gsrieff
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2015
- Messages
- 384


Here's how the FIRST day went....but before, a few details that pertain to how our trip took place.
- Spontaneously planned (11 days beforehand) for 60th Celebration offerings
- I went with my pregnant sister (17 weeks)
- We stayed with family, and drove in daily from Fountain Valley
- 2 full park hopping days (Friday the 19th & Saturday the 20th)
- Last time we were in the parks: me-4 years, her-10 years

We got through security in less than 5 minutes, and headed to the turnstiles. We were maybe 10 people back from the gates. Waited for rope drop on the left side of the hub, because it was a significantly smaller crowd. With 'Live the Magic' playing, we walked to Peter Pan and managed a 10 minute wait. Then we did all of FL before going to Carnation for our Mickey Waffle Reservations! While we had breakfast the Dapper Dan's sang on the trolley, and Chef Oscar came out to chat with us about our meal! PERFECT MORNING!
The crowd levels on Friday were fantastic! Keeping in mind that my sister was pregnant and that we skipped the big rides, we didn't wait longer than 10 minutes for any ride. Most were walk-ons. Churros. We got a ton of rides in, I upgraded to an AP, and then we hopped to DCA around 1:00pm.
We went straight to Cars Land because sister had never seen it. We weren't thrilled with Luigi's, but had fun on Mater's. From there we went to Ghiradelli to split a cookie sundae. Did everything on the pier she could, minus TSMM. We were saving that for Saturday morning. Split a turkey leg. Stood in stand-by for Soarin' (longest line of the day 35 min) It was so good! We knew we had to ride it again the next day, but with a FP. Hopped back over to DL to set up shop on MS for PTN and Forever at 6:00pm.
For me, the main goal of this trip was to experience the night time entertainment that is ending on September 5th. So, waiting 3 hours was already in the plan. Regularly I would never spend precious park time for that. During our feet resting time, we people watched and had a lovely CM interaction with custodial. He came by to empty the trash a few times and we chatted about where we were from, how long it had been since we were at DL, and if we would ever move to California. He ended it by giving us each brand new CM pins. Brought a huge smile to our faces! I should have stopped by City Hall to mention his name.
PTN was so beautiful in person. I have Ariel ears that I wore the entire trip, and during the parade she motioned to them to say she loved them. I am almost 30 years old, but that moment of connection with her made me feel like a a little girl again, and once more, I was brought to tears by Disney magic.
We watched Disneyland Forever, and I joined in with the crowd as we all sung along. Afterwards, we walked to Bengal BBQ for beef and chicken. Then we called it a night, and as I drove back to Fountain Valley, I was in disbelief of how perfect the day had been.


