TR- A 5 Day 5th Birthday Celebration- Day 3 is now finished

[prettyprincessbelle]

Thanks for reading. Riley is fearless. Even the rides that spook her don't really scare her. She just says she doesn't want to ride them again that they are mommy and daddy rides. The list of rides she won't ride is very short though: Matterhorn, Roger Rabbit, and Snow White. I think Bob took her on the Matterhorn when she was too young, though. If she would give it another chance, I bet she would love it.
Kaleb on the other hand is my cautious child. The kid loves pirates, but he would only ride the pirate ride once. He says the cave part is too scary. He is the one who wasn't ready to come home at the end of our trip, though. He may not love all the rides or the characters, but he loves Disneyland

I think the Snow White is kind of spooky too. I can see how it isn't the best ride for younger kids.

That's so sweet about Kaleb. At least he loves Disneyland and that's what counts!

Bleh about the same princesses. How boring to see the same three. Especially when they do have other princesses!

 

[letthembelittle]

I wish there was a way to know which princesses you were going to see, my dd would have been much happier to meet your set then Ariel and Mulan that were there when we went.

 

[laura&fam]

I love your photo of the main street Christmas tree. It really gives a good idea of how huge that tree really is.

 

[Yakety76]

I think the Snow White is kind of spooky too. I can see how it isn't the best ride for younger kids.

That's so sweet about Kaleb. At least he loves Disneyland and that's what counts!

Bleh about the same princesses. How boring to see the same three. Especially when they do have other princesses!

I agree that Snow White is probably too spooky for young kids. However, Riley was on a mission to ride every ride that she was tall enough for. Her willingness to try anything is something I admire, so we decided to let her give it a go. She probably won't want to ride it again until she is much older, but at least she can say she rode it.

I was so bummed about the princesses. I have never seen any other princess than those three and Jasmine. I didn't even care which one. Oh, well. We had fun with it and even had Cinderella teach us a princess pose. Riley was really into that...as you can see from the photo.

 

[Yakety76]

I wish there was a way to know which princesses you were going to see, my dd would have been much happier to meet your set then Ariel and Mulan that were there when we went.

I would have loved to have seen Ariel or Mulan. We should just trade pictures and photoshop our faces in.
I too wish there were some schedule so you could at least try to see the princess you want to.

I love your photo of the main street Christmas tree. It really gives a good idea of how huge that tree really is.

Thank you. It was amazing to me how big that thing was. And the size of the decorations.

 

[Yakety76]

Day 3 continues...After visiting the princesses, we made our way to Toon Town to meet up with the boys.

Small World was getting its overlay while we were there, so we weren't able to go on it. My kids and husband have still not been on this one. It always seems to be closed when we go.

The plan had been to meet the guys in Toon Town for the 11:00 opening. We were really running late. By the time we got there at around 11:30, the boys had already met Mickey and Minnie and rode Gadgets Go Coaster a couple of times. It was really hot and crowded in Toon Town today. I waited in line to meet Minnie with Riley while my mom rode Roger Rabbit. Riley and I both really dislike this ride, so we let her ride by herself. After meeting Minnie we met the guys at Gadgets Go Coaster. Kaleb loves this roller coaster. We were lucky enough to get in the front seat. Riding with him is so fun. He yells and keeps his hands up the whole time.

When we exited the ride, I noticed a lime green Mickey head in front of me. I of course had to say “Hello”. Since returning, I have learned that it was Laura&Fam. I have never noticed a LGMH before, so that was fun.

We were all hot and worn out so we made our way to Rancho for some lunch. Riley notices Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and asks if she can ride it. I tell my parents to go ahead and take her as the line is short and we will grab lunch and a table. Bob, Kaleb and I headed on to Rancho and got the taco salad, burrito and two kids’ burritos. My parents came back with Riley who was all aglow from her first ride on BTMRR. She is a roller coaster fanatic now.

