Disneyland Day 3

The kids were up early again, but on this morning we were going to Minnie's Breakfast at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland (on Main Street).  So we did not go up to the concierge lounge and just hit the park.  Mainly I wanted to get to Nemo's Submarine Ride.  The Monorail did not open until 10AM, so we hoofed it all the way to Tomorrowland and because we were fairly early, we made it on the submarine without too much of a wait.  Both kids LOVED Nemo's Submarine Ride.  Morgan loves the water and fish, but I was kind of concerned that she would feel trapped, but she did not. 

Then we went and got fast passes for Autotopia so we could ride that after breakfast.  After we picked up the fast passes, we went to breakfast at the Plaza Inn (on Main Street).  Minnie's Breakfast was good - a bit chaotic because of the buffet aspect of it, but I think most of the character breakfasts are buffet.  At Minnie's Breakfast we met: Raffiki (monkey from the Lion King), Tigger, Chip and Dale, Eeyore and of course Minnie.  The characters come around to the tables and will pose for pictures as well as sign "autograph" books.  I chose to get the autograph book with the picture inserts (so we can put the pictures with their signatures).  They also just sell the autograph books.  The character breakfast was totally worth it for us because it was where we saw the most characters and had easy access to them.  (Day 4 Mike and Tommy saw a bunch of characters over in "California Adventure", but when we saw characters at Disneyland itself, the lines were really long and with Morgan in tow we were not waiting in them). 

After breakfast, we headed back into Tomorrowland.  We then went to the Tomorrowland Terrace Stage to see the 10:30AM preformance of the Jedi Academy http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/jedi-training-academy/  The 10:30AM performance was the first of the day and I knew we were not going to get there in time to sit in front/wave our sign so Tommy could get chosen to participate in the Jedi Academy, so we went to Autotopia and Tommy, Casey and Mike rode that ride.  Once they were done with the ride, the 10:30 padawan training session was just concluding, so people were clearing out...I plopped down right in the front with my sign and Tommy and we waiting for the 11:35 AM training session.  We were there about 35 minutes before the show start.  Thankfully we had a spray fan (they sell them in the park) because we were sitting in the bright sun. 

Waiting in front in the sun!!!

Mike, Morgan, Grandma Jan and Grandpa Casey found a table right in the front of the shaded table area that looked down on the training area.

We all had a great location staked out and now we just had to wait to see if Tommy would get chosen.  I was feeling pretty confident, but then more and more people started arriving.  By the time 11:35 AM arrived, I was very nervous.  I was told to have Tommy be loud, clap, jump up and down as well as have a sign. So that is what we did.

Here is our sign - "I was born to be a Jedi"

So Tommy jumped, screamed, clapped his hands and waived the sign and he was CHOSEN!!!  YAY! 

Tommy waiting in line to receive his robe (he is the little one in the red and blue stripped shirt).

Tommy with his robe on...so happy!

Tommy jumping up and down - he was so excited!!

Here is some video because I am sure my words would not do this justice.  It was AWESOME!!!

This is video of Tommy standing in line after he was chosen.

This is Tommy excited that he was chosen.

Tommy is practicing his Jedi moves.

Here is Tommy fighting Darth Maul.

All in all it was my favorite experience during the whole trip.

Tommy, Mike and I went on the Star Tours ride (because the wait was short) while Grandma Jan and Grandpa Casey watched Morgan. Star Tours was a fun ride and Tommy really enjoyed it. 

Sometime around this time, Tommy and Mike rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and Tommy loved it!

We then all headed back to the hotel and went to the pool.  We had some nice adult beverages and snacks.  Morgan and I went back to the room for a nap/down time and Mike and Tommy stayed at the pool and went down the slide. 

After we were done at the hotel, we headed back to Disneyland and took the Monorail into Tomorrowland.  When taking the Monorail, we found out that strollers had to be collapsed to get onto the Monorail.  This was not such a huge deal, but we had some shifting to do because we put a lot of stuff on the stroller.

We then headed to Mickey's Toontown which at that time in the late afternoon/early evening was really crazy!  Then we checked our line-time applications which I will discuss in another blog and It's A Small World was only 15 minute wait, so we went there.  Morgan absolutely LOVED this ride.  She turned around to Mike who was sitting behind us with Tommy and signed "more" while saying "more, more, more."

