TR: My feet are KILLING me... let's keep going! DLR 4-9 October 2015

[Canadian Harmony]

Wednesday Cont'd

This is where I made a misjudgement in timing. Olaf had just left and we had 30 minutes to kill before he'd be back. I knew this was important to my kids because they love him more than A & E. The line up for Mike & Sully didn't look too long so we hopped in. About 2 minutes in, I realized this would probably be a mistake and suggested to Ben we leave. He refused and said he wasn't going to hop the rails. I could have pushed it, but didn't want to make a public scene. So we went through the line up. It didn't move as quickly as I had thought it would. The sign did say a 25 minute wait, so I thought we'd be okay. We were longer than 25 minutes - closer to 35. I did like the theming though and got a lot of laughs out of the stuff in the line.

Truth in advertising.

By the time we got out of the ride, the CM at the line up for Olaf told us the last family was already inside. The girls didn't seem too wrecked about it, but I added that onto my Mom guilt and hoped we would be able to catch him before we left. Spoiler - we didn't.

At this point, Ray wanted to go back to the hotel. Maggie and I saw the entry for GRR and decided to ride it. A 30 minute line in the stand-by line. Meh. So Ben and Ray took off. They went swimming in the pool. Maggie and I walked through the line up and I marveled again at the amazing details of the line.

Something cool to do with my spare canoe and a large, unused wall...?

Maggie was so looking forward to this ride. I had to keep getting her down from the top rail.

When we started in the line, there were a group of 3-4 teens behind us and a family of 3 ahead of us. The little girl in the family was similar to Maggie's age but they didn't really talk. I chatted with the Dad for a while. I love that about Disney - most people are so friendly and willing to chat. About 10 minutes into the wait, these two young 20's - late teen women who weren't part of the original teen group were behind us and then you could tell they were trying to ooze their way through the line. If you left a bit of a space between you and the rail, one would sneak into it. If you left space between you and the people in front, they'd try to pop in. I saw what they were up to immediately, so I would casually stand with my elbows out or make sure Maggie was filling the space beside me because if those two even thought about getting in front of my kid they'd have another thing coming! I spent the majority of the line up ensuring Maggie wouldn't fall off the top rail and make sure those kids didn't sneak past us in line. It wasn't for lack of trying on one of the girls' part, and I managed to keep them behind us. I felt kind of bad for the teens behind them, but they didn't raise a fuss.

We made it through and ended up in a raft with 6 other people. Maggie got the dry seat. The rest of us were drenched! It was so much fun! Maggie and I loved the ride and it wasn't as twisty-turny as I thought it'd be so I wasn't dizzy. After the last big splash I got, I leaned over to the ladies in the raft and whispered, "I just remembered! I didn't pack a spare bra!" Laughter ensued.

Maggie and I squelched our way back to the hotel through the back way of GCH. Ben and Ray were at the pool and my room key was with them, so I found them, got the key and got dried off while they made their way up. Maggie wanted to swim but we didn't have the time. We relaxed and had left-overs and cake for dinner and used the hair dryer to dry my bra. Soon it was time to get to WOC, so we walked down and had a bit of time to wander through Radiator Springs at night.

There was a PP+ photog at the entry to Carsland and half-way down the street, as well as outside of Ramone's.

He said, "Show your guns!" My family can't act.

Maggie's wearing her new ears and the Minnie sweater I bought her on Sunday. I'm wearing my Malificent hoody - you can just see the horns hanging down the back there.

We didn't have time to ride Mater, but we could hit the petting-zoo at least!

We made our way to the WOC area and the CMs were very good about pointing out where we were to go. I asked Ben if he wanted to go to the front as the sign said, "If you go here, you WILL get wet". He said sure. Of course, once the show started he claimed he didn't know... *sigh* This is why, after 13 years of marriage it's still important to listen to your spouse when they tell you stuff. Heh.

We were right along the boardwalk and it was awesome. The people near us were from Hawaii so we chatted a bit about Hawaii and had a nice wait. Maggie was trying to sleep and I used her tail as a knee pillow.