After an unimpressive lunch, Riley and Bob went to ride BTMRR and Kaleb and my parents went to the shooting gallery in Frontierland. I stayed and cleaned up our mess from lunch. We really enjoyed our lunch at Rancho last year, but I found it kind of bleh this year. Not sure if I was just expecting too much or if the recipes have changed as we ordered the exact same thing as we did the previous year.

While the girls and I were visiting with the princesses, Bob was supposed to be taking Kaleb on Autopia. Well he claims the line was too long, so they rode Buzz and Astro Orbiters a few times each. This would usually have been okay, but I had promised Kaleb he would be able to drive the car today. So after Riley finished her spin on the wildest railroad, we headed over to Tomorrowland. Kaleb wanted to ride with Bob and Riley wanted to ride with my mom. I had no desire to do this ride without a child on board, so my dad and I decided to sit this one out. Autopia is great fun for a preschooler, but not so much for me.

Dad and I kind of wandered for a couple of minutes until I remembered that I wanted to see Honey, I Shrunk the Audience this trip. We headed over and waited for the next show. This does seem like a dated show, but we enjoyed ourselves. Dad especially enjoyed that I had one of the “special” seats. For those of you who have seen the show, you know what I am talking about. I won’t ruin the surprise for those of you who haven’t. I was screaming every couple of minutes and there were quite a few people laughing at me.

Well, now was the part of the day that I had really been looking forward to…Jedi Training Academy. The kids and I had watched a Youtube video of this a couple of times in preparation for our trip. I wanted them to actually have an idea about who Darth Vadar and Darth Maul were so they wouldn’t be too intimidated. Kaleb and I secured our front row spots while Riley went on Space Mountain yet again. We should have kept count of how many times she did this ride.
Once Riley returned, I pulled out our handy DISigns Jedi Training signs. A couple of kids near us instructed me that you don’t need a sign to get picked. I politely thanked them and made sure our three signs were displayed just so. I had made three signs in case Kaleb wanted to attempt to get chosen. He had no desire to do it, so all the signs were focused on Riley. We also put her birthday button back on her for a little extra help.

After a short wait, the Jedi Master came out and gave his instructions to the hopefuls and then began the choosing process. I was feeling a little nervous because there were a lot of kids there. Well, I needn’t have worried. Riley was chosen as “the girl with the handcrafted signs”. Riley put on her robe and found her spot- right by the Jedi Master. Riley intently listened to all the directions. She was a little slow at following them though. The Jedi Master told her “Keep doing your own thing, Princess. It is working for you.”

After the arduous training process, who should appear but Storm Troopers. They were armed and all the young trainees quickly gathered together behind the Masters. Darth Vadar and Darth Maul made their appearance and challenged the young ones.

They were not taking this. They were ready. Riley patiently waited her turn to battle Darth Vadar. Her turn was finally up and she was brave in the face of such an enemy. She did forget a couple of her moves, but still, she was victorious.

This was great fun and I cannot believe this was our first time witnessing the Jedi Training Academy. It would be fun to watch whether you had kids or not.

 

[Yakety76]

After the challenge of battling Darth Vadar, the kids were ready for some play time. We headed over to DCA to spend some time in the Redwood Creek area. We had never been on our previous visits, but I had read some trip reports that had convinced me it was a must do for us this trip.

On the way we got some pictures taken in front of the castle and the tree. I think this one is going to be our Christmas card this year.

We absolutely loved the Redwood Creek area. The kids (and I) had a great time climbing along the netting and exploring everything. It is a great place to bring the kids to let them run around. I thought it was more for older kids because of the height requirements, but that isn't the case. Anybody who likes to run and climb will enjoy it.

Bob, Riley and I left my parents and Kaleb to their play and went to try out Grizzly River Rapids. We had our $1 ponchos ready as the sun was starting to go down and it was getting a little chilly out. Everyone on our raft got really wet except for us. I was grateful to the ponchos. As we were exiting our raft, the next people in line begged our used ponchos off of us. It was a fun ride, but I think I was a little too focused on keeping Riley dry. Next time I want to try it when the sun is out, so that I don’t mind getting a little wet.

