Which Pooh character are you ? April 18-22 trip report **** Completed***

[cinderkelly]

Hi All!​

This is my very first ever trip report so welcome along! My family has this game we like to play. We believe most everyone's personality fits with a character from Winnie The Pooh, and we sure do have ours!

So....introductions!

Me, Kelly, I'm totally a Rabbit. I'm a bit neurotic, planner extraordinaire, self admitted perfectionist.
My dear husband, Bob, Tigger all the way. Loud, fun, goofy, and full of energy
Our daughter, Kiya (7) she's a Roo. Her and her Daddy are BFF's. Cute as a button
My kids from my first marriage who live with us also went on this trip..
My son, Dray (21) he's a Eeyore through and through. Quiet, self conscious and sweet as can be
My daughter, Devin ( she turned 17 on this trip) yep she's a Pooh. The first words out of her mouth in the morning" are we going to stop to eat?" Would give you the shirt off her back.

Day 1 April 18
And away we go! This is our second trip to Disneyland. We took Kiya when she turned 5, but the first time to DLR for my older 2. Bob and I had to work until 3:00 on the Saturday we left, we own a small salon/spa in Colorado and we are both massage therapists and hairdressers. ( don't judge my hair in the photos, I'm on vacation!) we had an 8:00 pm flight out of DEN, which was thankfully uneventful ( flying makes me nervous) and landed in Orange County around 9:45, grabbed a cab and away we go to the Paradise Pier Hotel! We got a great 6th floor room with 2 queens and a "daybed" overlooking parts of Paradise Pier, we could see the top of Mickey's Fun Wheel from our window. I usually take tons of pictures but somehow didn't manage to snap one of that view. It was close to 11:00 by the time we got settled in our room so it was high ho, high ho it's off to bed we go since we had early entry at California Adventure at 7:00 am the next morning. Man 5:45 comes around fast!

 

[adSimba]

I'm interested to see how this goes (and your hair)

 

[kaoden39]

Hi! I look forward to reading about your trip!

 

[cinderkelly]

I'm interested to see how this goes (and your hair)

Hi! Ha! The hair.... It's just short

Hi! I look forward to reading about your trip!

hi Michele! Thanks for following along! More chapters coming soon...with lots of pics!

 

[cinderkelly]

Day 2 April 19 ( part 1)

As I had suspected all along 5:45am came around awfully fast! But I had my heart set on being at the gates of CA before they opened up for early entry so the bugle sounded and I rallied the troops and away we went like a herd of turtles. It's tough getting kids up that early, you know? I managed to snap a couple of pics of the kids with Goofy in the lobby of PPH before we set off



We headed off across the street and cut through the Grand Californian ( love that you can do this) into DTD on our way over to CA. I think the Grand is beautiful but was not even close to in the budget for this trip. ( someday?? )

First in line at the gates!!!! Woo hoo! Even the CM at bag check said "wow, you're early!" Yea, yea, I know, I'm a rabbit, remember? Anyhoo.. The big kids and I secured our spot at the CA entry gate while DH went over to get a stroller for Kiya. We still get her a stroller because we walk pretty fast and by the end of the night her poor little legs just can't hold out. This will probabably be the last time she will fit in the stroller, it's getting a little cramped .
I love the little countdown they do before they open the gates but I wish they did a welcome show like they do at MK. It just builds the excitement ! So we headed off with the rest of the early risers to Cars Land!! This is one of our favorite attractions, so we try to start and end our trip with them.

Probably the only time you'll see a 10 min wait here!



Seeing this always gives me goosebumps! . The theming is incredible. We had a great ride and headed over to ToT. Now I hadn't been on ToT yet and neither had Kiya so we were both kinda nervous. But I was all " if she's going to go, so am I" and we pretty much walked on that one too. The attraction itself is amazing but I couldn't wait for it to be over! I think the part I hated the most was when they shoot you up to go back down. I kept feeling like we were going to bust out of the roof Willy Wanka style!
I didn't mind the going down part, but no thank you on the getting shot through the roof feeling! Kiya loved it of course. I love that kid. After that we headed on over to TSMM, one of my favorites. I grew up in the 80's playing Super Mario Brothers so I think it feeds my inner gamer geek.. At some point I guilted my DH into stopping for a real family photo ( he hates that)

We spent most of the morning at CA, doing Mickey's Fun Wheel ( non swinging for Bob, Kiya and I, swinging for the big kids), Goofy's Sky School and the big kids rode California Screamin'. In wasn't ready for that one yet after the ToT trauma!
It was getting close to lunch time and we were all feeling a little rumbly in our tumblies so we decided to head over to DL and grab some lunch and see where Gabby was. Gabby is our other stylist in the salon that was there the same time as we were. She always wanted to take her son to DL and when we planned our trip we said " Hey, we are going, why don't you just go at the same time and we will close down the salon for a couple of days!" Cool bosses, right? . One thing I really love about DLR is how easy it is to park hop!

