Disneyland cont'd...
On with the trip report... see below link for the beginning part. :)
Part I
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean & Build-a-Bear
We awoke early on Thursday as we wanted to make it to Early Entry. I think we got there right about 8:00 am and didn’t have to wait very long at all. We wandered around in Fantasyland and rode the King Arthur Carrousel first. Orion didn’t want to get on a horse so he rode on one of the seats. Kurt manned Gia on a horse and I put Marissa on one right next to her. It was the baby’s first time on a carrousel and she loved it. We then rode Dumbo. The kids were apprehensive at first but didn’t put up too big of a fight. Gia and the baby rode with Dad and Orion and I rode together. I went with the kids again to ride the Mad Tea Party teacups and took the baby with us. We then headed over to Tomorrowland to ride Autopia. There was some confusion getting in line and for some reason, Gia got sent back to wait with me. She was pretty mad as she wanted to go as well. We waited for what seemed like eternity… by the way, the line for Autopia always seemed crazy long. And then I saw Kurt and Orion *still* way up in the queue not even near boarding the ride.
Gia was being a royal pain with all the pouting. I took her to the bathrooms by the castle and then we went and rode the teacups again. I thought it might cheer her up. It did… slightly for a little while anyway. We went inside Mad Hatter in Fantasyland and I bought Gia and Marissa matching pink Mickey ears. I had their names embroidered on while we were there. At this point, I’m thinking Kurt and Orion are probably done with Autopia and looking for us so we head back over. Not even! We waited another 5 minutes and finally they came off the ride. They stopped in the booths for their driver’s licenses.
Everyone started to get a bit cranky and hungry so we went to the Carnation Café for breakfast. I loved eating outdoors and the food was yummy! I got the Cinnamon Roll French Toast and Kurt had a Mickey Waffle. I only ate half of my food so Kurt took care of the other half. The kids also had the little Mickey Waffles.
Then, we went over to Frontierland and saw Woody and Jessie! The woman ahead of us was taking a photo of her children and kept messing it up or something because she was cutting off Woody’s head. He pretended to be frightened to be beheaded and it was a funny moment. Other kids kept just walking up even though we were next in line and it was obvious that the characters were trying to leave. The escort told everyone that we were next and would be the last family. The kids walked up and I snapped a few photos. Gia asked Jessie for her autograph but after, I told her that they were leaving and we’d have to get Woody’s autograph later. Woody patted me on the head as he skipped off and then high-fived Kurt. LOL! Fun!
Afterward, we went onto the Sailing Ship Columbia. It was not sailing that day but we got to look around onboard and the nice cast member took a photo of us. Gia couldn’t hear us calling her over for a photo so we just told him to take the photo anyway.
We then went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Awesome ride! Unfortunately, Gia didn’t think so. She sobbed through most of the ride. It was the dark, scary beginning that did it. I kept reassuring her that it was all just pretend but whenever she’d peek her head up, she’d cry and put her head back down.
Then Kurt said he was hungry so we looked for someplace to eat in a hurry. We ended up at Tomorrowland and at the Tomorrowland Terrace. Bleh! The counter service was pretty shoddy and the burgers were pretty lame. The fries were okay. I told Kurt he’d be “paying” for this later. Muhahaha!
We were getting a little irritable with the heat so we headed out of the park and into Downtown Disneyland to spend some money. First we hit Fossil to get a watch for Kurt. None of us had a watch up until now so we were using the cell phone clock to see what time it was. LOL! My excuse? In Alaska, you never really need to know what time it is… in the winter, it’s dark all the time so we just pretend it’s midnight when it’s actually 3:00 pm and in the summer, it’s always light so we just pretend it’s 3:00 pm when it’s actually midnight. We then went and dropped a Benjamin on the Build-a-Bear Workshop. The kids had a blast! The employees there were very nice and upbeat. They helped the kids outfit their stuffed animals in style (as well as squeeze my wallet, LOL!) Orion got a cow with a full outfit and shoes and a beach umbrella to go with it. Gia got a Hello Kitty complete with Mickey outfit with the ears, purse, shoes, and carrier.