We tried to catch up with Grandma Jan, Grandpa Casey, Aunt Anne, Uncle Mike and Cousin Emrie to watch Mickey's Soundsational

The park was closing early, so we went over to California Adventure.  I would recommend going through The Grand Californian because going through the main entrance was CRAZY (especially because the "downtown" of California Adventure is under construction, so we were just weaving through brown-barricaded walls). 

We needed to find the group dinner because Mike and I were dining at Napa Rose (in the Grand Californian) at 8:30PM and Grandma Jan was going to watch the kids in our hotel room.  So we went to the StoryTeller's Cafe in The Grand Californian.  If one adult eats the buffet, one kid (I think 2 and under) eats free, so that was helpful for us.  Mike and I did not eat, but everyone said the food was marginal. 

After the group's dinner, everyone went back to the hotel and Mike and I went for a drink in the bar at Napa Rose.  I will write a separate blog about our dinner at Napa Rose, but it was phenomenal!

Cheers to a full day in Disneyland!

Disneyland Day 2.5

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to the blog...there has been a ton going on since our return.

Let's see we left off when we were headed to Wine Country Trattoria (at California Adventure Park) for an early dinner.  We entered California Adventure through the Grand Californian Hotel.  We were a bit early for dinner, so we decided to ride, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure.  The kids both loved it and there was only one part when Ursula was scary looking, but it passed quickly and Morgan was not that afraid. 

We decided to have dinner at Wine Country Trattoria so we could get VIP standing area for World of Color which was happening at 8:15PM that night.  So our dinner was scheduled for 4:10PM and it was a decent dinner...definitely more expensive than it should have been, but it was great to eat and get ready for World of Color.    Here is a picture of us on the way to dinner:

We were done with dinner around 6PM so we headed to A Bug's Land and went to the 3D movie, "It's Tough to be a Bug"...not appropriate for Morgan's age, but Tommy really liked it.  Morgan just hid her head in my lap the entire movie.  Then we headed farther into A Bug's Land and rode: Flik's Flyers (Really slow motion around in animal cracker boxes - Morgan, Tommy and Me), Tuck and Roll Drive 'Em Buggies (Bumper Cars - Tommy and Mike), Francis' Ladybug Boogie (Fast-paced figure 8 spinning - Jan, Tommy, Morgan and Me) and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (Really slow good for all ages - Anne, Emrie, Morgan, Tommy, Mike and Me). 

Morgan and Emrie exploring the cave in It's a Bug's Life

By the time we did all of those rides, it was time to go and figure out the situation with World of Color.  Our tickets said to get there at 7:45PM and we would be taken to the place where we could stand.  We arrived around 7:30PM and there was already a ton of people milling about to try and figure out where to stand.  It paid to get there early because they took us in early.  Here is a picture of us waiting :)

World of Color was totally worth it!  It was an amazing display of a ton of the Disney movies.  Along with fire and fireworks.  It was unbelievable.  There was a part that had Pirates of the Caribbean scenes and fire that Morgan was scared of, but other than that, she loved it.  It was really cool!

Then we headed back to the hotel and promptly hit the hay. 

Cheers to an amazing display with water, fire and Disney songs!

Disneyland Day 1 and 1/2

Here is the beginning of the much anticipated Disneyland trip.  We left our house yesterday (Wednesday, October 12, 2011) around 8:30AM.  We parked the car at Thrifty and the kids rode their first shuttle bus to the airport.  We then checked in and made it through security with little to no hassle.  The single BOB (our stroller for those of you non-kid people) made it through just fine.  And then we were off to the Alaska Boardroom.  The kids adored the pancake machine that spits out two pancakes and I had a lovely glass of champagne.  Which I needed for the mere fact that I knew Mike was probably not sitting with us on the flight. 

Then it came time to board the flight.  We headed on and gate checked the stroller (which again was no big deal - definitely traveling with this one again).  Got on the plane and sure enough there were the three seats in aisle 7 that sat Tommy, me and Morgan.  Then 7D which should have held my husband had a man and his two kids in it.  So there was no switching that was going to happen.  So Mike was about to get comfortable in his exit row, but I saw a stewardess head back to him and usher him up to first class right before they closed the door. 