My phone camera sucks but I liked the Mickey on top of the Silly Strings so I tried to take the photo.

After waiting and trying (and failing) to play the WOC game, the show started. Yes, we got wet, but it was more of a regular mist, not a big splash. The fire was nice and warm. The show was really good and interesting. I understood why Frozen was in the middle - it's the highest grossing movie for Disney up to this point - so I get that. The biggest cheer from the crowd came when the new Star Wars clip came on with Han Solo's, "Chewie, we're home." It was a lovely show and we saw the WOC smoke ring in the sky again - something we'd seen every night coming back from the parks - as we made our way back to the hotel for sleep. It was going to be an early day tomorrow!

 

[Chris9ty]

Love your trip report! Motivating me to work on mine too, since we were both there at the same time. We too found we had so much we wanted to do and not enough time to do it all- especially with the crowds and heat! It is so great to have the fun memories and pictures!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thursday - our last day. Or as I like to think of it...

It's our last day to ride all the things! Get up! Let's go! Why are you not walking faster?! We must Ride. All. The. Things!

Totally didn't happen that way. This is what DID happen....

I had warned everyone we'd need to BE at the gates for 7am. At 7:15 we were at the Beachcomber Lounge having breakfast. I just gave up at this point and decided that what will happen will happen. I put Peter Pan on the list for next time. We got to the gate at around 7:30 and made it through the ropes to Fantasyland to check out the line for PP. 50 minutes and curved around the tunnel to Snow White's well. We decided to hit Tomorrowland instead. We walked on to Nemo and it was really fun.

The theming was fun and the girls really enjoyed it.

I like how you can hear the seagulls when you're going around the back way (to Matterhorn?) and they say, "Mine! Mine! Mine?!" at random times.

Our next ride was Autopia because Star Tours was down.

Ray met the height requirement but Maggie didn't. She was choked! I rode with her and hit the pedal while she drove. She really liked it. We were stuck for a good 15-20 minutes at the end waiting to park. That irritated me to no end. Only tourists would go somewhere to do something they do every day at home.

At this point I sent Ben off with our tickets to get RSR FPs. This was around 8 o'clock or so. Where to go.... hmmm... somewhere that won't terrorize my kids... I know! Space Mountain!! HAHAHAH. It said "20 minutes"... it was that long to walk ONTO the ride it seems! It was empty and we walked a long way to get to the car. We had one to ourselves and settled in. The whole time, Maggie was screaming, "This is AWESOME!" and Rachel was screaming in terror. I was laughing and holding onto Ray so she wouldn't melt down. It was REALLY loud and not as much fun as the original overlay.

Maggie loved it. Ray said it was scarier than taking pills. Star was still down so we decided on Buzz.

The lineup moved really fast and soon the girls were in their car and I had one to myself.

The girls got over 58K in score. I'm a trained marksman and this was my score.

Embarrasing.

I love how you can email your photo home though! I didn't even see the flash for when they took the photo I was so into the game!

Maggie's so short, you can't even see her!

By this time we decided to hit Fantasyland because Star was still down. We walked onto Snow White and Pinoccho (5 minutes wait). Those are checked off and we don't have to do them again, thankfully. By this time, Ben was trying to find us. We were here.

Waiting for Aurora. According to the app, she only came out for 5 minutes every 30, so I was prepared to wait. The girls weren't. I finally directed Ben to where we were (came out to the road) and saw Mary and Bert walking across to Jolly Holiday. I noticed the app said they'd be out for a while, so I gave Ben the packpack after grabbing the autograph books, and sent them off. They had a churro.

While waiting I took some photos of the well and the dabbling ducks.

And a selfie with the castle!

I looked over and who do I see heading across?

Great timing! I waited 20 minutes and finally Aurora and her royal CM showed up. I was first in line (so excited) and had a nice chat with her. She signed both books and liked the artwork a lot.

The CM was nice enough to take two photos for me.

As you can see, my bruise was getting better. Slightly.

I met up with the kids after the carousel ride. They loved it. We took a couple of Sword pictures.