After taking the purchases back to the hotel, we came back and decided to take the monorail in. It was a nice ride. Once in the parks, we ventured over to Adventureland so that Kurt could try out the Indiana Jones ride. We hit the bathrooms while we waited and the kids played with the little waterfalls. Kurt came off the ride and said it was probably a good thing that the kids didn’t go with him because they probably would have been afraid. He loved it, though! We went over to the Frontierland Shootin’ Exposition and Kurt and the kids did that for a little while. I went back to the bathrooms to change the baby. We then decided that we’d go and do the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride in Critter Country. Gia was frightened at first for some reason. She saw that it was a dark ride and it took some convincing to get her to calm down… it’s just Pooh bear! We stopped at Pooh Corner and bought some candy and light spinner toys. I got Marissa the cutest little Pooh plush, too.
We did a little more shopping and I picked up a scrapbook in one of the shops. After I bought it, I realized that it was 12x12 format and I had planned on doing our Disneyland album in 8.5x11. Oh well. Maybe I’ll do both sized albums. I also got Orion some light up Mickey Ears and Kurt got personalized leather bracelets for Orion and himself.
It was then time for our priority seating at the Blue Bayou restaurant. This was the only reservation I made ahead of time. We had to wait about 10 minutes but it was worth the wait. The atmosphere is awesome!!! To be able to sit there and watch the boats from the POTC ride was so cool! And it was surprisingly quiet, too. All you hear is the crickets. The food was quite good. Kurt and I both ordered the Prime Rib. He got salad for an appetizer and I got the gumbo. The bread they serve beforehand is wonderful. Marissa practically ate a whole roll by herself. I can’t remember what the kids ordered but they ate most whatever it was. Unfortunately, the kids started acting up about midway through dinner so we didn’t get to enjoy the full experience. Whenever we get back to Disneyland, I will be going to the Blue Bayou again for sure!
We went back to the hotel after dinner as the park was closing. I couldn’t wait to go back the next day. There was just so much left to do!!!
Friday, May 4, 2007
Ariel’s Grotto & the “Almost” Fireworks Show
We woke up late the next day and didn’t get to the park until 10:00 am. We rode Peter Pan’s Flight and Pinnochio’s Daring Journey first. The park started to get a little crowded so we decided to go to California Adventure for awhile and see if we could catch the Visa Character Meet and Greet… time was short but it was worth a shot. As we entered the park, we saw some of the High School Musical Pep Rally performance. We headed back toward Paradise Pier and stopped at Ariel’s Grotto but didn’t see any kind of characters. Shucks! Kurt was hungry but I wasn’t sure if we could eat at Ariel’s without reservations. I went inside and after a short wait, was put on the walk-in list.
We were told to wait about 20-25 minutes but actually got called in like maybe 10-15. Kurt had wandered off to a designated smoking area but we went ahead and allowed them to seat us. Once downstairs, we saw Ariel. I told Gia to go say hi to her and that’s just what she did… and came right back. LOL! I said “Go and meet her and let me take your picture, silly!” It was cute. There was a photographer there who also took a photo of them. I figured this must be the $30 photo everyone was talking about. As I was still waiting to be seated (I think they were confused about whether I was already seated or not), I asked if we could sit outside. The hostess kind of gave me a half answer so I wasn’t sure where we were going to be seated. Turns out it was outside. Yay! It was a little breezy that day but nothing too bothersome. Kurt finally joined us and then we ordered. I ordered the Salmon BLT with Onion Soup and Chocolate Cake. Kurt ordered the Under the Boardwalk Burger with a salad and Chocolate Cake. The kids both got The Captain’s Swell-Sketti with the Apples with Caramel for desert. It also came with the usual celery/carrot sticks with ranch. The food was pretty good. I wasn’t impressed with the Salmon BLT because of the sandwich aspect. I removed the salmon from the bread and ate it by itself as it was good salmon… just not good as a sandwich. I’m love seafood but bread and unbreaded fish just don’t seem to hit me quite right. LOL! The onion soup was yummy and so was the chocolate cake. The kids ate almost all of their spaghetti and preferred their apples with caramel over my chocolate cake. I thought it a bit of a strange desert as the apples were not cooked but they seemed to enjoy it.
