I should say it will be long by the time I get done with it :D I love to write trip reports and I think a few people like to read them. I also like to print them out and save as a momento of each trip with our pics.

Cast: Myself, dh, dd#1 (age 12), dd#2 (age 9) and ds (age 4) This trip dh's parents joined us: Grandpa (age 67) and Grandma (age 70)

This was my family 3rd trip ever to DLR and the grandparents first.

Thursday: Feb 8

*Arrive at the aiport in Reno, NV at 5:30 a.m. Our 4 yr old has a melt down going thru security. This is unlike him but this airport does have a more frenzied, chaotic, unprofessional atmosphere than some airports I've been thru (even much bigger airports.) We have our backpack ready complete w/Mickey ears in it to carry on. Plane leaves promptly at 6:50 a.m. We land at 8:03 at SNA. We collect baggage and find a bench near baggage claim to wait for the Grandparents plane which is due in at 9:12 a.m. We amuse ourselves by looking at, you guessed it, a DLR brochure! Grandparent's plane is early and we have baggage collected by 9:15 p.m. We wait 15 min for our shuttle which was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tony (of tonythelimoking.com) arrives in a white limo and the grandparents are pretty much like little kids! Their first limo ride ever.

*Arrive at the Camelot Inn by 10 a.m. They have our room ready. Excellent! We throw the bags in the room and we're ready for Disneyland baby!! OR, no, wait, the grandparents want to eat. Oh geez...this is the first a few delays having to do w/the grandparents need for a regular meal schedule. Who knew? We send them next door for egg Mcmuffins.

*We're in the gates by 11 a.m. I head to Will Call to redeem our ticket voucher. For what ever reason the will call line is long...quite long. The regular ticket booths have no lines. Never again will I doubt my info and memory of Mouseplanet helpful tips. I kept thinking, "I'm sure I could redeem my voucher at the regular booth... I'm sure someone said that at Mouseplanet." Finally after I stood there for 20 min (with still a long line ahead) a CM comes out and tells us that we can use the regular booths. Told ya! :) Takes like 2 min to get the tickets and we're off.

*Entry line was longer than I expected but still very quick moving. Grandparents are totally taken with the Mickey flowers... actually my MIL was in awe of every tree and flower at DLR. I knew she would be. I love that she is a details gal. I got my first glimpse of the YOAMD swirls and swans. Sorry, I just don't think they're that bad.

*We head straight for Small World. It's become our tradition to ride that first. We walk onto it... this a good omen. We continue to walk onto Alice, Tea Cups, Dumbo, Mr Toad and we wait about 15 min for Peter Pan. We lunch at the Village House. I thought the pizza was fine. Grandparents thought the club sandwich was fine. It's not my fav restaurant at DLR by any means, but it seems like we always end up there because it's just convenient when we're in FL.

*My dh and dd#1 are dieing for Thunder Mtn Railroad so I give in and we leave FL. Grandpa is all game to jump on Thunder. What a guy!! Grandma is just beside herself w/the river boat so we took a spin around Rivers of Am. This is our first time on the Mark Twain. While on the Twain we notice that Pirates looks very empty. Walk over to Pirates, and you guessed it, walk on. Man, this is a dream day for rides at DLR. 5 min wait for the Jungle Cruise. Over to Tommorrow Land for Buzz. Walk on. Back to Frontierland for Billy Hill & the Hill Billies. Grandpa is a musician and we've been waiting for him to see this show. We enjoy a turkey leg and a strawberry Sunday for the show.

*Back to the hotel to get settled in. Very pleased w/our room at the Camelot again. This is our second stay there. We love the size of the lg family suite. Clean room. No complaints. We change into warmer clothes and head back for the parade. We get a place right near the fence opposite the castle on the corner just as you step into the hub (did that make any sense?) Love Parade of Dreams. We'd seen it last March, once. We had the Little Mermaid float in front of us during the stop. Grandparents were pretty much "Disney struck" w/the parade. I think it was a 100 times more than what they were expecting. This was also the first emotional Disney cry for our oldest dd. She just pretty much bursts into tears as soon and she hears the "Welcome to our family" song. Happy Disney tears, of course. After the parade we went back into Fantasyland and did Story Book Canal Boats. I'd wanted to see that ride in the dark but now I've decided I prefer it in the day. Very friendly CMs at Storybook Canal.