We went back to Redwood Creek to pick up the rest of the family. Dad, Kaleb and I decided it was time for some ice cream while Mom, Bob and Riley rode Soarin’. This was Riley’s favorite ride last year, but it lost out big time to ToT and Space this trip. She still enjoyed it. I am looking forward to when Kaleb can ride it. He will love it. After Soarin’ everyone joined us at the Burr Bank Ice Cream stand. Usually we share sweet treats, but we all had to have our own sundae here. They were mighty tasty.

With our bellies filled with yummy treats, we made our way to save spots for the Pixar Parade. This was a favorite of ours on our last trip, so we were looking forward to it. Our camera doesn’t take good night shots, but the parade was a lot of fun. I do like how they didn’t spray the water since it had gotten chilly out.

Bob and I headed out with the kids after the parade while Mom and Dad stayed and had some fun. They mostly did some shopping for me and the kids at the World of Disney store. They got me the Disneyland license plate cover and the kids Jack Skellington shirts. Unfortunately, Riley’s shirt was a youth size and not a child’s size so we had to return it. It is really hard to find young girls’ shirts that aren’t princess at Disney. She really wants a Sally shirt. Right now she makes do with wearing a women’s XS Sally shirt as a nightgown.

They also had to see the Celebrate parade again. My dad loved that parade.

That is the end of our third day. Stay tuned for day four- Veteran's Day. Will we be able to deal with the crowds??

 

[deejdigsdis]

You were there the week before us. Looks like we had the same Jedi Master. He used that same "Keep doing what you're doing...it's working for you" line during our training. So funny! Good choice for the family Christmas card pic!

 

[laura&fam]

Great photos again, especially of Toon Town.

We skipped the parade, my youngest had a really hard time sitting and we chose to save up the sitting for Fantasmic! and the fireworks. What is that last photo of? My best description would be cave women in high heels, but I'm completely drawing a blank on any Disney characters remotely close to them.

 

[Yakety76]

You were there the week before us. Looks like we had the same Jedi Master. He used that same "Keep doing what you're doing...it's working for you" line during our training. So funny! Good choice for the family Christmas card pic!

Thanks for reading along.
I think he used the line in the youtube videos we saw too. It still made a fun memory for us as Riley really did look she was off in her own training camp.

I really like how the cards turned out. The kids are smiling the best, but it still is pretty cute- I think anyway. It is always so hard to get a good family picture.

Great photos again, especially of Toon Town.

We skipped the parade, my youngest had a really hard time sitting and we chose to save up the sitting for Fantasmic! and the fireworks. What is that last photo of? My best description would be cave women in high heels, but I'm completely drawing a blank on any Disney characters remotely close to them.

Bob really enjoyed taking pictures in Toon Town. The do a fun job of decorating there.
The cave woman is from the Celebrate parade. They have a couple of floats with characters and the dancers are inbetween. They bring the kids out to dance and do a conga line. It is fun, but I really missed the Parade of Dreams. We do love the Pixar Parade though. That one is so much fun.

 

[Sherry E]

You guys are the cutest family! I still remember a PhotoPass picture you posted last year (from Halloweentime, I think?) of you and Riley, where she was looking at you like, "Mom, what is wrong with you"!!! Her expression was priceless. I think it was one of those Tinkerbell-in-the-hand poses, if I recall, possibly by the Partners statue (I am trying to visualize it).