Part 2 coming up.... Where's Gabby??

 

[wiscbugs]

Off to a great start!

 

[kaoden39]

Nice update!

I drove my husband nuts last trip. Every time we saw a photopass photographer we stopped to do pictures. He wasn't thrilled, that is until we got our disc of pictures in the mail. Then I started hanging them on the walls. He now understands the madness and so do our kids. The girls and I are going on a girls only trip in September and my daughters are already planning all the pictures out.

 

[Dizfamof5]

Dying to know where Gabby is?!?!?
Following along....

 

[cinderkelly]

Off to a great start!

Thanks for following along!

Nice update!

I drove my husband nuts last trip. Every time we saw a photopass photographer we stopped to do pictures. He wasn't thrilled, that is until we got our disc of pictures in the mail. Then I started hanging them on the walls. He now understands the madness and so do our kids. The girls and I are going on a girls only trip in September and my daughters are already planning all the pictures out.

If I had my way I would stop for them all the time since I'm always the one taking the pics! You'd swear I never go on any of the trips because I'm never in any of the pictures! If I can manage to get a couple done with a Photopass person I'm in luck! Girls only trip sounds like so much fun!

Dying to know where Gabby is?!?!?
Following along....

Hi thanks for joining in!

 

[kaoden39]

Thanks for following along!


If I had my way I would stop for them all the time since I'm always the one taking the pics! You'd swear I never go on any of the trips because I'm never in any of the pictures! If I can manage to get a couple done with a Photopass person I'm in luck! Girls only trip sounds like so much fun!

Hi thanks for joining in!

We're going for Dapper Days too so we get to dress up too! My daughters are both adults 21 and 22 at the time of the trip. So, this will be a totally different kind of trip for us.

 

[cinderkelly]

We're going for Dapper Days too so we get to dress up too! My daughters are both adults 21 and 22 at the time of the trip. So, this will be a totally different kind of trip for us.

Oh how fun! I've never done Dapper Days but it looks like a total blast! I still love taking girl trips with my mom, we always have so much fun!

 

[NJlauren]

Following along! I'm hoping to get out to DL sometime in the next few years.

 

[cinderkelly]

Following along! I'm hoping to get out to DL sometime in the next few years.

Hi Lauren! So glad to have you here! I hope to post an update sometime this evening! Who knew writing a TR can be so consuming!!
Omg, I see in your signature your leaving for a trip in 4 days !

 

[NJlauren]

Hi Lauren! So glad to have you here! I hope to post an update sometime this evening! Who knew writing a TR can be so consuming!!
Omg, I see in your signature your leaving for a trip in 4 days !

I know 4 days!!! I can't wait hopefully will have a TR when I get back!

 

[cinderkelly]

Day 1 April 19 ( part 2 )

Before we headed over to DL I swung by the RSR fastpass machines to see if here were any left for the day because we wanted to ride it again after dark. I was pretty surprised 1. That there were still some left and 2. Our return time was for 4:00-5:00. I think I pulled them around noon. Ok, so with FP in hand we headed on across the courtyard.

DL was pretty busy that day because it was the last day of the Star Wars convention so we headed straight to the French Market for lunch. We must have all been starving because our bill was right around $90..... For quick service! Ok, yes I think we all got entrees and dessert ( I think we all got so used to the free dining plan we scored on our last trip to DW it was like food free for all!). The food was good though, I had the French dip, big kids both got the shrimp po' boy, Dh got the jambalaya and Kiya got of course, Mac n cheese. I think that girl is on a mission to try the Mac n cheese around the world!
We all got either chocolate cake or bananas foster cheesecake ( yum!)

After lunch we realized we'd better swing by and pick up Indiana Jones FP's because I knew it was closing for refurb the very next day. None of us had been on it before and we wanted to ride it before it closed. I think our FP return time was between 5:05 and 6:05. Must have been right after we pulled those FP the attraction went down.....for a loooong time.

pretty much right after we got Indy PF we were walking through Adventureland and there she was! Gabby!