*Finally we're ready for bed. We've all been up since 4 a.m. and we're planning on being at the gates for opening in the morning. We get Quiznos on the ride home. Sandwiches were fine. Service was rough. Poor kid at the counter was totally overwhelmed.

Thoughts for the day: We saw many families with the Dream fast passes but we did not see the Dream Team (that's what I call them) once. My dd#2 is obsessed with getting a dream.

The castle still had some tarps on the left side (facing the castle) but they were hardly noticeable.

We did see Mickey and the band right when we walked onto Main St. and that was a great beginning to our first day.

Was very fun to see the park thru my inlaws eyes. I can't imagine how overwhelming DLR must be to those who walk in having not looked at a map before hand, not planned, not read Mouseplanet obsessivly. I was so glad I was "prepared" for our first trip in '05... but they didn't have to be prepared because they knew we would be. LOL.

nvmom

I should say it will be long by the time I get done with it :D I love to write trip reports and I think a few people like to read them. I also like to print them out and save as a momento of each trip with our pics.Ahhhh- I almost felt as if I was there! Sounds great...can't wait to hear more!

I love your report so far! Thanks for writing it, I can't wait to hear more!

Shelley

(Makes me want to be there RIGHT NOW!)

Before I get to Day 2, my oldest reminded me that on Day 1 we perhaps saw Darkbeer??? We were in New Orleans Square, close to the Pirates Entrance around maybe 2 p.m? And a gentleman walked buy with camera bag and a Mouseplanet pin. My oldest says, "Hey, hey that guy had a Mouseplanet pin. Maybe it's that Darkbeer guy??" Well, by the time I got a good look he's walked far enough ahead that I would've had to run to say hello and inquire to his identity :) (Which, my dd thought I should do.)

Anyway, I guess it was a Mouseplanet member for sure... just a mystery who? A Darkbeer spotting is nearly as exciting as a Dream Team spotting. lol

Theresa

Sounds like lots of fun! We were there 8 - 10th. I enjoy reading trip reports, I am just not good at writing them :rolleyes: .

Did you happen to do the tiki room on Sat (noonish)? There was a nice family in front of us that fits your description. I took note because the Grandparents looked like they were enjoying it so much and it reminded me of my parents that go with us every Nov. It's a shot in the dark, but I thought I would ask.

We were in the Tikki Room on Sun, not Sat. Thanks for asking though. :)

nvmom

Day #2
Fri., Feb 9

I should add that we also did Pooh on Day #1 and did see Pooh and Eyeore back in Critter Country.

*Everyone is up at 7:00 a.m. We take advantage of the motel's continental breakfast to get us started. We arrive at the gates at 8:20 a.m. just in time. I love being there at opening!! (It's a Disney moment for me. :) ) We spy Mickey in his powder blue YOAMD suit (these suits crack me up) and Pluto on Main St. We get cute pics of the grandparents and kids w/Mickey and Pluto. Head over to the Fire Station so Grandpa can look around. More pictures. Head down Main St. to be somewhat close for rope drop time. Fun people watching. Do the count down... YAY!!

*We proceed directly to the Matterhorn. It was the one line on Day #1 we didn't want to wait in. We walk on and everyone (even Grandpa & Grandma and my nervous 9 yr old) rides. I do forget from trip to trip how jerky this ride is. Grandma and I opt out of a second ride but everyone else rides again. We then head towards the Pinocchio ride and meet Peter Pan in route for a pic and autograph. We also ride Casey Jr. Again, no lines.

*We decide to go right back to Toon Town since it'll just be opening. We get back there, ride Roger Rabbit and Grandma decides that she's starving and really must have breakfast then. Ok, dh is a little impatient about this but he gets over it. :) So out of Toon Town we go and it's over to the Riverbelle Terrace. My dh ordered a full breakfast (the Mark Twain?) dd#2 the Mickey pancake, dd#1 side of potatoes and I the fresh fruit plate. Large portions and we all shared. We'd never eaten here before and it was on my list of dos this trip. Very fun to sit outside by the water and watch the people go by.