During our meal at Ariel’s Grotto, the kids met the Belle, Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. All of the princesses were very nice and spent a good few minutes each at our table. It was a pleasant lunch experience. Gia was the only one involved at first, but quickly Orion decided it would be okay to talk to the girly princesses, too. He refused to wear the button, though. LOL! Also, during the beginning of the meal, the photo folks stopped by with a large copy of the photo they took of Gia and Ariel. It was in a holographic portfolio and included some extra 4x6’s. I think the cost was something like $37… we ended up buying it. It just seems weird to not buy a photo that is already printed out and ready to go, know what I mean? What do they do with the unpurchased photos… throw them away? I’ve always wondered. It was a pretty nice little souvenir anyway.
We then went over to Soarin’ to get fastpasses. It was an easier process than I anticipated! The parks weren’t that busy so that was the only fastpass we got the entire trip. Then, we took the kids over to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to play. They had a blast running around there and it was hard to get them to come out. While we were waiting for them to show back up to the front, we saw the talking trash can! What a riot! I wish I had gotten closer and had my camera.
It was then time to go back and do Soarin’. Gia and Kurt went first. Orion showed no interest in going… scaredy cat. I bought him some cotton candy while we waited. They came out and then Gia was so amped she wanted me to go right away with her! I took her and she told me all about the ride on the way there. My feet got a little numb on the ride but otherwise, it was pretty cool! Gia loved it so much she kept asking to go to go throughout the rest of the trip.
We wandered over to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and went in to Muppet Vision 3D. We had to wait about 15 minutes until the next show so we just sat and waited inside. I haven’t watched a 3-D movie since I was a little kid at a drive-in theater. It was a pretty good show, albeit pretty short. Then we headed over to Turtle Talk with Crush. On the way there, we saw Louis from Meet the Robinsons and so we stopped for a photo and autograph. The kids haven’t yet seen the movie so they weren’t really sure who he was. The Turtle Talk show was fantastic! Orion and Gia sat on the lily pads on the left in the back. They didn’t get the chance to ask any questions but had a great time. As we were leaving, we noticed that Woody, Belle and Mickey & Minnie were in the main area of the Animation building. We decided to wait in line to meet Mickey and Minnie. The kids gave them hugs, too.
It was time for the Block Party Bash so we went and parked on the curb outside of Sunshine Plaza. Kurt had to go to the restroom so he left us there to watch the parade. What an awesome show! The Monster’s Inc. float parked in front of us and we had a fun time. The kids were in no mood for dancing but I could see they were at least having fun watching everyone else.
Since everyone seemed a little tired, we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the PCH Grill and then went back to the park before the fireworks show. We showed up at 8:15 pm and it was packed already. We grabbed a curb on the castle side of the street but were at a weird angle behind a tree. As we waited, more people filled the park and they started announcing that the show might be cancelled due to the wind. Nonetheless, the show started about 9:30 and we couldn’t see the fireworks… only the castle. We got up and moved toward the castle behind some of the standing crowd and due to the wind, the fireworks were just out of sight behind the darn tree! When we finally found a spot on the bridge to see them better, the announcement came on that they were stopping the show due to the wind. Wah!!!! Bummed, we hung out in the park for another half hour waiting to see if they’d restart the show. No dice. We went back to the hotel and planned to go back on Saturday night.
...MORE TO COME...
