We're Sailing to....Disneyland? Lots of Pics! GANGSTA KINGDOM 8/31

[MAGICFOR2]

We are staying at the Cartona Inn...I think is what Donald said, he made the ressie. I dont know anything about it...suppose to be 2 blocks away with a kitchenette and we will only be there to sleep anyway.

Haven't heard of it or seen it, but I'm sure it will be great for you guys!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I just had our dinner at GK half done with lots of pics, and now it's gone, so I'll have to try again tomorrow - I'm too tired now. Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!

 

[Camster0307]

I just had our dinner at GK half done with lots of pics, and now it's gone, so I'll have to try again tomorrow - I'm too tired now. Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!

This is my biggest fear when I'm writing my TR! Each installment takes so long to put together; and then I'm afraid of mistakenly hitting the wrong button and it disappearing. I've heard some people type it first as a word doc. and then copy and paste it - at least I think that's what they're doing. (of course, I don't think to do that!)

Take your time - we'll still be here!

 

[Bloodhound]

Im so sorry you lost all your hard work....Hows moving going?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Im so sorry you lost all your hard work....Hows moving going?

Do you mean Goofy and Tink moving to Texas? They left this morning for a visit to check out the housing market, jobs, etc. They are going to be here for another year to finish their Masters degree in teaching - so they're not positive where they'll go.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

This is my biggest fear when I'm writing my TR! Each installment takes so long to put together; and then I'm afraid of mistakenly hitting the wrong button and it disappearing. I've heard some people type it first as a word doc. and then copy and paste it - at least I think that's what they're doing. (of course, I don't think to do that!)

Take your time - we'll still be here!

Thanks, my friend!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

After we had opened all the closet doors, checked out the bathrooms and frig, and looked at our view about 20 times, it was time to go have dinner with Goofy!

We decided to wear our pin lanyards, which we don't usually do because we don't trade pins - we just buy the ones we want. We wanted to be all "disneyfied" for this important occasion! I wore my Mickey "It's my birthday!" T-shirt, and pink Mickey crocs. Minnie wore a Daisy shirt that said "I'm turning 1." Her birthday is this month.

When we got to the podium, we were greeted by a friendly CM who asked if we had any special occasions - boy, did we! We told her that it was my birthday, almost Minnie's birthday, and we were celebrating the graduation from college of Goofy and Tink 2 weeks earlier! We got a funny look for that last one, but I thought it was worth celebrating!

We were seated in the waiting area to wait for a picture with Pluto - and were promptly called over to the picture area. Pluto was so fun! He greeted everyone and signed his autograph for us! The CMs were really great about not only taking the pic to sell, but also taking photos with our cameras:

After our pic, we were seated in a nice booth near the entrance. We were in a great spot, because we were elevated and could see the characters coming around, and we could see all the action down below! As soon as we ordered our drinks, this lost little girl came over to greet us:

She was so cute! She had this little girl voice and Minnie loved her! She asked for permission to visit with her, and wrote her name on our table! Donald was a little shy, so she just talked to him from across the table for a little bit. She did ask his name and how old he was.

Right after we said good-bye to Alice, Fairy Godmother asked if she could visit with us!

We started visiting the buffet - the food was delicious! They were serving Prime Rib, Caribbean chicken, pork roast,
lots of delicious sides and salads and fabulous desserts!

I had the Prime Rib and chicken, some greek salad, fresh pineapple, smoked green beans, great sourdough rolls (A california specialty), shrimp cocktail, some yummy dessert - little chocolate tarts, cheesecake, bread pudding, some kind of mango dessert. It was fun that the desserts were in tiny pieces, because we could taste a little of everything.

when I came back to the table with my plate, we had another visitor:

Donald was across the table from Dale, and thought it was really funny that he was drinking Jiminy's soda!

More in next post:

 

[Bloodhound]

I love the pluto Pics ...he is my main mutt....LOL

 

[MAGICFOR2]

[/SIZE]While Jiminy and I were dishing up our food, we heard some loud banging in the kitchen and all around the dining room - like pots and pans dropping everywhere! A couple of the kitchen CMs actually dropped a couple of things on purpose! I looked up and said "Oh, Oh!" and one of the CMs serving said, "Goofy does that every night!" Goofy came out and ran around the room and then started dancing with the kids!