*Over to Big Thunder Mtn again... dh & dd#1's fav ride!! This time I am a brave mom and I try the ride. Dd #1 is so proud of me! It was fun...after the fact... I just tend to get very uptight about the unknown. For the record I did go on it several more times this trip.

*Over to Indy for fastpass collection. Again, a new ride for me. Dh convinces me that he and I will go on it and then I'll decide if Grandma should try it. Ok... does this ride have the world's longest que or what?? Holy cow. It is a very amazing ride, but hang on for dear life! That's how it felt to me! Plus I was on sensory overload when I got off. I decide this isn't really a ride for Grandma. Grandpa and dh use the second set of fastpasses. We take the kids to Aladdin & Jasmine's story telling while they ride. We really enjoyed this little show. Thought the story teller was way funny. Note: they need a new canopy over their stage. This canopy is very faded and frayed... one of the small "maintenance" type things I noticed this trip.

*We decide to take the monorail into DTD. Grandpa has been fascinated w/the monorail from the moment we arrived and saw it from the motel. :) DTD is not busy at all. We buy some beignet to share and walk thru. Grandpa & Grandma decide to spend time in World of Disney. The girls stay with them and we take ds back to the motel for some rest.

*We grab a quick nap. Grandparents arrive back and we have some time in the hot tub.

*Refreshed we decide to go into CA. We get our Soarin' fastpasses and (yay!) ds is tall enough (by a hair) to ride Soarin' this trip. Grandma is being brave to try this ride. She really does have a fear of flying and just the plane trip to SNA was an adventure to her.

*We head towards the backlot and walk onto Monsters. Then spend sometime in the Animation Studio. We got to draw Donald. We are not artistically talented at all. We were all laughing so hard by the end. We also did the storybooks in Ursula's (whatever it's called.)

*Ok, it's time for Soarin'. My apologies if you were on this ride with us... I really "talked Grandma" thru this ride. Sort of assuring her, pointing things out, etc. My apologies if you were wishing the lady next to you would shut up. She did great and was glad she'd went on it.

*Taste Pilots for dinner. We like the ribs at Taste Pilots. Dh enjoyed a beer. We did have to assist Grandpa and Grandma w/the touch screen ordering (not once, not twice, but 3 times.) Oh geez.

*Ok, full stomachs and into Disneyland at about 7:20 p.m. We knew it would hectic because that's parade time but we also knew we might snag a bench after the parade if we fought thru the crowd. The park was getting busier into the evening. We make it to The Plaza Inn and I tell the family to stay put. I take the 2 girls and forge ahead as the parade passes by. Score! a bench just off center from the castle. Leave the girls and the backpack on the bench and go back for the rest of the family.

*Just for the record we never had less than 3 people sitting on and saving our bench at any given time along with our backpack. :) We took turns waiting and riding. Grandpa, dh and girls did the Matterhorn at night. They were on a diff track and said the snowman seemed closer? I took ds to ride on the rockets. We waited probably close to 30 min but it was fun to ride at night. Grandma bought the kids light up necklaces. Oh my, they were delighted and they were much more fun than my Dollar Store glow in the dark stuff. :)

*Fireworks start on time. I'd like to say that I really appreciated how people stayed seated, even those who'd settled into the street right before hand. I'd forgotten what an amazing show this is. Love Tinkerbell and I love the Haunted Mansion part with the "Is this room stretching?" and the first time the fireworks explode around you. Chills! Ds fell asleep in his stroller for the fireworks. This is fine. He doesn't like the noise anyway. Grandparents are just awe struck. My girls both cry at the end (on cue w/the Disney emotion again.) We let the crowds clear out and enjoy a churro on the bench.

*Back to the motel. A near perfect Disneyland day!

Note: Again, not even a sighting of the Dream Team??? We see families w/lanyards and dream fast passes.

nvmom

Sooooo much fun reading your report! Thanks for sharing. :)

I'm loving your trip report, NVMom!!! You make me wish I was there in a bad way. I'm excited to hear more!!!