The flight went fine.  Mike bought me a Bloody Mary and he sat in style in First Class.  This was all fine until of course Tommy had to go to the bathroom and we had just been served drinks, so all the tray tables were down and filled with snacks and drinks.  I had Tommy step behind Morgan and then lifted him into the aisle and told him to run up to his dad.  So he did and that worked out well, which was good because we had to repeat this process about three more times.  There was about fifteen minutes in the flight where both kids were entertained by their iPads but other than that, it was pretty much entertaining the munchkins.  During the last twenty minutes when we needed to have our seatbelts on to land, Morgan refused to sit in her seat and finally I just had to strap her in and listen to her scream :(  That was not my proudest moment, but she needed to get into the seat.

Upon our debarkment from the plane, we found Grandma Jan waiting for us.  They had arrived from Seattle about 20 minutes before our plane.  Mike and Tommy waited in the jetway for our stroller and then we all headed to baggage claim.  On the way to baggage claim, Mike called the limousine company to make sure they were on their way to pick us up.  They said they were not supposed to pick us up until 6:30PM...it was 1:30PM.  They had our correct flight number, but apparently not the right time.  Mike asked them how long it would be until they arrived and they said twenty minutes.  We found our bags, I took Morgan to the restroom and changed her from jeans to shorts, Tommy and Mike went to the restroom and then we were just waiting, and waiting and waiting...

Finally the limo showed up and I figured I would get the kids inside because it was really hot outside and we did not need to wait out there while they were getting the luggage into the car.  So we hopped in...it was really warm inside the limo as well...well turns out the A/C was broken in this particular limo.  REALLY?  Anyway, we pretty much sweated through the limo ride all the way to the hotel.  At one point I glanced over at the front of the limo and the exterior temperature was 103 degrees F.  And let me tell you the inside of that limo was not much better.  I kept putting ice on both Tommy and Morgan trying to cool them down.  Ridiculous.  We finally started to see signs of Disneyland and our driver said he missed the turn so we had to go back...that was the best.  He got lost. 

Stepping out the limo, Morgan's face was beet-red and we were all dripping with sweat.  The driver tried to wait around for a tip, but Mike was fuming and I think he got the hint and left.  Once we arrived at the hotel, things slowly started to get better.  Morgan was exhausted and needed to get down for a nap.  So Mike checked us in and we headed to the room on the second floor.  One thing you need to know is that the Disneyland Hotel is currently under renovation which means there is sawing, hammering and general clatter all over the place but especially on the first floor.  So I took Morgan in the room and she promptly fell asleep on me (which was good), but I could tell Mike was not happy with the room.  He and Tommy left to go exploring.  They found the "Concierge Lounge" which is one of the benefits of having a two bedroom suite.  Mike asked them to help him find a better room location so Morgan would be able to sleep during naptime.  They moved us up three floors to level five.  We tried to move Morgan and keep her asleep but she pretty much woke up. 

I realized I had not eaten and it was about 4PM, so Mike ordered room service, even though we were supposed to have dinner around 6:30PM.  The food was much appreciated and I think we all started to get in a better mood after that.

I unpacked everyone and we got settled and then we developed a plan.  Aunt Anne Bear, Cousin Emrie and Uncle Mike were going to head to the pool.  We all were headed to Disneyland to walk around and maybe ride some rides. 

Stepping onto Main Street in Disneyland was magical!  I honestly started to tear up because it was so wonderful.  I was surprised by the amount of people, but Casey and Jan said that this was not busy at all.  So that was nice!  We headed into the park through Sleeping Beauty's Castle and headed right for King Arthur Carrousel.  I will post video of this when we get home...not sure how to get it onto this computer (I am using Mike's Mac).  Morgan, Tommy, Mike and Grandpa Casey went on the Carrousel.  It was great to watch them go around and around.  Then it was off to the Mad Tea Party.  Tommy, Morgan, Grandma Jan and I braved the tea cups and it was really fun - as long as I either looked at the kids or looked at the round steering wheel.  Looking in to the crowd was when I started to get dizzy.

