Trip Report 6/1-6/9

[mikana876]

Really this is just an excuse to relive the trip

Who went: Myself , my son (3 yo) , and my mom.

The trip: We started from Colorado, roadtripped to Cali. Visited relatives in Santa Barbara, went to DL and DCA and visited relatives in L.A., then drove to San Diego. Then roadtripped back to Colorado!

 

[mikana876]

The plan was to leave at 6 AM Mountain time. Estimated arrival time was 6 PM Pacific time. After a few morning hiccups (ahem... I forgot my battery for my digital camera, still plugged in at my house!) we were finally on the road at 6:45 AM.

DS did really well on this roadtrip. He is such an awesome kid! He played games, watched movies, slept, talked with us etc. But he never really complained about being in the car for such a long time period.

We finally arrived in Santa Barbara around 8:15 PM pacific time. Not bad! There was even a little bit of sunlight left on the horizon

Passing into Utah

Passing into Arizona

Passing into Nevada

Finally saw the ocean!

 

[mikana876]

Santa Barbara is beautiful! We just love this city. Our family members who live here are very lucky!

DS made cupcakes with his great, great Auntie

They took us to the Santa Barbara zoo. A very neat little zoo! We've been to the San Diego Zoo many times (a must-do if you haven't before!), but we were skipping it this trip, so this was a nice little substitute.

Feeding the black swans

 

[mikana876]

After the zoo, we picked up burgers from a local burger joint, Habit Burger. They were the best fast food burgers I've ever had anywhere! I'm not a big burger person, and I actually enjoyed these burgers.

Then we went to a local playground called (I think) Shipwreck Playground. It was an adorable, themed playground! It even had a carousel (which scared DS, he wanted off almost immediately).

 

[mikana876]

After visiting with them for a few days, we said our goodbyes and headed over to Anaheim/L.A. We have family here as well, and DS got to meet his great grandpa for the first time. They really got along so well! We decided to plan a family reunion next year, so hopefully we'll get to see everybody again soon.

While in the area we went to DL one day, and DCA another day. DS loved loved LOVED Disney! He is definitely a Disney addict after this trip. It's been 20 days since we were actually in Disney and he still talks about it daily. He has such a good memory that it blows me out of the water sometimes

Both days we started at rope drop. The first day we were the 4th car in the parking lot! The weather was AWESOME, lots of clouds that kept the temperature down, but no rain . Crowds were also lower than what we are used to. We rarely waited longer than 20 minutes for a ride (except TSMM, 45 minute wait at rope drop).

While waiting for the gates to open, I snapped a few shots of the flowers. Even the flowers in Disney are nicer

 

[mikana876]

First day was DL, no MM. After rope drop we headed straight towards Peter Pan. That line fills up fast! Thankfully it moved quickly and we waited probably 20 min. DS absolutely loved watching the queen peak through the curtains above the Snow White ride. He loves to talk about how she "was looking at him". At first he was apprehensive while waiting in line for Peter Pan. Having never been to an amusement park before, I'm sure he just wasn't sure what to expect, or what exactly was going on. Once we were on the ride though he "got" it, and immediately wanted to ride it (and every other ride) again and again and again! Kinda funny that a carousel scares him, but he loves dark rides at Disneyland (even Haunted Mansion, Snow White, POTC etc.) We rode many rides during those first few hours in the park. Most rides at least twice (except Peter Pan, the line was just too long after that first ride, glad we got it in first thing in the morning) and some we rode up to 4 times (Alice in Wonderland).

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Pinocchio's Daring Journey

It's a Small World (Oddly enough, the only ride DS did not really like, and the only one he did not ask to ride again)

 

[mikana876]

Since we rode Alice in Wonderland four times, I got a LOT of pictures from this area.

 

[mikana876]

Right around lunchtime we finished up with Fantasyland. We didn't ride everything, only the rides DS wanted to ride. So no Storybook Canal, no Casey Jr. Train etc.