Sounds like you had a great time, makes me wish our trip was closer than the 106 days or whatever we have left! Keep the reports coming!

I can't wait for day 3 :)

I really love your trip report. I like how you see the trip through your parents eyes as well as through your kids. I know what I mean, but it might sound a little strange. I can't wait to go in May and then at Christmas! I am sooo EXCITED!

Shelley

Sat. Feb. 10

Day 3, no matter the plan is our melt down day. We intentionally added a day to this trip, planning for the Sat to be the most "down" day... sleep in, do the pool, maybe into the parks later in the day depending on the crowds.

Ok, please tell me we're not the only family who's has some crabby-snippy moments at DLR. :) Man, it was not very pretty in our motel room that morning. lol. Our 4 yr old isn't really going to "sleep in"- especially because he still sleeps in his stroller some. So I spent part of the morning trying to keep him quiet so that the Grandparents could get some xtra sleep (especially Grandma who came down w/a nasty cold.) So I was somewhat on edge and then dh wakes up in a less than cheerful mood and then of course the girls want to know what the plan for the day is. Oh man... a rough start.

*Lucky me, I'd made plans to meet a friend who lives in the area for lunch. I was out of the motel room the moment I spotted her van! He-he! We ate at White Water Snacks in the Grand Calif. Hotel. She'd never seen the hotel before and loved the design. I can't recommend White Water enough. We got there about 11:30 so it was basically empty. It's just a snack/cafeteria style place but the food was fresh and tasty. She had an egg salad sandwich out of the cooler and ordered the beef nachos. Loved the nachos! They had a lot of meat and could easily feed 2 if not 3 people! We ate outside at the one of the picnic tables. Very nice.

We both noted on the walk thru the espionade (sp?) that neither park had long entry lines at all for a Sat.

*During my lunch dh took the kids into Tomorrow Land. They went to Innoventions (which my family loves but I don't :) ) and ate at Red Rockets Pizza. Grandpa & Grandma left quickly because Grandma wasn't feeling well. They had a cup of soup at Millie's.

*We met back at the motel and rested a bit (more hot tub time.) Around 3:00 p.m. headed for Calif. Adventure. We went into Bug's Land and rode Heimlichs (long line even on a slow day... cute ride but I'm waiting for the time my son no longer cares out it :) ) We also rode the Lady Bugs and the Flying Boxes (whatever those are called?)

*We decided to get a hot dog at Award Weiners (my dh really likes this place.) We all grabbed a hot dog and scarfed it down on the way towards the Hyperion. Finished up our food, used the restroom and got in line for Aladdin. We like to sit in the mezzanine. This is our 3rd time seeing Aladdin and it didn't disappoint us! We got a great Genie!! After the show we talked w/one of the CMs and she told us that this Genie was one of two that she'd personally pay to see. I also noticed that there was an actress (a village person) in a wheelchair. I don't recall seeing her in the other shows we'd watched. Grandparents loved the show... especially the flying carpet. Grandma said, "How did they get to the carpet so quickly?" My oldest dd#1 cracked up and says, "It's Disney Magic Grandma!!" Then she looked at her and says, "Seriously Grandma... you do know there's two Aladdins & two Jasmine's, right?" Honestly, I'm not sure Grandma had clued into that. :)

Grandparents had given the kids each $35 to spend on a souvenir of their choice. We decide to go into DTD so they can get the choosing over with. Man, I have to exercise patience because my oldest can take foreeeeeeeevvvverrr choosing something. Ds chose a pirate set right away. The girls took an hour or so. We finally left w/a Cinderella tshirt & a magic Tinkerbell wash cloth. Other dd chose silver Mickey earrings, a sequin mickey coin purse and a magic Minnie wash cloth.

Now we go to BAB since we'd told each child that they could choose one outfit for their bears (we had the bears back at the motel.) Ok, is this place always crazy??? or do we just always hit it on a Sat night??? We went upstairs and the kids chose pretty quickly. Of course the nice girl working at BAB gives the girls a cardboard closet- which is very cute- but not that cute to carry on the plane.

Our souvenier-ing is done.. finished.. chosen. :) Except for me...

