Which way to Disneyland? TR (comparison update 7/26)

[kaoden39]

I just love the girls sunglasses. They look so cute with their dresses.

 

[onelilspark]

Delurking to say I love your TR! Thinking about heading to DL next May, so I'm paying close attention

 

[tmkinney]

Another great update! I love Tower of Terror, it is my favorite ride! Love the sunglasses the girls picked out.

 

[Princess_K]

It looks like your DD is having a great birthday so far! I love her hat, and the sunglasses are too cute!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

I was going to bypass some rides at DL and CA that I know are at WDW since we are going in March, but now that you said TSM is different, I'll have to not skip the ones we wanted to do.

I think someone else asked, and I missed the answer, but my Mom wants to know where you got the girls dresses, she wants to get one for my niece.

You are very brave for ToT, I went on my honeymoon in WDW, that was the agreement with my DH for him doing all the other stuff I wanted to do, and I was screamin' the whole time, I'm not a big thrills ride seeker (not that type of ride anyways).

Congrats on the teaching job, did you take it?

 

[cannp123165]

Another great update! I didn't know Soarin' opened early! I will be doing that in October!

 

[Me&3]

I like the toy story pic. can't wait for more.

 

[julezdisney]

Just caught up on your last THREE updates and I just love them's! The girls look like they're having a great time and I can see you are too! I just love the Monster's Inc. ride. The door room is my favorite too.

 

[pmama]

I just love the girls sunglasses. They look so cute with their dresses.

Aren't those sunglasses perfect?

Delurking to say I love your TR! Thinking about heading to DL next May, so I'm paying close attention

Thanks so much for posting. I'm glad you're enjoying the TR.

Another great update! I love Tower of Terror, it is my favorite ride! Love the sunglasses the girls picked out.

I've heard Tower of Terror is even funner if you don't hold on to the handle bars. I'll have to try that next time.

It looks like your DD is having a great birthday so far! I love her hat, and the sunglasses are too cute!

Aren't those the cutest hats?

I was going to bypass some rides at DL and CA that I know are at WDW since we are going in March, but now that you said TSM is different, I'll have to not skip the ones we wanted to do.

I think someone else asked, and I missed the answer, but my Mom wants to know where you got the girls dresses, she wants to get one for my niece.

You are very brave for ToT, I went on my honeymoon in WDW, that was the agreement with my DH for him doing all the other stuff I wanted to do, and I was screamin' the whole time, I'm not a big thrills ride seeker (not that type of ride anyways).

Congrats on the teaching job, did you take it?

You know I'm not real big on thrill rides either. The girls dresses came via a seller on ebay.

Another great update! I didn't know Soarin' opened early! I will be doing that in October!

It's a great tip! Glad to pass it along.

I like the toy story pic. can't wait for more.

We never miss a 3-D glasses shot.

Just caught up on your last THREE updates and I just love them's! The girls look like they're having a great time and I can see you are too! I just love the Monster's Inc. ride. The door room is my favorite too.

It really was a cute ride. Glad you're all caught up.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

You guys are so cute dressed alike. I love it! And the girls dresses...I aodre those. The red and white are so pretty! Cute sunglasses too! CA looks like a lot of fun. I wish WDW had a big ferris wheel! How cool would that be!? And your hubby and his dad look so much alike it's unreal. And your oldest DD has that same look. You probably hear that all the time. Then Faith is a spitting image of you!

The TSM in DHS spins a good bit too. In circles you mean? I'm hoping you guys caught Fantasmic. I hear it's way better out there. Is that possible? It's such a great show!

Congrats on the job!

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY!! I'm all caught up!! You got A LOT accomplished the morning of Faith's birthday!! I can't wait to hear about Ariel's Grotto! It sounds fabulous!!

 

[miprender]

Yeah DH arrived

My DD6 remembers those dresses from your last TR. She was mad that she doesn't have a sister to dress like her DD loves those sunglasses too. Now she wants a pair.

 

[hlrababy]

Man! I can't believe I just now found this one! I loved your other TR and I am definately here for this one!

 

[pmama]

You guys are so cute dressed alike. I love it! And the girls dresses...I aodre those. The red and white are so pretty! Cute sunglasses too! CA looks like a lot of fun. I wish WDW had a big ferris wheel! How cool would that be!? And your hubby and his dad look so much alike it's unreal. And your oldest DD has that same look. You probably hear that all the time. Then Faith is a spitting image of you!

The TSM in DHS spins a good bit too. In circles you mean? I'm hoping you guys caught Fantasmic. I hear it's way better out there. Is that possible? It's such a great show!

Congrats on the job!

Hmm, wish I'd written down what exactly I thought was different about TSM at CA but to me it felt like the movement was more natural and not just spinning back and forth like in DHS. Unfortunately we didn't get to see Fanstasmic. It was closed for refurb while we were there. I was so disappointed as I had heard it was better too and absolutely love it in WDW. Another time I guess. I'd also like to see how CA looks after they are done doing all the updates like the water show in the Pier.

YAY!! I'm all caught up!! You got A LOT accomplished the morning of Faith's birthday!! I can't wait to hear about Ariel's Grotto! It sounds fabulous!!

Yes we really did get a lot done!

Yeah DH arrived

My DD6 remembers those dresses from your last TR. She was mad that she doesn't have a sister to dress like her DD loves those sunglasses too. Now she wants a pair.

