bien! We really enjoyed the round trip ride anyway and spotted The Park Vue Inn from the monorail!

We took the train from Tomorrowland to get to New Orleans Square and then walked through NO Square this is one of my favourite areas in Disneyland, we saw the petrified tree:

(what a strange birthday present from Mr Disney to Mrs Disney!)

and then walked up to Big Thunder for our dinner reservation. We walked along a while behind Goofy in his cool Skeleton Halloween costume. We checked in and had to wait around 10 mins before we were seated, but there are some shady benches right there where we waited to be seated.

Then Big Thunder Ranch Barbeque. A great experience, highly recommended. There was plentiful fabulous food and the entertainment was great, a cowgirl and cowboy singing great songs and bantering with the audience. The cowboy pianist even played James Taylor's 'Sweet Baby James' which is a song I love... Awesome food. Awesome place.

Then we made our way to our first ride on Haunted Mansion Holiday. We walked right on and were just blown away by the overlay - we are definitely on the 'love it' side on this. The gingerbread house and the scent of gingerbread in the dining hall were incredible!

We then Hung out in CandyLand on our way home where the DSs enjoyed playing the Pinocchio game display.

Our last stop was at the Churros cart in the Main Square and then happy but tired we walked across the street to our beds for some zzzzzzz...


Coming up: A Whale of a Tale...

 

[julydeya]

Thanks for the update