I love your pictures! They are all amazing. I love seeing pictures of ToonTown - especially with different vantage points and sites we don't normally see all the time. And I can't tell that your camera doesn't take good night photos because those Pixar Play Parade photos are great! What kind of camera did you use? You had a fantastic spot for the parade, too. But when we were at DLR in October, my friend was trying mightily to get just one decent nighttime photo of the character pumpkins over the turnstile entrance, and the Nikon Cool Pix she was using just could not get the job done. It was blurry no matter what she did, no matter how still she was. The only way around that would have been a tripod and there is no way my friend would be bothered with a tripod. I have a Canon SD880 which I am still trying to get used to, and I don't think I could get the good nighttime shots you got of the parade! I may have to look into a small, manageable tripod too because there are too many beautiful nighttime things to take photos of at DLR.

 

[kylieh]

Thanks for pics of your DD at Jedi Training. I showed my daughter and she is feeling "more confident" about trying it.

 

[Yakety76]

SherryE, Thank you so much. I think my family is pretty cute, but I am just a little bit biased. I love that picture of Riley with Tink. I do see that look from her a lot more now that she is a year older.

I am not sure what cameras were used for the pictures. My camera disappeared out of my pocketbook in DCA on Veteran's Day, so all the pictures shown here were taking by my husband, my dad or the photopass photographers. I am glad we were using so many cameras, but I miss my pictures. I knew I wanted to do a trip report for this trip, so I was taking a lot of trip report specific pictures. I am glad you are liking the pictures I do have, though.

 

[Yakety76]

Thanks for pics of your DD at Jedi Training. I showed my daughter and she is feeling "more confident" about trying it.

You are welcome. Have her watch some youtube videos, too. The act is really scripted, so they will look very similar to what she will see there. If all else fails, she can just watch the other kids. Kaleb had a lot of fun just watching and felt no need to participate at all.

 

[laura&fam]

You are welcome. Have her watch some youtube videos, too. The act is really scripted, so they will look very similar to what she will see there. If all else fails, she can just watch the other kids. Kaleb had a lot of fun just watching and felt no need to participate at all.

That makes me feel better. I made signs and everything because my DS 5 is a huge Star Wars fan, but he had no desire whatsoever to get up in front of everyone. He did enjoy watching it though.

 

[letthembelittle]

I loved reading more about your trip! I think you convinced me to go to Jedi Camp when we go again in April!

 

[Yakety76]

I had done some checking and knew that the area schools had today off. This was a little bit of a surprise as our schools don’t get Veteran’s Day off. I also saw that the lowest annual pass was blacked out today. Disneyland opened at 8:00 today, so we knew they were expecting crowds. We had only a couple of items on our too do list and then we were going to bounce over to DCA for its opening.

Our first stop was the Jungle Cruise. We hadn’t ridden this yet, so we wanted to do it right away. We had a fun skipper and we all enjoyed starting the day off with this ride.

After we got off the boat, we asked for and received a copy of the Jungle Cruise map. It is now in a nice frame and hanging in my son’s room.

We made our way to Critter Country to ride Pooh yet again. My kids never get tired of this one. We stopped in the sweet shop and Riley spent a chunk of her birthday gift card. She got a Tiana lanyard pin, a Goofy pen for her preschool teacher and suckers for her preschool class. I got a measuring chart that lists all the rides the kids can ride once they reach a certain height. I have gone back and added in all their measurements from previous years. This is really nice and only $2. We also discovered our newest weakness…gingerbread Mickey cookies. Soooo good. Bob bought one and we devoured it so quickly that my dad had to get us another one to share. The kids loved eating the chocolate covered ears.

After our sweets, we decided to ride Haunted Mansion. At first Kaleb wasn’t going to go back on with us. He still doesn’t like the stretching room. Riley gives him a pointer about how he can hide his head in my neck when Jack cackles and that has him ready to go ahead. He really does like the ride so I am glad he came on one more time. The ballroom is still my favorite. Love the gingerbread.