This was Bob and I with Gabby at Halloween, we kinda get into it just a little bit
Totally but it's the only pic I have of her

We saw her in Adventureland for a split second and then she was whisked away with the crowd. Its amazing how you can travel to the same destination as someone else and really never see them!
After the Gabby sighting we rode a few more things..
I like how the boats go outside on IASW in DL


I think Pirates at DL just edges out Pirates at DW

Then we went over to Tomorrowland and the big kids rode Space Mountain and a few other things when we decided to try and get Fantasmic FP. Yellow zone, ok. By that time it was getting close to our RSR FP window to be over so we chose to skip walking back over to CA. I think by that time we were all starting to loose some steam and I kept checking Mousewait to see if Indy was up and running yet. We had all but given up hope when my app updated and aaaaaahhhh! It showed it was open again 5 min before our FP window was up. So we hightailed over to Indy and hopped on. I'm glad we got to experience the attraction but am I getting old or is it super loud???

Believe it or not we were getting hungry again ( I blame all the walking on my huge appetite) so we decided on Plaza Inn for the famous fried chicken. Holey mackerel they give you a lot of food!! The chicken was really great though! After dinner Bob Kiya and I were fading so fast so we decided to head back to PP hotel and call it a night. The two big kids decided to stay and close down the park but completely forgot about the F! Fastpasses!

Tomorrowland is beautiful at night!
I felt kinda guilty not using either our RSR FP or our F! FP but sometimes that's the way it goes. We got back to the hotel and not 30 minutes later I hear the fireworks.....how could I have forgotten about the fireworks?????!! We could catch a fizzle or two of them if we pressed our right cheek against the window
But I was too exhausted to run outside, I think at that time my feel could have easily fallen off. Goodnight first night....two more days to play!

Up next....Devin's birthday!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

.

 

[cinderkelly]

Following along - wow, it's been 10 years since I've been back to DL. Looking forward to going back with grandkids one day, unless I can convince some young ladies to go with me long before then; I'm not sure if I can wait another 10! Sure is nice to remember our great first family trip with your stories and pictures.
Edited to add - we just had the Which Pooh character are you? conversation at work no more than 3 weeks ago - I was unanimously voted into Rabbit!

Ha! Yea fellow Rabbit!!!! . Thanks for being here! We really like the ease of DL for shorter trips. I'm sure it's so different than it was for you 10 years ago! We really like California Adventure too.

 

[cinderkelly]

Day 2 April 20
Happy birthday Devin!

CA had early entry again that morning and we had every intention of trying to make it but nobody managed to wake up early, plus we needed to check out of PP and into the DLH that morning so we took it a little easier in the AM. It was another beautiful day so we loaded up our luggage and walked on over to the DLH, it was a very easy walk, maybe 5 minutes ( thank goodness for rolling luggage). The bellman at PP said they would transfer the bags for us but we decided it was just as easy to take them ourselves and store them at the DLH if our room wasn't ready yet. Check in went smooth and easy and low and behold our room was ready!!! This was about 9:00am. Yea! For us we really liked the vibe of the DLH, more of a "resort" kinda feel. They gave us a room on the 6th floor ( 6 must have been our magic number ) overlooking DTD in the Adventure tower. The location was amazing! We were right off the elevators so all we had to do was go down and out the back doors and Bam there you were right by Earl of Sandwich!

The view from our window


I LOVE the headboards! For those of you that don't know there is a switch on the center light that turns on the backlight of the fireworks and another switch that plays "a dream is a wish your heart makes". Music box style. It is amazing! Totally gave me goosebumps!. The room was huge, two queens and a daybed that was plenty big enough for my son, who is 5'10".

Check out the Mickey hands holding the lights!

After we checked out the room we walked on over to CA to spend the morning before we went over to DL for the day. We get up to the gates and like a typical Mom I'm checking in with everyone to make sure they have their park tickets out and ready. Kiya pulls her room key out her lanyard and says " where's my ticket?" hold the phone....WHAT???? The backstory to this is we were at DL the day before and my son just happened to find her ticket on the ground as we were walking and my DH told her he would give her one more chance to be a big girl and keep her own ticket in her lanyard. Now if it had been up to me there is no way I would have ever given it back to her. So needless to say I FREAKED out! And naturally my DH being the Tigger was all " no big deal, I'll just take her to guest services and they will print her a new ticket." I was certain we were doomed! I had visions of having to fork over another few hundred $$ for her ticket.... So the two big kids and I went in and rode Little Mermaid and as soon as we got off the ride there they were, new ticket in hand, no big deal. I'm sure this stuff happens al the time. Thankfully I had kept a screenshot of the receipt when I purchased the tickets on line so they had the conf. #. Ok, crisis averted. This is why I LOVE magic bands!!!!
We stayed in CA most of the morning doing some attractions we hadn't gotten to the day before like Grizzly River Rapids, which turned out to be a family favorite for this trip. We managed to fit in Monsters, Inc, Silly Syphony Swings, jumpin Jellyfish, GRR again and TSMM again.