Donald was excited to run down and dance, but didn't want to get too close!

Goofy came over to visit with us! We took some pics, and he sat down across from Donald and had a conversation with me, by writing on the tablecloth! He asked how old Donald was, and wrote that he was 76! He said Mickey is almost 80! I told him we enjoyed our dinner, and he asked if he was the best!

Donald didn't want to get too close, but he and Goofy did the "rock."

Minnie came over, and she got a hug!

Our server asked if she could celebrate our birthdays now so we said yes! She said the next available character would be over! We were finished eating, and the kids were getting a little restless. We waited about 10 minutes, and were thinking we might just leave, but I'm glad we didn't.

Alice came with a group of CMs! Our server announced that
we were celebrating the birthdays, and that Goofy and Tink had just graduated from college! The whole dining room cheered loudly for them! The CMs sang Happy Birthday, led by Alice!

We had cupcakes with candles, and Minnie and I got birthday buttons!

We left with full tummies and fun memories! When we were leaving, a guy at the next table congratulated Goofy! Nice guy. We walked around DTD and looked around for awhile, then went back to our suite and to bed - we had an early call coming from Mickey!

 

[Bloodhound]

very cute that Donald warmed up to Minnie....lol That Goofy's Kitchen really looks like a fun happening place...great pics...thanks for sharing

 

[karajeboo]

Such fun pics!!! Everyone looks great! And I finally know what YOU look like, too! Goofy's Kitchen sounds like a crazy, fun Chef Mickey's!!!!! And great characters, too!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

very cute that Donald warmed up to Minnie....lol That Goofy's Kitchen really looks like a fun happening place...great pics...thanks for sharing

Yes, he actually blushed when we asked him about Minnie! GK is really fun! I loved the art deco type design of the place! Much improved over our visit years ago! They really do alot to keep it fun now!

Such fun pics!!! Everyone looks great! And I finally know what YOU look like, too! Goofy's Kitchen sounds like a crazy, fun Chef Mickey's!!!!! And great characters, too!

Thanks! I think it is just like Chef Mickey's! I haven't been to CM, but I'm guessing its alot alike! It's fun to put a face to our posts, isn't it? I hope we get a chance to visit in person in March!

 

[karajeboo]

Oh, March! I will have to work on that!!! As long as it's not right around Easter I should be good to go! I really think I'm using my APs to meet all my CFWW pals!!!!

 

[Camster0307]

Great pictures of Goofy' Kitchen - it does look like alot of fun!

The kids are so adorable and I'm glad you guys were given some special treatment for all your special occasions!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Oh, March! I will have to work on that!!! As long as it's not right around Easter I should be good to go! I really think I'm using my APs to meet all my CFWW pals!!!!

?

Who could be better

Great pictures of Goofy' Kitchen - it does look like alot of fun!

The kids are so adorable and I'm glad you guys were given some special treatment for all your special occasions!

It was special!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

After a night of peaceful sleep with our separate rooms and comfortable beds, we had a phone call at 6:05am! I let it ring and ring, hoping that Donald would get to hear Mickey! It turns out that Goofy and Tink hit the speaker phone button, but it wouldn't work in the bedroom, so it didn't get answered. It rang again 5 min. later, and I picked it up to hear Mickey's cheerfull voice - "there's doins goin on! Time to get up!" We were ready for our first day at DL!

We took showers with our cute little toiletries (well, not me - I only use natural products):

We had our breakfast in the room, which by the way does not come with a microwave - you have to request one for medical reasons in advance. I was told by the CM at the front desk when I called that "we don't allow anyone to have a microwave for food reasons." I argued with housekeeping and told them we had baby food to heat up, and we couldn't just send the baby to the snack bar to get her food. He laughed and brought one up to us, which was also great for heating up biscuit sandwiches.

On our way out, I found that the hotel had decent complimentary coffee in the doorway for us! Big surprise for a Disney Hotel! We planned to be at the gate at 7:30 for our 8:00 rope drop- in the past, they opened the gates at about 7:45 and you could go to main street and see some characters and get back to the entrance to the land you wanted to be in and when they made the announcement, you would already be inside the park! Well, this morning, they only had two lines open for bag check, and then they didn't open the gates until 8:00 sharp! There were really long lines to get in!