We waited a quick 10 minutes for the Storybookland ride. Our RSR FP was for 1:30-2:30 so we had lots of time.

I wish we had done Casey so we could see the back end. Just one more to add to the Next Time List.

I took a bagillion photos of this ride. I won't bore you with them.... well... maybe a couple more in the next post...

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Love your trip report! Motivating me to work on mine too, since we were both there at the same time. We too found we had so much we wanted to do and not enough time to do it all- especially with the crowds and heat! It is so great to have the fun memories and pictures!

I wish we could have met up! It was so super hot there, wasn't it?

 

[Chris9ty]

I wish we could have met up! It was so super hot there, wasn't it?

Yes, definitely hotter and more of a crowd than we were prepared for! I thought October would be a cooler season for California!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Riding The Things part II - Where'd the Tiara go?

As we came off the ride, Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts were walking to their spot!! We got in line right away and swapped cameras with the people in front of us. I took only two or three photos for them, but he was awesome for us and took a ton! I now know the proper ettiquette and will snap repeatedly during signings and such.

I had made a page for each character and they ooh'd and aaah'd over them. "It's the Dormouse!" "Oh look! My door handle!" "Your majesty, it's your scepter!" They were brilliant. The Hatter made a fuss of Maggie's tiara (still with us at this point) as well. Ray was to the side being all weird - in a snit of some kind.

I love how the queen is comparing her crown to Maggie's tiara.

I was wearing my birthday button today and it was awesome getting birthday wishes from everyone!

After that delighful stop, we had another quick 10 minute wait for Smallworld. Thank goodness we don't have to do that one again. The girls liked it but the repeat of the song was enough to last them they said.

Dancing Maggie with Tiara

I loved the topiaries.

At this point, Ben ran over to the cart for a Corn Dog. He said it was the best thing he ate the whole time. He agreed it was the best one he'd ever had. The hand-dipping made the difference. The girls and I went to Toontown because I knew it was something Ray had wanted to do. I ended up putting sunscreen on us all, and this is important for later. We wandered into the store and grabbed some mouse-head sticky note pads for the kids' goody bags for their birthday parties the next week. Ray bought something for her bus driver and then a charm bracelet with a Cinderella slipper charm. There was no lineup for Mickey's house so we went in there, not expecting to see him. It moved pretty quickly all things considered...

Until we just. Stopped. Dead. We waited a LONG LONG time. I'd say a good 30-45 minutes. But we did eventually see Mickey!!

We came out and went back into the store. Maggie bought, of all things, candy corn, and a gift for her bus driver. Ray bought another Cinderella charm and two Jasmine charms. Then we made our way to the train station and rode the train over to the Main Gate. I asked the conductor if we could meet the engineer. He arranged for us to do so at the MG. The conductor was awesome - one of the older guys with jokes the whole way through. I met the engineer. He's from Paderno Italy and had been to the Island and knew about the trains I was talking about.

He really appreciated the pins I gave him from my dad's collection.

Here's where the sunscreen comes in. Notice how Maggie's wearing a long-sleeved shirt? Well she's sweating buckets and all that sweat is moving the sunscreen into her eyes. Not to mention I'm The Most Horrible Mom by not making sure they had hats on. It's around lunch time now, so we went to Cozy Cones to get some grub. I sent Ben over to the 2nd cone to get ice creams and I grabbed three Mac & Cheese cones for the girls and I. The guy couldn't give us Dinoco sippers, but I got three cold drinks too. There was no place to sit and Maggie started crying when she realized it. A nice lady and her son were just finishing up so let the girls sit down as they left and I had Maggie drink and eat ice cream before eating the mac and cheese (which had bacon in them and was AWESOME!). She didn't eat much, but was okay with the ice cream and drink. But her eye still hurt, so she would put the cup to her eye to help. I tried to get her to cry it out, but it wasn't working. At this time, the lineup behind us for Mater was non-existant so I decided to go for a photo. There was a lady and kids in front of us who just popped in the front of the ropes. I tried to get behind them, when I got a nasty glare from a lady who appeared out of nowhere with her kid and I just mutter, "FINE!" and walked to the back of the 3-person line through the ropes. Seriously. The first lady doesn't get the Death Glare, but I do when I try to do the same thing? That's my karma for you. Maggie joined me and when we got to the front, Mater had left and it was Lightnin' McQueen. I gave my photopass over and we got some photos.