Back at the motel I put a call into Pizza Hut, get the kids in PJs... dh & I are off for some couple time at DLR!! Our first amount of time ever without the kids.

We head back to the parks and there's a very fine mist of rain. It's about 9:30 p.m. and we slip into CA for a ride on Soarin. The fast pass machine had been down all day, but we were able to walk on this time of night. We visited in the que w/some nice people from Utah. Love Soarin!

Over to DL. We walk onto Thunder, Jungle Cruise (which we'd wanted to do at night), and Pirates. We then head back to Main St and buy a coffee, 3 choc covered strawberries and Mickey Rice Krispy. We sat at one of the tables at Carnation Cafe and enjoyed the lights and people... Ah, a Disney moment for us. :)

*Note on Pirates....We'd only ridden Pirates once prior to this trip. We rode it last March the last night it was open before the refurb. Since pirates is new to us we don't notice all the changes like many of you. The treasure looked bigger and brighter to us... and of course Capt Jack... that's about it.

nvmom

Keep it coming... I am living vicariously!!

:fez:
Sara

Love the report. I am really enjoying the details. How did you like the hotel?

Oh it is so wonderful! I love that you're being "REAL" about the good times and the bad....Hey, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times...." Isnt' that how Mr. Dickens begins one of this novels??? :)

Great report, I'm enjoying reading it

Day #4
Sunday, Feb 11

*We awake to rain... a pretty steady rain.. so we decide to wait it out for a while and go out to breakfast at Millie's Restaurant. Breakfast was fine, average I guess. Nothing really stands out about this place except for the little peg game on the table which my kids enjoyed. :)

*Now, prior to breakfast we have a little Disney disaster... it appears Grandpa's park ticket is lost!! He'd been keeping it in the front small pocket of his fanny pack (yes, our Grandpa used a fanny pack- not going to lie- I am not a fan of fanny packs) and we think he put some money in there and it must've fell out when he pulled money for dinner in CA last night. I decide that after breakfast I'll head over to Lost and Found at the park and see if someone has turned it in. At breakfast Grandma has already decided that they'll at least buy another one day park hopper. Heck, they came this far what's another $122 at this point? But no, Grandpa is being all kinds of stubborn and insists that he'll just stay at the motel room. Whatever.

*No ticket turned in at Lost and Found. They were very nice, but could do nothing about the lost ticket. They gave us a business card and told us to keep checking. Once back at the motel Grandma and I start looking again. Not in the wallet, not in the fanny pack, not in the jeans from yesterday, not in the coat pocket... finally I asked if they've checked their dirty clothes bag? So I open up the bag and it shifts slightly and there's the ticket sitting inside Grandpa's tennis shoe! Who knows? Disaster avoided.

*The rain has stopped and into to DL we go. We get fast passes for Buzz and then go over for the Jedi Training. Our son has already decided that he doesn't want to go up there he just wants to watch. Not a particularly foward little guy we have. :) Dh, Grandpa & girls decide they don't need to see the Jedis and they go to Star Tours (fairly long line.) Ds and I get right behind the rope as we're there early. We let kids in front of us as they come.

*Jedi Show: Ok, overall an entertaining show. I actually thought the Jedi Master was quite funny! He had some good "old school Star Wars" one liners in my opinion. They chose the kids and I'd say it was a pretty good mix of ages- kids who appeared to be anywhere from age 3 to age 12. They taught the light saber routine. It was very cute to watch one little guy (maybe 3?) try to activate his saber. :) So then Darth Vader appears and my son does ok. Then Darth Mal (who must be new Stars Wars because I don't know him) comes out. Ok, seriously, this Darth Mal- his costume - his make-up-those horns on his head- (how do they get his eyes like that?) one of the scariest characters I've ever seen at DLR! He would fight the Jedi's in training and then come towards the rope and approach the crowd. At one point he came right up to my son and stared him down. Poor son freaks out! Tears down the cheeks and hides behind my back. Now, I know my son is quite reserved...but really this Darth Mal guy is creepy looking! :) My son did want to stay and watch the show and did enjoy it. He is still talking about Darth Mal though. Lol. Perhaps because it wasn't super busy, we didn't see any chaos in the choosing of the children. Everyone was pretty well behaved. I would agree that if you're wearing a Star Wars piece of clothing or holding your own Light Saber that seems to up your chances a lot. No obnoxious parents either. A few did hold their kids up, but they were little kids and it didn't rub me the wrong way.