In line shenanigans at TSMM.
We then headed back over to Cars Land and stopped to get a mid day snack when we came upon this behemoth at the Cozy Cone


Whoa! That's one big ice cream cone ya got there!
After that and a little shopping we walked back over to DL because Devin and I had an ADR at Blue Bayou for a mom/Daughter dinner. We managed to get in a couple of rides on BTMRR, HM, and Dumbo before it was time for us to check in for Dinner. Bob and Kiya took off and went back to the hotel to swim and Dray set off to conquer SM.
checking in for our dinner ressie at 5:15 I told the hostess we would wait for a waterside table and she kinda gave me attitude and said immediately it would be an additional 45 min. wait ( I'm sure everyone wants a waterside table) and I told her fine, no problem, and she gave us a buzzer and we sat down. Probably 20 minutes later our buzzer went off and we were seated . We got a nice table behind the fishing boat. Not completely waterside, but still nice.


This was our view, kinda dark, but you can see the boat ( barely) in the background.
Dinner was really good, we both got the surf -n-turf and we split a creme brûlée for dessert. Our server was a little rushed and disinterested, but oh well. We had a nice dinner. After that Devin and I rode Alice and autotopia when we caught up with Dray. They wanted to do SM again so I sat and waited. I like SM but not after a big dinner! By that time it was getting close to park closing time so we decided to take the monorail back to DTD and we scored the "first class private back compartment"!! It was so cool! You can't tell in the pic but it's the tail end of the Monorail bubble. What an awesome way to end the day!


Up next....who is this guy making an ADR ? Our last full day

 

[cinderkelly]

Day 3 April 21

This was our last full Day an once again did we get up early to make it to EMH? Big fat nope. Oh well, we are supposed to be on vacation, right? Anyhow, we got around and were through the DL gates about 8:30, not too bad. No crisis this morning! Whew!

We spent the majority of the day getting to some attractions we had not yet


Big Thunder Mountain selfie!


This pic didn't turn out very clear but I really love the explosive effects on this attraction!
We also enjoyed splash mountain, but my kids elected to put " the Mom" in front. Guess who got soaked? Me.

I screamed. A lot apparently.
Now my DH is not a cell phone junkie at all but sometime around lunch I see him searching intently on his phone, "what are you doing??" He says " well I thought I'd see if we could get a reservation at that Big Thunder Ranch place for dinner tonight".
Wow! I was shocked, see my husband is a fly by the seat of your pants, never lets me make ADR's kinda guy because he doesn't like to have " plans" on vacation. So we snagged a 6:50 time slot, I was excited!
We went to Jolly Holiday for a light lunch and not too long after that the little one really just wanted to swim so Bob, Kiya and I headed back to the lovely DLH and left the big kids to do what they wanted.
It was a fantastic afternoon to hang around the pool and sip a few cocktails fromTrader Sams!

The little one had a blast playing in the pool and on the neet monorail slides and we even met a nice family from Canada.
Three hours went by really fast and it was time to head upstairs and get changed for dinner. We took advantage of the monorail again and we're back in DL in no time, checked into BTR and got a great table just to the left of the stage.
Sorry to say I didn't even think about taking any pics at dinner I blame it on the Mai Tia's by the pool..
But dinner was good and reall fun. All you wish to eat bbq ribs and sausage, corn and cornbread and coleslaw. We also topped dinner off with a huge family size skillet of s'mores.......yum!. We finished the night with a bit of shopping at DTD, it was more like me plotting the shopping excursion I had planned for the next day

 

[Elevationist]

Kelly! How did I totally miss that you're doing a TR until now? I'm a terrible DIS friend!

I am absolutely loving reading your report! I have a DL trip in mind for 5 years from now, and I have already picked out DLH for my stay. Your photos and descriptions of your room are just reconfirming my choice!

Can't wait to read more, lady!