But they never showed up on our PP+ online. I emailed Disney and asked them to look, but they couldn't find them. The ONE time I don't get backups on my camera or phone... *sigh*

We went over to Sarge's and grabbed a yellow ball cap for Ray and a red one with ears for Maggie, all the while trying to get Maggie to cry out the sunscreen. Nothing was working and our FP time was upon us. I was thisclose to ripping the sleeves off the danged shirt by this time. She kept the cup of ice on her eye until it melted away in the RSR line.

We were in a blue car and off we went! What an amazing ride! I can see why everyone loves it so much. We all laughed and screamed and giggled... it was great!

The kids were in the front, the adults behind and it worked out great!

We won!

And that's my limit! I'll continue on later. I'm having diffculty on the work computer uploading Facebook photos to Photobucket for some reason.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Yes, definitely hotter and more of a crowd than we were prepared for! I thought October would be a cooler season for California!

Yes! The crowds were incredble! I don't know if it was because we got such an early start on Thursday, but it didn't seem quite as crowded as the other days.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Here's a few catch-up photos before I continue on.

Maggie on the Carousel

Ray on the carousel (Ben's photos from his phone)

The little angels sleeping away the morning on Thursday morning

Ok, back at it!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thursday afternoon

You can't be tired yet! Look at all the things we still have to do before we go!
After RSR, we hit up the first aid area at DCA and got Maggie's eye washed out. She was tired and her eye was really sore. They gave us an ice pack and between the four of us, we decided to keep going for a little longer. I told Ben that I'd take Rachel to the park and he could take Maggie to the room to rest because I wasn't giving up my last afternoon unless blood or a severed limb was involved. Maggie said she was a little tired, but she could keep going because she didn't want to miss out on the rides either.

We wandered back over to DLR and I FINALLY got my PP+ on the winking side of the pumpkin.

Even pretending to hold the poison apple didn't make Maggie any happier.

(I just noticed how weird the hand looks up close with the photoshopping on it)

I really wanted to hit IJ, so we went by to see about FPs... and it was a 20 minute wait!! I suggested we go right away, so we did. The lineup was just fine, even having to let FP holders in front of us, we still got through really quickly.

We touched all the things we weren't supposed to and had a lot of laughs. The four of us got into one row, and I told the girls to put their stuff in the pouches in front - hats and such - and off we went. That boulder still gets me every time! LOVED it!

I told the girls to gather their stuff and off we went. Ben said that probably his favourite ride.

Then we walked past Jungle Cruise - 25 minutes!! Let's go! We hopped in line and it moved quite quickly. The theming makes it good too, even if it does slow down a little here and there. We got into our boat and had a funny skipper, Richard. He told the bad jokes all through and as Ben had never heard them before, he laughed the whole way through. Ray really liked it too. I took a bajillion photos of the cruise, but here are a few of the better ones.

Our skipper. Naturally there were some people video taping the whole thing.

We loved the bit about the elephants.

And the man-eating (not woman-eating) piranhas

And of course, the back side of water!

We were HOT! The girls wanted to try Splash Mountain, so we wandered over that way. On the way we saw this:

I'm sure they were only stopped, but it looked funny.

And then we got into the Splash line because I couldn't find the FP kiosk to save my life! The return times were for around 6:30 and it was about 4:30, so we decided to just wait in the line, after all, it couldn't be THAT long...

It was. It was about an hour or so. Nice folks around us though and we chatted and wrangled the kids, looked longingly at the ice cream cart we passed, and then before we knew it, we were upstairs!

It took me forever to get these shots and they're STILL blurry!

We LOVED this ride and will do it again when we come back - only we'll FP it.