We decided to go to Mickey's Toontown. We picked up some lunch (just hot dogs) and wandered around the houses. This is one of our favorites areas, the theming is just so fun here! We went to Mickey's house first, but DS got scared once we got to the back of the house, where the line to see Mickey is in a dark theater-type area. So we left without seeing Mickey

Thankfully since Minnie was out in front of her house DS had no problem seeing her.

DS pressing the button to make the Dalmations bark in the firestation

He loved watching this cake "bake" and then deflate

DS and this little girl became "friends" since we waited in line for Minnie together, and then explored the house together

 

[mikana876]

Mickey's House

 

[mikana876]

Goofy's House

The only picture of Donald's Boat, for some reason DS did not want to go near Donald's Boat

 

[mikana876]

We then picked up some snacks from Tuneup Treats. Some very delicious mangos and strawberries! I really really loved those mangos!

Then we headed over to the Chip N Dale Treehouse and DS saw the popcorn being sold just outside the treehouse. After a quick check for peanut safety we bought him a "small" container.

We then used Fastpasses to ride Roger Rabbit (the only Fastpasses we used or needed for the day, since DS wasn't tall enough to ride any of the other FP rides). Since it was a FP line, I didn't get any pictures of the ride queue.

 

[mikana876]

After Roger Rabbit we left Toon Town and headed towards Winnie the Pooh. On the way, DS fell asleep in his umbrella stroller. I used this as an opportunity to get some non-peanut-safe snacks for myself. When he woke up, we were in the store near the Winnie The Pooh ride. We bought him a small Mickey toy, used the restrooms and then made our way to the ride.

The wait wasn't too bad, but the line really slowed down once we started to get close to the ride. Suddenly DS declared that he had to go potty. We were too close to the front of the line for one of us to stay in line, while the other two headed to the bathroom. Luckily we didn't have to think about it too long, suddenly a bunch of people from the front of the line came walking back informing everyone that the ride was down. No more thought needed, we left the line (with everyone else) and headed to the bathrooms. We then went to POTC instead.

 

[mikana876]

Coming out of POTC put us right at Tarzan's treehouse so we went up. DS wanted to be carried up, and oh my goodness, that thing is a climb while holding a little one!

 

[mikana876]

We then headed to Haunted Mansion and snapped a couple pics on the way

 

[mikana876]

Then we decided to see if Winnie the Pooh was up and running yet. And thankfully it was, and the line was much shorter than it was the last time we waited in line.

 

[mikana876]

We got dinner at Rancho del Zocalo (our usual dinner spot at DL) and then decided to head over to Tomorrowland.

The fountain at Rancho del Zocalo

 

[mikana876]

First we went to BLAB. I was too busy shooting during the ride to take any pictures! Then we headed to Autopia, DS loved being able to drive a car! When I show people the pictures of him on the ride, I usually say "We were so tired from driving to Cali for 13 hours, that we decided to just let DS drive", then show them the picture. Haha, the look on their face is always priceless! They can't tell if I'm being serious or not. Of course I then laugh and explain that it's just a ride at DL. After autopia, DS started showing signs of being tired. It was about 7:30 PM. We decided to call it a day, and headed back to the hotel. A pretty good day all around.

 

[mikana876]

The next day we planned to hit DCA at rope drop. It was nice to be able to sleep in a little bit! As soon as rope drop hit, we moved with the masses toward TSMM. Geez that line gets long quick! We went straight there and still ended up waiting 45 minutes for that ride. It was the longest wait of our entire trip. DS loved it and wanted to ride it again, but by then the long was 1 1/2 hours and we weren't about to wait that long for a ride. On the plus side DS did really well during the 45 minute wait. He really had become a little line-pro already! He quietly played with his toys. He really loved the giant Mr. Potato head, but unfortunately it wasn't on when we went passed it.

On the way into the park

My little line-pro!

Putting on our 3D glasses

On the ride

 

[mikana876]

Then we made our way through the boardwalk area and got some DELICIOUS corn dogs! Those are probably my favorite corn dogs in the world

 

[mikana876]

Next up: The Little Mermaid

Playing in line