Part III
Part IV
Part I
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean & Build-a-Bear
We awoke early on Thursday as we wanted to make it to Early Entry. I think we got there right about 8:00 am and didn’t have to wait very long at all. We wandered around in Fantasyland and rode the King Arthur Carrousel first. Orion didn’t want to get on a horse so he rode on one of the seats. Kurt manned Gia on a horse and I put Marissa on one right next to her. It was the baby’s first time on a carrousel and she loved it. We then rode Dumbo. The kids were apprehensive at first but didn’t put up too big of a fight. Gia and the baby rode with Dad and Orion and I rode together. I went with the kids again to ride the Mad Tea Party teacups and took the baby with us. We then headed over to Tomorrowland to ride Autopia. There was some confusion getting in line and for some reason, Gia got sent back to wait with me. She was pretty mad as she wanted to go as well. We waited for what seemed like eternity… by the way, the line for Autopia always seemed crazy long. And then I saw Kurt and Orion *still* way up in the queue not even near boarding the ride.
Gia was being a royal pain with all the pouting. I took her to the bathrooms by the castle and then we went and rode the teacups again. I thought it might cheer her up. It did… slightly for a little while anyway. We went inside Mad Hatter in Fantasyland and I bought Gia and Marissa matching pink Mickey ears. I had their names embroidered on while we were there. At this point, I’m thinking Kurt and Orion are probably done with Autopia and looking for us so we head back over. Not even! We waited another 5 minutes and finally they came off the ride. They stopped in the booths for their driver’s licenses.
Everyone started to get a bit cranky and hungry so we went to the Carnation Café for breakfast. I loved eating outdoors and the food was yummy! I got the Cinnamon Roll French Toast and Kurt had a Mickey Waffle. I only ate half of my food so Kurt took care of the other half. The kids also had the little Mickey Waffles.
Then, we went over to Frontierland and saw Woody and Jessie! The woman ahead of us was taking a photo of her children and kept messing it up or something because she was cutting off Woody’s head. He pretended to be frightened to be beheaded and it was a funny moment. Other kids kept just walking up even though we were next in line and it was obvious that the characters were trying to leave. The escort told everyone that we were next and would be the last family. The kids walked up and I snapped a few photos. Gia asked Jessie for her autograph but after, I told her that they were leaving and we’d have to get Woody’s autograph later. Woody patted me on the head as he skipped off and then high-fived Kurt. LOL! Fun!
Afterward, we went onto the Sailing Ship Columbia. It was not sailing that day but we got to look around onboard and the nice cast member took a photo of us. Gia couldn’t hear us calling her over for a photo so we just told him to take the photo anyway.
We then went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Awesome ride! Unfortunately, Gia didn’t think so. She sobbed through most of the ride. It was the dark, scary beginning that did it. I kept reassuring her that it was all just pretend but whenever she’d peek her head up, she’d cry and put her head back down.
Then Kurt said he was hungry so we looked for someplace to eat in a hurry. We ended up at Tomorrowland and at the Tomorrowland Terrace. Bleh! The counter service was pretty shoddy and the burgers were pretty lame. The fries were okay. I told Kurt he’d be “paying” for this later. Muhahaha!
We were getting a little irritable with the heat so we headed out of the park and into Downtown Disneyland to spend some money. First we hit Fossil to get a watch for Kurt. None of us had a watch up until now so we were using the cell phone clock to see what time it was. LOL! My excuse? In Alaska, you never really need to know what time it is… in the winter, it’s dark all the time so we just pretend it’s midnight when it’s actually 3:00 pm and in the summer, it’s always light so we just pretend it’s 3:00 pm when it’s actually midnight. We then went and dropped a Benjamin on the Build-a-Bear Workshop. The kids had a blast! The employees there were very nice and upbeat. They helped the kids outfit their stuffed animals in style (as well as squeeze my wallet, LOL!) Orion got a cow with a full outfit and shoes and a beach umbrella to go with it. Gia got a Hello Kitty complete with Mickey outfit with the ears, purse, shoes, and carrier.