*Now we use our Buzz fast passes. And then it's off to the Tikki Room. We enjoy a Dole Whip... man there's nothing outside of DL that tastes quite like a Dole Whip. We like the Tikki Room, although once a trip is good for us.

*Being this close to Bengal BBQ we cannot pass up a snack. I enjoy a chicken skewer, dh the beef & also the aspargus one, and the kids have Mickey pretzels. This is one of my fav restaurants in DL. I just wish they had better/more seating. We got a table... but if the park gets even a little bit busy then Adventure Land seems so congested. I can't imagine that area when it's really busy.

*Now we're headed back to CA because the High School Musical Pep Rally is one of our priorities this trip. Both girls are huge HSM fans! We ask where the best place to wait is and Grandpa & dh take to a bench. Grandma, I and the kids decide to walk down the Back Lot in search of characters. We feel like characters are a bit scarce this trip? We get a cute picture w/Sully Monster. Then we see Hercules... the kids aren't all to excited about Hercules, but what the heck he's there and there really isn't even a line. This turned out to be some of the best character interaction we've ever had. This young man Hercules was fabulous!! He chatted w/the kids, signed autographs, asked questions, posed the kids & himself for photos... just great. Ds hadn't wanted to see Hercules so he was standing by me and after the girls got a photo he came right over and picked my son up and tickled him a bit and joked and I got the cutest pics. Now ds says, "Hercules is sooo nice!" :)

*Note: still can't get fast passes for Soarin. The machine is down again or something?

*Ok, it's High School Musical time!! By the time we're back it's close to show time and we've lost our opportunity for the straight on perfect place. So we still get towards the front on the side. This ends up being great because as the float goes by the CM w/the rope motions for us to follow and so while we're off to the side we're right in front for the show stop. The kids got to play w/the balls they tossed out and then girls got pulled out to dance w/one of the cheerleaders (oh the excitement! gasp!) It was a really fun show. Maybe I can appreciate it because I know every song by heart, etc. :) The girls loved it!

*I decide to take Grandpa & Grandma inside the Grand Californian for a brief tour. Basically we look at the pool and lobby... impressive. Back into the park dh and dd#1 decide they'll try Grizzly River Rapids for the first time. I'd actually like to try this ride... someday... when it's about 90 degrees. Since we tend to go in Feb/March- that probably leaves me out. :) They put on ponchos and go for it. Stand by line is only about 15-20 min. We park ourselves in the look out place near the big drop to watch. They come off the ride quite wet but said it was fun... even more if it was hot outside (I told you so :) he-he) They decide to go back to the motel to change and we'll meet them at the Red Party Zone for the parade.

*We walk thru the Red Woods area and as we cut thru towards the Golden State Theatre area we see Push (the trash can!) Oh what fun!! Gosh we all got such a kick out of Push! My kids never even noticed Push's "master" (shhh!) but I did- and it was fun to watch him too!

*Still time before the parade so we take the Tortilla factory and Bakery tours. I think the Bakery tour is better than the Tortilla tour.

*We stake our place on a cement bench for BPB. Always a fun parade... we'd seen it once last Mar. but not right up front with a great view. These performers are just so energetic. Well done. Dd#1 got pulled out to dance again.

*After the parade the grandparents are ready to head back (Grandma's still not feeling terribly well.) We decide to try the famous (per Mouseplanet) Mimi's Restaurant. Ok, I gotta give it up for Mimi's. The food was good, even the atmosphere wasn't as crazy as some of the other family restaurants in the area, and considering how busy it was the service was really good. Several had soup & salad, Grandpa a pot pie, ds the grilled cheese, and dd#2 children's turkey dinner. All hot, good food. The bread basket was wonderful too! Highly recommended.

*Ok, well if the grandparents are turning in early... heck, we're going back! Get ds and dd#2 into pjs and decide we'll take dd#1 back with us for some Disney bonding time. :) We get into the park shortly before 9 p.m. We decide not to watch F! If the grandparents had been up to it we'd have watched but we decide to take advantage of the light crowds during F!