The little girl in front was around 8 and had done the single rider line four times that day!

There was a PP+ photographer as you're coming down and when she saw my lanyard, stopped us for some fun photos!

"How relieved are you to have lived!?"

As you can see, Maggie's eye is much better... and there's no tiara... So... was it lost on Indy or on RSR? We have no idea. But hopefully somewhere in DLR, there was a little girl who found it and is very happy with her tiara.

Nope, nothing wrong with her eye now.

"Make the face you made going down the drop!"

"Point at each other cuz you're all wet!"

On our way to the Carnation, we stopped for some HM photos (there was not PP+ photog there at the time though).

We made it to the Cafe and we were all dried off by then. It was busy so they gave us a pager and we went across the street to check on our PP+ Magic Shots. Didn't even dawn on me to check to Lightin' McQueen, and because our shots were taken just a few hours ago, they weren't showing - the apple and Zero ones that is - but the rest (except for McQueen) were all there, so we went through the shops. While in the crystal shop, Maggie saw a few tiaras she wanted... uh... no. I'll get her a new one, but not a dollar store one, but not one that costs $1000's of dollars either! We saw lots of cool things we would have loved to take home - the "Just one bite" Evil Queen/Old Witch bowl, and a few of the mugs, so we decided to see how our finances were after dinner and while we went through WOD one last time on the way back to the hotel.

After about 15-20 minutes (during which time Maggie complained the whole time), we were buzzed and seated. Ben ordered the turkey sandwich and a cherry malt.

Ray got the cheeseburger (kids' size which was nice but not quite enough for her) and the vanilla malt.

And I'm at limit, so I'll carry on in the next post.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Dinner on Thursday - Carnation Cafe

Ray had to decide the best way to attack this thing. She'd never had one before so it was a learning experience for her and Maggie.

I had the chicken and it was some good!! I devoured everything on my plate except for the peppers (not a fan). It was delicious!

My drink was a lemonade in a Tinkerbell cup (can't find the glowing Tink now that I'm home but I KNOW I put it in the luggage... Ben unpacked so goodness knows where it ended up...). Yes, I'm a sucker for shiny, glowy things. I clipped it to my lanyard and it was a great night light for when it got dark.

Maggie had the mac and cheese (so not surprised) and a chocolate malt.

I loved the atmosphere here. So relaxed and calm... old-timey too.

I didn't know it, but F! was showing this night as well. I had over heard a few people talking about it and enjoying F! meals here and there.

The waitress gave me a birthday cupcake with a candle in it as a surprise! The girls ate the sprinkles.

We were debating on heading to Screams and the Pier for the Fun Wheel, when Maggie suddenly said, "I'm calling it a day. I can't go on." The sugar rush had hit Ray and she was game, but Maggie was just finished. They had lasted 12 or 13 hard hours and I couldn't blame her. So at about 6:30-7pm, we decided to say goodbye to DLR. We walked slowly down the Main Street and looked at all of the window displays one last time. We headed out to WoD and bought souvenirs for our friends. Maggie and Ben went to Build a Bear and Ray and I got there a few minutes later. They were at the checkout while Ray was decided what she wanted inside her stuffy, and I went over to help. Turns out the Disney GCs are no good at BaB so I ended up paying $50 on my prepaid card for the golden lab ("With a cotton candy smell that'll last TWO years!") and it's Olaf blanket and pillow, as well as a $10 card (for $5) that Ray can use at home when she goes next time. I told Ray her GCs won't work there, so Ben gave me the remainder of his and Maggie's and we went off to WoD while Ben took Maggie back to the room.

Ray bought herself another charm or two and some earrings for the girls across the street. I bought myself a charm bracelet with Aurora, Merida and Rapunzel on it and a set of Mickey 'diamond' earrings for me (they're slightly too large for me, but they're cute). We went back to the hotel and packed everything up as we had to leave the next day!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Day 6 - Friday.

The only thing stopping us from staying is money. And time. The only TWO things stopping us are money and time. And work. The only THREE things stopping us....