After taking the purchases back to the hotel, we came back and decided to take the monorail in. It was a nice ride. Once in the parks, we ventured over to Adventureland so that Kurt could try out the Indiana Jones ride. We hit the bathrooms while we waited and the kids played with the little waterfalls. Kurt came off the ride and said it was probably a good thing that the kids didn’t go with him because they probably would have been afraid. He loved it, though! We went over to the Frontierland Shootin’ Exposition and Kurt and the kids did that for a little while. I went back to the bathrooms to change the baby. We then decided that we’d go and do the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride in Critter Country. Gia was frightened at first for some reason. She saw that it was a dark ride and it took some convincing to get her to calm down… it’s just Pooh bear! We stopped at Pooh Corner and bought some candy and light spinner toys. I got Marissa the cutest little Pooh plush, too.
We did a little more shopping and I picked up a scrapbook in one of the shops. After I bought it, I realized that it was 12x12 format and I had planned on doing our Disneyland album in 8.5x11. Oh well. Maybe I’ll do both sized albums. I also got Orion some light up Mickey Ears and Kurt got personalized leather bracelets for Orion and himself.
It was then time for our priority seating at the Blue Bayou restaurant. This was the only reservation I made ahead of time. We had to wait about 10 minutes but it was worth the wait. The atmosphere is awesome!!! To be able to sit there and watch the boats from the POTC ride was so cool! And it was surprisingly quiet, too. All you hear is the crickets. The food was quite good. Kurt and I both ordered the Prime Rib. He got salad for an appetizer and I got the gumbo. The bread they serve beforehand is wonderful. Marissa practically ate a whole roll by herself. I can’t remember what the kids ordered but they ate most whatever it was. Unfortunately, the kids started acting up about midway through dinner so we didn’t get to enjoy the full experience. Whenever we get back to Disneyland, I will be going to the Blue Bayou again for sure!
We went back to the hotel after dinner as the park was closing. I couldn’t wait to go back the next day. There was just so much left to do!!!
Friday, May 4, 2007
Ariel’s Grotto & the “Almost” Fireworks Show
We woke up late the next day and didn’t get to the park until 10:00 am. We rode Peter Pan’s Flight and Pinnochio’s Daring Journey first. The park started to get a little crowded so we decided to go to California Adventure for awhile and see if we could catch the Visa Character Meet and Greet… time was short but it was worth a shot. As we entered the park, we saw some of the High School Musical Pep Rally performance. We headed back toward Paradise Pier and stopped at Ariel’s Grotto but didn’t see any kind of characters. Shucks! Kurt was hungry but I wasn’t sure if we could eat at Ariel’s without reservations. I went inside and after a short wait, was put on the walk-in list.
We were told to wait about 20-25 minutes but actually got called in like maybe 10-15. Kurt had wandered off to a designated smoking area but we went ahead and allowed them to seat us. Once downstairs, we saw Ariel. I told Gia to go say hi to her and that’s just what she did… and came right back. LOL! I said “Go and meet her and let me take your picture, silly!” It was cute. There was a photographer there who also took a photo of them. I figured this must be the $30 photo everyone was talking about. As I was still waiting to be seated (I think they were confused about whether I was already seated or not), I asked if we could sit outside. The hostess kind of gave me a half answer so I wasn’t sure where we were going to be seated. Turns out it was outside. Yay! It was a little breezy that day but nothing too bothersome. Kurt finally joined us and then we ordered. I ordered the Salmon BLT with Onion Soup and Chocolate Cake. Kurt ordered the Under the Boardwalk Burger with a salad and Chocolate Cake. The kids both got The Captain’s Swell-Sketti with the Apples with Caramel for desert. It also came with the usual celery/carrot sticks with ranch. The food was pretty good. I wasn’t impressed with the Salmon BLT because of the sandwich aspect. I removed the salmon from the bread and ate it by itself as it was good salmon… just not good as a sandwich. I’m love seafood but bread and unbreaded fish just don’t seem to hit me quite right. LOL! The onion soup was yummy and so was the chocolate cake. The kids ate almost all of their spaghetti and preferred their apples with caramel over my chocolate cake. I thought it a bit of a strange desert as the apples were not cooked but they seemed to enjoy it.