Then it was onto Pirates. Kaleb didn’t want to ride, so he and I stood by Rivers of America and watched the ducks. By the time the family finished Pirates it was getting close to 9:30. I wanted to ride Toy Story today, so we headed over to DCA. They had just started letting guests through and we were able to get a good spot in order to make our dash for Toy Story. While we were waiting, I told Bob to go get fastpasses for Soarin. He comes back almost right away and tells me that the park isn’t open so he cannot get fastpasses. Now I know for sure he tunes me out when I start talking about DIS tips because I have told him many times that Soarin opens early. Well I told him once more that he could get fastpasses for Soarin’ before the park opens, so he headed off again. He came back with a somewhat sheepish face and let me know that I was right…as if there were any doubt.

There were quite a few people waiting, so I was nervous about how long the Toy Story line was going to be. We waited for the rope drop and began the walk. My dad is not a fast walker and we didn’t want to leave him behind, so we leisurely strolled towards our destination. Well, imagine my surprise when we only had about a 15 minute wait. Last Halloween we did the exact same thing except we really booked it towards Toy Story and we had about an hour wait. The line was against the railing by the lagoon. So I was really happy to get a manageable line this trip. The only down side was that we didn’t get to interact with Mr. Potato Head at all…and he was working this time.

My first ride on Toy Story had been pretty unremarkable. Kaleb had needed a lot of help with his shooter and I didn’t notice any of the special effects. Therefore, I didn’t really enjoy the ride all that much. This time was such a different experience. Kaleb wanted to ride with Bob and Riley wanted to ride with my mom. That left my dad and me to be partners. I started off by pulling the string and releasing it fully to shoot. Well, he was using a machine gun shooting style and was totally killing me in the points department. I am a quick learner, so I started machine gunning it too and soon caught up to his points. I started feeling the bursts of air when I made hits and even felt the water when I popped the water balloons. This was the best ride!! I had such a good time and I even beat my dad’s score.

Mom and Bob went to ride California Screamin while Dad and I took the kids on the carousel. Actually Dad just watched. The kids and I went on this a couple of times and there was still no sign of Mom and Bob. I called and they were just getting on. So…Dad and I ditched them. We went ahead to the Golden Zephyr. This was not my favorite ride. Riley was kind of bored by it too. Kaleb enjoyed himself, though. I think Dad took another Dramamine after this ride. Poor Guy.

Riley and I went to ride Jumping Jellyfish next. I tried to get Kaleb interested in joining us, but that wasn’t happening. Mom and Bob had finished Screamin’ by now, so she took him over to the SS Rustworthy to run around. Next stop was Mulholland Madness. Bob and Dad took Kaleb to Bug’s Land while Mom and I went with Riley on Mulholland Madness. There was a decent wait- 15 to 20 minutes. Riley was excited to get another roller coaster under her belt, though. Riley and my mom hop in to their seats and it is not good. My mom’s knees are jammed up to the front. I have plenty of leg room in my seat…one of the perks of being 5’4”. Riley wanted to go again, but we told her “no”. My mom was so uncomfortable on this ride. I was fine and actually thought it was fun until the end. The sudden stops sent the bar right into my tummy. Ouch. All in all, I was not overly impressed with Paradise Pier. California Screamin and Toy Story are great, but the others were nothing too special- to me anyway.

We are now ready to head over to Bug’s Land and meet up with the boys. We met them in line for Heimlich and waited about 10 minutes. That’s right…10 minutes for Heimlich. It was pretty obvious the Veteran’s Day crowds were upon us. We then waited another 10 minutes or so for the bumper cars and then it was lunch time.

We had a 12:00 PS for Wine Country Trattoria. We chose to sit outside and were seated right away. Bob ordered the Chicken Alfredo Lasagna. This was so yummy. My dad ordered the Meatball Sandwich. He enjoyed this. I ordered the Pizzeta Salad. I liked this, but thought it would have been better with more of the Kalamata olives. The kids split the children’s meatball sandwich and had some of my salad. I don’t remember what my mom ordered. This was the best meal of the trip. The atmosphere was so relaxed and the food was really good. I ordered the orange sorbet for dessert. Yummmy. Bob ordered some kind of chocolate dessert that was heavenly. I don’t remember what it was, but it was the best. While we were there, Bob was walking by the bar area and saw a waitress accidently pour a full glass of beer on a little kid. Can you imagine? That poor kid. I am sure the staff took care of the situation to the best of their ability, but that would be pretty bad.

