Trip-in-Progress Report Aug 8 - 13, 2010

[momstable]

Well, as long as we're here - and I have my trusty Blackberry - I may as well record the highlights of this trip as we go. When I'm not actually on an attraction or spending quality time with my boy.

To introduce us - me, a stay at home Mom age irrelevant, and my DS-12. Just us on this trip. DH isn't as annamored of all things Disney as I am & DS-16 actually loathes going. But DS-12 is learning to love the magic as his mommy sees it and is my boon companion this year. We (younger son & I only) have Deluxe APs and this our 3rd trip this summer. I still need to do a TR for the first one, which we did with friends, (I did post about the last minute silly second one). We live in N.California, so multiple trips are feasible.

But for this trip, it's just me and my younger son. We are fortunate to have friends who live about 15 minutes away from DLR. They've let us stay with them before. This trip, they are out of town, but offered us free rein of their house. It makes having the APs a viable option in a way that having to hotel it wouldn't.

We arrived late last night - Sunday, Aug. 8. The trip down was relatively uneventful, except for some traffic due to an accident on I-5 (no surprise there). We got to the house about 10:45pm, unloaded the car, settled our stuff and went to bed about midnight. Woke up at 6:15 am. Yeah, not really enough sleep, but we wanted to arrive early for crowd avoidance and maximizing our time.

Driving over, we sang along to the Disney hits #1 CD. We got here early enough to park in the Pinnocchio Lot. The day started cool & overcast. Which is perfect for me. Music still echoing in our brains, we burst into "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from 'Mulan' as we walked to the tram stop and sang "Bare Necessities" while waiting to board the tram. Yes, we're that weird. They were letting people through the turnstiles when we arrived. DS took the passes to the Main Street rope drop, while I went and secured a locker to stash the back pack.
Walking up Main Street, with the welcome message sounding, the morning cast members waving and wishing every one "Good Morning" just gave me a a wonderful feeling of the magic beginning.

To be con't

 

[momstable]

So, with the rope drop at the Hub, DS & I hurried over to get FP for Space Mtn. With a return time of 8:55, we had about an hour to kill before being allowed to get another set. What to do? Ah Ha! DS hadn't been on the Nemo Subs. Less than a 5 min wait. I have rules about riding the subs. #1 - not when it's hot.#2 not worth waiting in line. That pretty well means, in the summer, either first thing in the morning or really late at night. This moment fits the rules so on we go. Sat right under the skipper. It was a good start to the morning.

Next we saw that the wait time for Matterhorn was very short. Once to the front of the line, we realized that both sides of the mountain were loading. After sledding down the Tomorrowland side, we hopped into the Fantasyland side line to run over Abominable's toes some more (that's why he yells so much, the bobsleds run over his toes). There only being the 2 of us, we were skipped ahead in the line to make the wait even shorter.


From the Matterhorn, we scurried to Adventureland to snag FPs to Indiana Jones. 9:35 return? Okay, time to get our Pirate fix. There is something about the smell of PotC that evokes memories and reinforces that I am truly in Disneyland! Our singing Yo Ho stopped the kid behind us from crying, so we enjoyed the ride. Not sure if our fellow passengers did, but surely our singing was more melodic than a toddler meltdown. Docking in New Orleans Square, we headed to Haunted Mansion only to be dismayed that it was down - the CMs had no explanation they were willing to give, nor an estimate on it being back up.

By now we were hungry. The granola bar snack breakfast of earlier was but a dim memory to the rumblies in our tummies. River Belle Terrace was just right. DS had Mickey Pancake and I had eggs & pancakes. Forgot to take pics, though.

Ah, well, we had passed another FP window anyway, time to guarentee being able to cool off later. Splash Mtn FP were secured. We took a peak at Big Thunder. They'd just added a train, a 15 min wait was acceptable. The shrieking teens were fortunately ahead of us in the car. They ran out of breath half way through the ride. I didn't. Singing "I've Been Working on the Railroad" takes far less of an effort with much more pleasant results.

To be con't

 

[momstable]

By this time there were increasing crowds at DL. DCA had just opened. We trotted across the way to DCA. TSMM was already insane with an hour wait. We went instead to get FPs at Mulholland Madness. When we arrived, the standby line was only 15 minutes, so we decided to go ahead and get in line. Neither of us had been on MM before. I liked it. We then scooted to Soarin' to get FPs for later.

About this point, we were starting to feel a lack of energy, probably due in part to lack of sleep. Should we go back to the house to nap? Maybe some lunch? In air conditioning, and a cold drink would be enough. Over to DTD. Now, DS-12 is a bit of a picky eater (though not as bad as DH and DS-16). Rainforest was the best menu choice. As we looked at other menus on the hike to the far end of DTD, I could see my boy visibly wilting. Nothing looked good or peaked his appetite. Then we arrived at RFC. It was approx.11:30, but still just a 20 min wait. We sat in the bar and grabbed cold ones while we waited. Iced tea for me, IBC root beer for him - in the bottle. In almost no time, our name was called, and we were seated in a cool yet cozy corner. Our server, Caitlin, had a fabulous sense of humor. She made suggestions, chatted with us, took our picture. DS had cheese sticks, and Dijon chicken. I had the Seafood trio (scallop & shrimp scampi, lobster tail, mahi-mahi). The food was pretty good. The break with A/C was even better. Afterwards, we browsed the shop a bit. Then onto the monorail to go back to Tomorrowland. I took the opportunity presented waiting to board the monorail to start this thread.

 

[Michelle2]

Sounds like you guys are having a great time! I love live reports.
We are heading down on Saturday so we are super exicted!

 

[stubby]

Sounds like you are having fun so far...can't wait for another update!

 

[momstable]

Once the monorail deposited us in Tomorrowland, we decided to stop at the locker. The omnibus on Main Street was full, but the fire truck driver was all by his lonesome. DS got to ring the bell and I chatted with the driver. We arrived at the front of Main Street. Caught Pluto doing a dance number with a band on our way up the street. stopping at the lockers to refresh sunscreen and drink from the water stashed there. As we walked through the park, I remembered I needed to add parking to my pass. DS got an ice cream scoop and sat in the refreshment corner while I ran to get my parking. When I caught up to DS, we paused to watch a game of musical chairs in progress - with Peter Pan, the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter. We stayed and listened to Eric at the piano play and we sang and danced til he went on break.


Time to use the Splash Mountain FPs. The standby line for Splash was 90 min. Time for the FP line? Less than 10. We got completely soaked. Since we were already drenched, we could hardly get any wetter. Oh -look!! The canoes were operating. I can't remember ever having a chance to do the canoes. Either it was the wrong season, or I was too young, or the rest of the party wasn't interested, or my kids were too young. But this time DS was game. He does not, however, paddle very well. Neither did the rest of the crew. <Grin> it was fun, though. Something I've always wanted to do.

 

[eargal]

Just found this report. I love your writing style and am sorry that you stopped your report!

 

[tinksdreamwishes]

I agree! We need more!

 

[sierranevada]

Yes, don't stop now!!

 

[momstable]

Sorry I stopped reporting mid-stream. DS got sick that night and we didn't go back to the park. We had a day and a half of sitting around our friends' house, mostly napping, reading and watching movies. The last day we laundered the bedding ( even though the friends had said to just leave stuff and they'd take care of it, because boyo had been ill we felt it prudent and polite to deal with the laundry detail). Then a light meal and zipped off to home. I think DS slept most of the way. Poor kid.

We did make up for the lost time over the year of having an annual pass, so while it was sad to have a sick trip, we have a year of great memories.

Guess I need to go back over my posts and really do a full trip report.