During our meal at Ariel’s Grotto, the kids met the Belle, Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. All of the princesses were very nice and spent a good few minutes each at our table. It was a pleasant lunch experience. Gia was the only one involved at first, but quickly Orion decided it would be okay to talk to the girly princesses, too. He refused to wear the button, though. LOL! Also, during the beginning of the meal, the photo folks stopped by with a large copy of the photo they took of Gia and Ariel. It was in a holographic portfolio and included some extra 4x6’s. I think the cost was something like $37… we ended up buying it. It just seems weird to not buy a photo that is already printed out and ready to go, know what I mean? What do they do with the unpurchased photos… throw them away? I’ve always wondered. It was a pretty nice little souvenir anyway.
We then went over to Soarin’ to get fastpasses. It was an easier process than I anticipated! The parks weren’t that busy so that was the only fastpass we got the entire trip. Then, we took the kids over to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to play. They had a blast running around there and it was hard to get them to come out. While we were waiting for them to show back up to the front, we saw the talking trash can! What a riot! I wish I had gotten closer and had my camera.
It was then time to go back and do Soarin’. Gia and Kurt went first. Orion showed no interest in going… scaredy cat. I bought him some cotton candy while we waited. They came out and then Gia was so amped she wanted me to go right away with her! I took her and she told me all about the ride on the way there. My feet got a little numb on the ride but otherwise, it was pretty cool! Gia loved it so much she kept asking to go to go throughout the rest of the trip.
We wandered over to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and went in to Muppet Vision 3D. We had to wait about 15 minutes until the next show so we just sat and waited inside. I haven’t watched a 3-D movie since I was a little kid at a drive-in theater. It was a pretty good show, albeit pretty short. Then we headed over to Turtle Talk with Crush. On the way there, we saw Louis from Meet the Robinsons and so we stopped for a photo and autograph. The kids haven’t yet seen the movie so they weren’t really sure who he was. The Turtle Talk show was fantastic! Orion and Gia sat on the lily pads on the left in the back. They didn’t get the chance to ask any questions but had a great time. As we were leaving, we noticed that Woody, Belle and Mickey & Minnie were in the main area of the Animation building. We decided to wait in line to meet Mickey and Minnie. The kids gave them hugs, too.
It was time for the Block Party Bash so we went and parked on the curb outside of Sunshine Plaza. Kurt had to go to the restroom so he left us there to watch the parade. What an awesome show! The Monster’s Inc. float parked in front of us and we had a fun time. The kids were in no mood for dancing but I could see they were at least having fun watching everyone else.
Since everyone seemed a little tired, we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the PCH Grill and then went back to the park before the fireworks show. We showed up at 8:15 pm and it was packed already. We grabbed a curb on the castle side of the street but were at a weird angle behind a tree. As we waited, more people filled the park and they started announcing that the show might be cancelled due to the wind. Nonetheless, the show started about 9:30 and we couldn’t see the fireworks… only the castle. We got up and moved toward the castle behind some of the standing crowd and due to the wind, the fireworks were just out of sight behind the darn tree! When we finally found a spot on the bridge to see them better, the announcement came on that they were stopping the show due to the wind. Wah!!!! Bummed, we hung out in the park for another half hour waiting to see if they’d restart the show. No dice. We went back to the hotel and planned to go back on Saturday night.
...MORE TO COME...
Part III
Part IV
2 Comments:
Sounds like it was a MARVELOUS trip!!! I can't wait for the next installment.
Glad you've documented everything...and fun photos!!
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