That is where we met up with Aunt Anne, Uncle Mike and Cousin Emrie.  We decided it was time for dinner and we headed for Big Thunder Ranch BBQ.  That was really fun.  It had started to cool down a bit, but once we sat down I was instantly thirsty.  So we all ordered water and then I had a Sprite which was outstanding.  Everything at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ is served family style and it is all you can eat - we had: chicken, sausage, ribs, baked beans, cornbread, corn on the cob, coleslaw.  It was so yummy and a fun big family meal.

At the end of dinner Morgan started to get a bit feisty, so I decided to walk back with her and leave Tommy and Mike to their own devices.  Anne, Mike and Emrie came back to the hotel with us, which was nice.  Again, I could not believe the amount of people that were out and about on a Wednesday night.

We arrived back to the hotel room, I changed Morgan into PJs and she went promptly to sleep - in her own bed, by herself (I propped pillows under the bottom sheet on both sides of the bed as a nice little bumper).  Tommy and Mike soon followed after picking up ice cream cones on  Main Street.  We put Tommy to bed - he crashed hard - and then we went to sleep.  We all were exhausted.

Morgan woke up at 11:45PM and 2:30PM, but I quickly put her back to sleep and she was fine.  She slept until about 6:30AM and Tommy slept until 7M when Morgan went to wake him up.  We watched a little Disney Channel and then got dressed for the day.  We headed over to the "Concierge Lounge" for breakfast and then into Disneyland to start our day. 

We were in the park by about 8:30AM.  We picked up our free lanyards and pins in Frontierland and then we went to Splash Mountain.  First Tommy and Mike rode the ride and then I rode it with a "Fast Pass" or "Switch" which is where when one parent is left behind with a smaller child, they get to get in the "Fast Pass" lane when the others come out.  So that was nice.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was next with the whole family.  Morgan and I rode in the front with Tommy and Mike behind us.  It was a very gentle ride, but when Pooh started to have crazy dreams of honey (with Black Light and florescence included), Morgan started to get a bit scared.

After that we went to the Haunted Mansion.  Tommy, Anne and I ventured into the house which scared me to death as a kid.  The one scene that I remember as a kid was the ghosts dancing in the ballroom.  The Haunted Mansion, like much of Disneyland at this time in the year, is themed out in Halloween on steroids.  The Haunted Mansion has the cast of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, which did not scare Tommy in the slightest.  So that was good.

Onto the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island.  We rode a ferry over to the island and then explored caves and rope bridges all over the island.  It was very fun, but we had started to get hot.  So we took the ferry back across the Rivers of America and headed toward the Jungle Cruise with the idea we would find a refreshing snack before or after the Jungle Cruise.  We caught up with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Casey on that ride.  The kids were scared of the ride, but after we were off, said it was great.  So who knows. 

We then picked up a snack of fresh strawberries, blueberries and grapes at a stand by Jungle Cruise and the Leepers headed back toward the hotel.  We decided to find lunch and then from there head back to the hotel for some pool time and some nap time.  We had lunch at Jazz Kitchen Express: Tommy had mini-corndogs, Morgan had chicken nuggets and Mike and I both had shrimp po-boy sandwiches with jalapeno bacon potato salad.  It was all pretty good and everyone seemed happy with our lunch choice. 

Back to the hotel we headed to get our suits on and go to the pool.  After slathering sunscreen on, we went to the pool that had 3 waterslides.  Two small slides, similar to the ones that you would find on play equipment at a park, one medium sized slides that were perfect Tommy sized and then a large slide that Mike went on that he said was super fast.  Tommy would only go down the small slides until Morgan and I went up to the room for nap time.  Then he hit the medium slide and apparently rocked that about 20 times, all while Mike watched him from his chair sipping a frozen cocktail. 

Morgan is now currently sleeping in her wonderful cocoon, Tommy and Mike are snuggling in bed and I am blogging.  A great vacation so far and I am so glad we have three and a half more days to go.  We are having an early dinner tonight at the Wine Country Trattoria, so we can get VIP standing to watch the World of Color at 8:15PM.  Should be fun!!

More to report tomorrow I am sure!

Cheers to being in the happiest place on earth!