Yea, I figured I better put them in the dresses one more time before they completely outgrew them. The sunglasses were a fun addition.

Man! I can't believe I just now found this one! I loved your other TR and I am definately here for this one!

Hi Heather! So glad you're joining in.

 

[pmama]

We had a great morning on DD's 5th birthday. The girls had a great Magic Morning in DLR and then met up with DH and Papa for a fabulous morning in CA.

I did remember that we also did the Mulholland Madness while in Paradise Pier. It was a roller coaster with no real big drops mostly back and forth jerk motions. Nothing spectacular or Disney about it but the girls loved it.

So we had reservations for 1 p.m. at Ariel's Grotto. I had such a hard time deciding between this or Goofy's Kitchen for DD's birthday but am happy to report we made the right decision. She is soooo into Princesses right now. We showed up about ten minutes early and were given a pager and told to wait. We waited probably 15-20 minutes before we were seated. I did request a comfy semi-circle booth and it was worth the wait.

This picture was actually taken from inside Ariel's Grotto of the drained Pier. I can't wait to come back sometime to see the Pier when it is filled and has the water show.

When our pager went off we were taken down the stairs to meet Ariel. Ariel stands in one spot and you take pictures with her before being seated. Much like CRT and Akershus. They were very insistant that we were only allowed one picture per party. We could not take one with the girls then one with everyone. We chose to get one with just the girls.

We also sat inside which to me is worth the few extra dollars per person. It is a beautiful seating area and nice and cool away from the heat.

Here's a picture of the ceiling.

And the wall behind us.

The girls were given paper crowns to wear. DD5 really wanted to wear hers but the smallest hole was too big for her. How strange. Aren't these made for children? Yet it doesn't even fit a five year olds head. After struggling to make it work she decided to elect daddy to be King Triton of her birthday party.

I didn't take pictures of anything but dessert. I do remember being very unimpressed with the appetizer. It is brought out in a three tier plate stack. The bottom plate had the salad for all 6 of us. It was basically lettuce and in my opinion not even enough for one person. There was some cheese, some veggies, and some jello things. Very unimpressive.

I had chicken, Granita had some kind of fish, and the men enjoyed their steak.

Each princess was announced as they entered the room. Both girls loved meeting the princesses. (After seeing the line for the princesses outside of Toontown the day before, I was very glad we had this setting to meet them.)

We got all the "A-list" princessses.

First came Snow White.

Then Cinderella, (I love this pose).

Next up, Sleeping Beauty!

And finally Belle.

DD5 got some grilled chicken on a stick with rice and veggies. She really enjoyed this. She is my good eater. One of her favorite foods is broccoli. "YUM"

Finally the dessert arrived.

Several servers came to sing Happy Birthday to Faith. She loved it.

She especially loved the white chocolate Ariel on top of the dessert.

It was a beautiful display of many different dessert for us all to choose from. We didn't come close to eating it all. The dessert selection was much more impressive than the appetizer selection.
Here's one of only a couple pictures with just the four of us.

First tray!

Second tray!

It really was a great birthday celebration and I know Faith (as well as everyone else) enjoyed themselves.

As we were leaving Faith asked for what we thought at first was the candle. She seemed upset. We moved around the plates and found the candle from her cake and gave it to her. She then turned, burried her face in my shoulder and began to sob. It took some trouble shooting but we all finally figured out what was wrong.

She had received her birthday fun card for her birthday. She had already decided she wanted to buy Sleeping Beauty's Castle "Castle", not "candle". We told her that we would be getting it today. (At DTD after CA). Well, she had expected just like every other birthday party that we would have it ready and wrapped after her birthday lunch. How precious. We finally were able to convince her that we would be going to get it as soon as we left California Adventure today.

So we set out for more adventures in CA.

 

[julezdisney]

I haven't seen the pictures yet for this update (shhh! I'm at work!) but I think it's so sweet how she cried. I'm glad you were able to convince her you were def. gonna get that for her. Sounds like a great time though, can't wait to see the pix when I get home!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

AWWW, so cute how she cried, that she could remember that she gets a gift at dinner, wow.

Oh My Goodness, that dessert looked so good, I would go just for the dessert. Too bad it's princesses and I have two boys, I wonder if DH would let me book a princess meal for us

Can't wait to see what you did next and a picture of Faiths gift.

 

[tmkinney]

That is precious, thinking she wasn't going to get her "candle". The dessert looks yummy, love the one shaped like the seashell.

 

[onelilspark]

Oh, I had to laugh at that ending. When I was a little younger than her I started to cry after dinner with my Grandparents one evening. My Nana yelled in to my Grandfather (whom I call Ba) "What did you do to her!" He says, "Nothing! What's wrong sweetie?" In between sobs I managed to choke out "I...I want ice cream." I had cleaned my plate and when my Nana was cleaning up I thought I wasn't getting dessert!! Oh....I'm 24 now and still hear that story...

Keep that one in your back pocket

 

[ladybugmom]

Oh wow!! Ariel's Grotto looks AMAZING!!! How neat! Ally would LOVE that--Ariel is her favorite! The desserts look incredible--my mouth is watering just looking at your pics! How sweet that Faith thought she was getting her castle right then--kids are sooo literal at this age! Ally gets very upset too if you sway away from the norm/routine.