*So here's our chance to do Haunted Mansion for the very first time. People keep telling us it's a "classic"- a must do. Well, it wasn't what I was expecting. It was a walk on so we were in the entry right away. Inside the stretching room when it goes black is a bit scary and catches you off guard the first time. Otherwise, I expected HM to be much scarier. It's certianly eerie... but we kept waiting for things to pop out, etc and it didn't happen. This is fine by me... in case you didn't catch on... I'm a chicken. The detail in HM reminds me of Pirates... you'd have to ride on it many times to see everything. I'm glad we did it.

*Ok, Thunder Mtn. time. We wait maybe 5 min. Both sides were running. We talked to a CM who told us that while they'd extended hours because of the Lincoln holiday they weren't really seeing holiday crowds. I'd agree. We do Thunder a second time and right as we're going up the first big drop the fireworks go off!! It was so cool!! Disney moment.

*Now we're into Tomorrow Land and we do Buzz. Dh and dd were going to do Space Mtn but dh decides no. Instead we do Star Tours. My first time for Star Tours. A big aged, but still a fun ride!

*We're tired. Bed time... and we still have one more day of fun to go! :)

nvmom

Note: We still have not had even a single sighting of the Dream Team. We keep seeing people w/Dream prizes so we sorta believe they exist? :)

Yummm-Dole whip :) Keep coming with the updates!!!! Again, your updates are so detailed I really feel like I am there! Wishfull thinking!

Day #5
Mon. Feb 12

It's our last day at DLR. I'm not really sad, I'm even somewhat ready to go home... I'm just looking to enjoy our final hours. We've really got to do so much this trip... such light crowds...rode things more than once... we just can't complain... whatever we do today is just extra. :) Now, we really do have a whole day because our flight doesn't leave until 9:45 p.m.

Ironically enough, we have some friends from home who will be at DLR today. I say ironically because we live in a small town in rural Nevada. The odds of having friends there at the same time is rather slim. They call us when they arrive at the park (at opening.) We tell them to do Fantasyland and we'll call them once we get there.

We pack up the suitcases, have continental breakfast and check out by 10 a.m. We store our luggage and double check our shuttle plans. Grandparents are leaving the motel at 3 p.m., us not until 7:30 p.m.

As we cross the street and walk up the sidewalk thru the shuttle area we notice a line (an actual line) for security. Ok, apparently Mon (Lincoln bday) is the holiday crowd day. Once thru the security the entry lines were longer than they had been but moving quickly. We all pause to take some pics in front of the Mickey flowers. Our large group photo turns out ok... then Grandpa uses our camera for our family pic. It wasn't until I was home that I realized he completely cut off dd#2's head. Thanks Grandpa. :)

We head straight back to Toon Town since we never made it back after Grandma's need for breakfast on Day 2. We meet our friends back there, chat briefly, decide they'll get fast passes for Indy for later and we'll call them once we're out of Toon Town. We do Gadget's Coaster, Minnie's House (minus Minnie.) Such cute photo ops in Minnie's House. Then to Mickey's. We waited about 40 min to see Mickey... our longest wait of the week. Mickey was wearing his sorcerer's robe which I was very excited about! I wanted him to put his hat on though... I asked but he just giggled & said no. :) Grandma also got Mickey's autograph... very cute pic of that too.

Out of Toon Town we decide to check out the Princess Fantasy Faire. I just couldn't leave not having seen it. Dh goes to check in w/our friends quickly in Adventure Land and then meets us back.

Ok, we skipped the line to actually meet the Princesses for autographs & photos altogether. My youngest dd has all the Princess autographs. We went to the left and stopped at the tables where all the kids made crowns and colored a bit. This was a nice little respite. We then went down to the stage area and took some pics of them with their crowns on. They were about to start the Coronation Ceremony (I think?) so we took a seat to watch for a bit. They taught the children a little dance and then the Princesses were introduced. We saw Mulan, Belle and Aurora. We'd never seen Mulan before. We didn't stay for the whole show, slipped out quietly.