**A difference here - when you stay on-property at WDW, you get a "key to the world card" that is your room key and your charge card and your park hopper ticket all on one card! At DLR it isn't done that way. You get a room key card, a slip of paper for charging that has to be signed and had your account number from the hotel on it - you have to show ID - and you get paper tickets. I had printed e-tickets at home, and I was hoping that the hotel could give us tickets instead of going through the turnstyle to do it, but they couldn't. It had to be done by us at the turnstyles. This is an area where I think DLR needs to get up to speed with WDW! ***

OOPS, not walking to the gate, but the excitement was the same!
We hurried over to our first photo op:

We were all wearing a shirt with our fav character this day. We had Papa, Gramma, Mommy, Daddy and the kids' names on the Mickey heads. Gotta love that Disign board! Tink is the one who figured out how to download them and then personalize them!
**Notice the castle! It is definately smaller, but I think it is pretty and has a character of it's own. This is Sleeping Beauty's Castle - at WDW it is Cinderella's castle! There is no restaurant or dream suite here. Stay tuned for more pics.***


Now, our itinerary was out the door, as we realized that Donald was not going to be ready for Peter Pan or Dumbo, so we decided to just play it by ear and see what he could do! Jiminy ran to Buzz to get FP, and we headed to Nemo. The line was already 40 minutes when we got there, but we figured it wasn't getting smaller and we would all enjoy this one.

This Nemo ride is Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. You actually climb down into a submarine through a hatch in the top, and are seated on benches in front of port holes, where you watch the action in the dark. Having been in the clam shells in Finding Nemo at Epcot, I was sure Donald would love this ride! Just as we got to the front, and he saw where we were going, he started screaming and crying and frantically reaching for Jiminy, begging, "papa, get me out of here!" It was heart wrenching.

Now Tink was sure she could calm him down once the ride got started and there was something fun to look at. The CM, however, wouldn't let him on. I applaud him for that. He said it was a 20 minute ride in an enclosed space, and that he had to consider the comfort of the other passengers. Ya think? So Goofy left the line with him and was given a pass to come back, but he decided not to ride.

Miss Minnie enjoyed her first ride, even with the loud explosions and exciting story line - not your pretty clam shell ride by any means, although there was some pretty coral and jellyfish to look at, and the Nemo characters were really cute. Here is Minnie on her first Disney ride:

More next post:

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Here are a few of the pics that turned out. Of course they requested no flash, and I couldn't seem to get my camera not to flash, so I turned it off and just enjoyed the ride.

a pic of the entrance sign:

We enjoyed this ride, but felt bad for Donald and Goofy to miss it.

Next up: The Race is On!!!

 

[bigskyernurse]

I am loving your trip report! Thanks for the great pics! You're making me wish I was there!

I hate to say this (cause the ride is so popular) but we rode the nemo sub ride last fall, and since we had previously been on the Nemo ride at Epcot, I couldn't help but compare the two, and personally feel the WDW version is so much more fun. It might have been where I was sitting, but it was so hard to see everything through the little windows, where at Epcot it is all around you. The kids loved the WDW version so much that we must have ridden it 10 times in our last trip (we were there in Jan and there were never long waits for it). After waiting 40 minutes in line for the DL version last fall, I can honestly say we will be skipping it on our next trip. Even my munchkins weren't that thrilled with it. Don't get me wrong, it's a cute ride, just not worth the long lines IMO when there is so much else to do at DL.

Am I the only one who feels this way??

 

[Bloodhound]

Hi, I really like all the Nemo Pics...Ive always wanted to be in a submarine( I was a Jaques Coustowe sp? fanataic since I was young ) and the fact that you actually get to go bellow the water is the appeal for me.

 

[Camster0307]

Tammie - Great update!

First of all, you all look great in your t-shirts! Can I say again how much I love all the colors you chose? They all go so well together.

DisneylandParis does the same thing w/their room keys/park tix/room charge card. I remember having to always carry around all three; they looked at my like I had three heads when I asked about it all being on just one card! I thought it was just a "Europe" thing; funny to hear they do it that way too in DL. Wonder why all the parks can't be in-synch and do things the same way?

How did you like the Nemo sub ride? I always thought it looked cool - and we loved the old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. My girls really do enjoy the Nemo ride at Epcot - how do you think they compare?