Yes, today's the day. Our flight left at 1132, so we had to be out of there on time. I had called Karmel the day before and they were picking us up at 8:45. I rang up Alaska to confirm we were coming as the WiFi was spotty on the tablet and I kept getting reloaded pages when I tried to change our seating arrangement for the flights back.

We packed and everything BARELY fit into the 9 bags we brought. Maggie had her dog's cardboard 'carrier' and wore her tail. We called Bell Services to come get the bags and off we went. I stopped in the hall and asked Ben, "Isn't someone supposed to stay for Bell?" He said, "I don't think so. It never came up." So I sent them on their way to the Lounge and I stayed because yes, someone IS supposed to be in the room when they come get the bags. And the kids and Ben were supposed to have their room keys, but Ben had packed his in luggage and so Ray was the only one who had her key (other than me). They did manage to get into the Lounge though. "I never showed my key. No one told me I had to show my key." Yes, dear, EACH time you go in, you show your key. Fortunately, the CM there was understanding.

We ate and I was about to go downstairs to checkout when the CM said, "No no, we can do that here." Oh. It would be nice if there was a more comprehensive list of what Concierge or Club level gets you instead of just "free breakfast and turn down service" because seriously, I would have taken advantage of the services had I known. Expecting people to just 'know' is a little silly.

At any rate, we waited outside with a few more people for our shuttle. It was getting up to 102 that day so we chose a good day to leave I think.

Here's a few shots from the front entrance of PPH.

The side of DCA's Paradise Pier

Our shuttle came and we went to one other hotel (Peacock?) and off we went to the airport. It cost $18 for breakfast for Ben and the girls at the MacDonald's there and the flight was full, so we were offered checked bags for free! I think we put 7 out of the 9 through checked baggage. YAY us!

The flight landed on time in Seattle and we only had to walk down the hall to find our new gate. The flight leaving was delayed for two reasons - there were 8 people who had to show their passports at the gate and it took forever for them to clue in that yes, the name that was being called was theirs, and the plane we were to board was late landing. I went to the Japanese place just up from the gate and grabbed a sandwich for Ray, a salad for me and some seaweed for Maggie for about the same as the MacDonald's meal, and we were gone 25 minutes after we were supposed to leave. So not too bad.

We landed and our bags all arrived, but one group - a mom and daughter - theirs was coming on the next flight. They weren't impressed to say the least. We cleared through customs without a problem and saw our limo driver waiting. We loaded in, and had a LONG drive home as we were right in the midst of rush hour Friday afternoon traffic. At least we didn't have to drive in it.

We got home, unloaded and didn't want to cook. We ordered pizza and invited the neighbours over for a debrief.

It was a great trip and we're already looking forward to doing it again. Next year though, it's our turn to visit my Mum in Australia, so we're planning on two weeks there in June-July. It'll cost slightly less than this trip did all told, but that's mostly because of exchange.

We're planning on going back in 5 years, but with luck I may be able to convince Ben to go back in 2 -3 years instead. Our friends are going, so we're giving them all the hints we can, of course, telling them to sign onto Disboards for all the amazing information!

Hope you enjoyed our little travel-tale.

 

[Kiren]

What a whirlwind trip! I have to say though, Ben looks terribly familiar. I'm pretty sure I've worked with him. All I can say is I too work for the navy!

 

[Chris9ty]

Glad you got to meet a train engineer! We said hi to one while the train was at the station.
It's sad when a trip comes to an end. Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

What a whirlwind trip! I have to say though, Ben looks terribly familiar. I'm pretty sure I've worked with him. All I can say is I too work for the navy!

Cool! Don't tell him I put his face all over the interwebz though, k? I'm trying to get him to cruise, but you can imagine the look I get from a career sailor!

Glad you got to meet a train engineer! We said hi to one while the train was at the station.
It's sad when a trip comes to an end. Thanks for sharing with us!

I'm looking forward to reading your trip report. Hint, hint

 

[Kiren]

Oh I definitely understand which is ironic because both my hubby and I plan on cruising for our honeymoon! We get lots of funny looks from the "old salts". Haha!