My thoughts on the Princess Fantasy Faire: Cute theming, some photo ops, a fun place...... but I still think it's sad that the Princess aren't around the castle anymore. Overall, we'd much rather it had stayed an outdoor theatre. We enjoyed Snow White the Musical there very much. I suspect the Princess Fantasy Faire is insane during the busy times.

Over to Adventure Land to meet the friends. We take turns watching kids & riding Indy. Grandma and I head to the Emporium because she still needs to buy a Tshirt for another granddaughter.

Ok, the plan for lunch is to eat at The Plaza Inn so the kids can have the Pnut Putter Pallet (sp?) Um, read carefully and you'll figure out I had the wrong restaurant! We check the menu at the Plaza... no Palet. I ask the CM outside the Plaza. She has no idea. After we buy the Tshirt I go into City Hall and ask where the Pnut Butter Palet is?? Very helpful CM directs me to the Carnation Cafe. Ah ha!

Grandma and I pass the Carnation Cafe and she gets in line for us. I had no idea that this small outdoor eating area was the Carnation Cafe. :) Back to Adventure Land to get the rest of the family. Back in line with Grandma we wait about 10 min. In line I give everyone the info on Oscar. Grandma just loves it that I know all these interesting tid-bits about DL.

We're seated and we see Oscar. He goes to 2 diff tables and chats, but not ours. Do you have to ask for him? Cute children's menus here! Saved one for the scrap book. The 2 younger order the pnut butter palet, dh, dd & I order the cup of soup and half smoked turkey sandwich (2 of them) intending to share, grandparents get soup.

Ok, the food here is good. This is the only place we found, however, that the portions we received were not share-able. This was surprise to me since most places are quite generous w/their servings. The food was excellent... adore that baked potato soup... would eat their again...order seperately. :)

We have about a half hour before grandparents have to depart. We decide to slip and see the 50th Movie. We really like this show and exhibit. Seems like one of the few places in the park you can really get some history short of taking a tour.

We walk the grandparents out the entry gates and give them our goodbye hugs. They've had a good time (in spite of Grandma not feeling super good) and we're really glad they came. Our kids will never forget this trip with their grandparents.

We head over to CA to meet our friends. They've never bought a park hopper before so they've never seen CA. We do a quick restroom stop near the front gates and buzz into that store and buy the shirt I want. I've finally decided after 5 days.

They've already gotten 3 fastpasses for Soarin so we take our tickets and secure 5 more. Our friends convince dh & dd#1 to do Tower of Terror. Yikes! I stay w/the little ones and we have Mickey Mouse lollipops.

Thru the afternoon we alternate staying with the kids and doing Soarin, taking the kids to the adventure trails in the Red Wood area (we Koda the bear), and the dads have a beer from Taste Pilots. This was really the first trip we realized their was alcohol available in the park.

Our friends want to do Screamin' and they work hard on dh and dd#1 to join them. In the mean time I need a corn dog so we go over to the peer area and all have either corn dogs, pizza or McDs. Get this, the big McDs was out of burgers??? How exactly does a McDs run out of burgers?

Over to Screamin' my poor dd was so scared she had tears in her eyes getting on the ride. She was glad she did it, but didn't love it. Dh like it. He said that the launch is the scariest part!

At last we have to head towards the gates. We stop in at the candy shop and get 3 choc covered strawberries for dd#2. This has been the treat she's waiting for.

Out the gates and a fond fairwell to DLR... We don't get quite so sad because let's not kid ourselves... this isn't our last trip. :) Until next year...

Shuttle is on time....flight is on time. We're one very tired family. Plane arrives into Reno aroud 10:45, collect luggage, drive home 2.5 hrs. Drive home was rough. Bad choice... should've slept over.

It seriously takes us like 3 days to recover from a Disneyland trip. We call it the Disney hangover!! He-he. We're having all kinds of fun with the memories already.

Thanks for listening... oh, and the Dream Team... not for us... still not even a sighting! :)

nvmom

Thanks for sharing!! I have to live thru others until my next trip in September :)

It's was so much fun reading your trip report, like a mini disney vacation!

I so understand the Disney hangover feeling. So worth it though :).