After lunch, we went to check out the Animation Building. Riley and I went into the Animation Academy and drew Minnie. This was so much fun and really pretty easy to do. Riley’s Minnie actually turned out pretty good- considering. She really liked this, so I am glad we did it.

We all split up a lot today, so I am not exactly sure what all we did. I know that Riley rode Tower of Terror- which she loved. Kaleb rode Monsters with someone and we saw lots of characters.

This was the best character interaction. Peek a boo. Where is Riley?!

Mom and Kaleb also waited in line to see Playhouse Disney Live. I had never seen it, so I took my mom’s place with Kaleb as she had watched this our last visit. During this time is when my camera went missing. I had it in the Animation Academy with Riley because I took a picture of her with her drawing. I had it in Off the Page because I took a picture of a Jack Skellington display that was really cool. I walked over to the Playhouse Disney line, went inside, opened my pocketbook and my camera was gone. I checked outside where the line was and there was no sign of a camera. I asked the CMs and they hadn’t been given a camera. Bob went to the Animation Building and Off the Page and there were no cameras there. Anyway, Kaleb enjoyed the show. I was in a funk because of the lost camera. I tried to be normal for his sake, but I was just not feeling it.

After this Riley wanted to go on Monsters. The line was 30 minutes long. We got in line, but then I decided we would just do it tomorrow when there would be no line. Meltdown moment for Riley. She didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, but it was pretty obvious that we all needed a break. Mom and Dad stayed and played. Bob and I took the kids back to the hotel. They played with their clay and their color wonder markers until dinner time. I didn’t want to take the kids out again, so we ordered in pizza. They messed up the order, but it was fine. We ate and then Bob and I put our shoes back on to go back to DL and brave the Veteran’s Day crowds.

 

[Yakety76]

That makes me feel better. I made signs and everything because my DS 5 is a huge Star Wars fan, but he had no desire whatsoever to get up in front of everyone. He did enjoy watching it though.

I am glad he enjoyed watching. I think it could be rather intimidating to get up there. Maybe next time he will want to do it now that he has seen it.

I loved reading more about your trip! I think you convinced me to go to Jedi Camp when we go again in April!

You should go. It is so much fun. I don't think most kids need to participate to have a good time because it really is very entertaining. Of course if you get your DISigns signs ready, you should have a good shot of being chosen.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Yay for an update! These are some great pics. Sorry to hear about your camera. Did you ever check back later, or at lost and found? That would just make me sick to lose my camera.

So...I know the "official" Holiday season didn't start until the 13th, but it looks like you got to see a lot of it. Did they have the Christmas lights on at night while you were there, or did they wait until the 13th?

And how did you find out about school closures? We were originally planning on going the Mon., Tues., and Wed. before Thanksgiving, thinking we'd beat the crowds, but a friend in San Diego warned us that a lot of the schools have the ENTIRE Thanksgiving week off. So we changed our plans and were so glad we did.

 

[Yakety76]

It was fun to see new decorations up every morning. We didn't get to see the park in full holiday mode, but we did see quite a bit. The castle wasn't lit up with the holiday lights at night. I do think the Christmas tree was though.

We did check with Lost and Found- quite a few times. We also filled out the form they have. They told us that things are usually turned in, but ours never showed up. The crowd on Veteran's Day was very young. I haven't seen that many sorority and fraternity shirts since I was in college. Anyway, I think that maybe whoever found it didn't think about how much the pictures would mean to us. I could care less about the camera. I just want my pictures.

To find out about the school closures I did a search for Anaheim schools and then went on each school districts website to view their calendar. I am sure there is an easier way, but that is what I did.