The pre-trippie:

I am a big ol Disneyland fan. We have gone every year since my oldest daughter turned 3 (2002) and my parents used to take me all the time when I was a young’un . In fact, my parents honeymooned at Disneyland.
November of 2005 we bought our first APs on my suggestion of, it’s cheaper to get APs for the 3 of us instead of 2 or 3 day tickets this year AND 2 or 3 day tickets next year. Little did I know that that little piece of plastic would somehow consume my brain for an entire 9 months!! Like, CRAZY consume!! After our annual trip in November , I went twice in December-once with my sister-in-law and our two 2 year old daughters and once with my friend Nancy for a “grown-up” trip . I went once in January with my mother-in-law and my 2 daughters , my family of 4 went once in February with Nancy’s family of 6 , once in March for my hubby’s birthday , once in May for my soon-to-be 3 year olds bday with my grandparents and then once in July all on my own .
Hubby and I had a LOT of disagreements about all of these Disney trips. Seems OTHER people in the family (him and older daughter) would like to go somewhere other than DL all the time. <snort> They’re so crazy!! LOL So, after July, I didn’t mention it anymore. I was a little sad when our APs expired in November but I got over it.
Then, something crazy happens!! The first week of March hubby says to me “I’m really surprised you haven’t said anything about going what with the everyone plays for the kids price deal going on right now” and my whole body went WH-WH-WHAT?!?!?! LOL So, I told him the only thing I regretted about our year of Disney was NOT taking our youngest DD to DL just me and her. She is the only other one who GETS the DL thing like me. She hasn’t been since May of 2006 but still wakes up from her “good” dreams about Disneyland all the time.
So, hubby said “then I think you should take her during this special”. Well, friends and neighbors, that was all I needed!!! So, I have started planning our trip. We are leaving early April 17th and coming home late April 20th and staying at the second best Anaheim hotel (DLH is the best to us!), the Lemon Tree Hotel and I have booked us one dinner at Café Orleans. We have never eaten there but I would like a Monte Cristo sammich without paying Blue Bayou prices, LOL. I have been kicking around the idea of a character meal but the only one I really like is the Princess dinner at DCA because they come to you. Every single Princess comes to YOUR table while you are eating. It’s amazing. But seriously, we did this dinner 3 times last year and I just don’t think I could do it again, LOL. Maybe if they ever had a Peter Pan meal or Cars meal then I would go for it cos DD3 is really into those characters. I will update this again before we leave on the trip.
Oh! I forgot to say, this trip is a surprise because I haven't told DD3. It's basically her birthday present as she turns 4 May 20th. I looked into us going in May for her actual bday, but with end of the year stuff for DD7's school and the whole "adults pay for kids price" deal and then Senior Nights would have been going on in May, DH talked me into going in April. Didn't have to talk very long or hard tho, LOL!! But I am SUPER bummed to be missing out on Splash Mountain! DD is exactly 40" tho so I am REALLY hoping to take her on Soaring. And GRR would have been great but that requirement is 42". Oh well!!! LOL


I'm going home, I mean to DL!!!

Day One: Tuesday, April 17th, 2007

My original plan was to be on the freeway by 5am, but that didn’t work!! I hardly slept the night before so I let myself sleep in until 7am. Pottied, showered, loaded car with our stuff, got lil Jyl out of bed and had her go potty and we were off!! Stopped at gas station down the street from us (I had ½ a tank) and filled up and we were on the freeway by 7:27am. RIGHT ON! We made excellent time, zooming through Fresno 67 minutes after leaving Modesto. I SWEAR I was NOT speeding!! There was almost NO traffic and what traffic there was, I just did the same speed as them! LOL

We stopped in Bakersfield at Olive St., our usual “halfway” mark. Went into the Starbucks and used the restroom. I got me a medium Peppermint mocha with an extra shot of peppermint (I hate coffee, but figured the caffeine couldn’t hurt!) and a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant). We had the BEST service here!! Cutest little guy helped us and convinced me to warm my croissant, which I did. Then we stopped at Burger King for real food. I got me a sausage croissant and then got Jyl a hamellette sandwich, some cheesy tots and an OJ. Got some gas (was at half a tank again, LOL) and we were back on the road. Gave Jyl her food and OJ and she scarfed them down in nothing flat and asked for more food, please Mommy. Said I’m sorry baby but there is nothing left so she settled in watching DuckTales. (My almost 4 year old and her insatiable appetite would be a recurring theme this trip!)

As we were leaving Bakersfield, Jyl FINALLY asked where we were going. I told her, just for a drive! And she said “Ok” and went back to watching DuckTales. Go figure!! Once we were on the Grapevine, she noticed the barren mountains and said “We’re going to see Nancy!” (our friend who lives 90 minutes from us in Twain Harte) and I said, “noooo baby these are different mountains. Nancy’s mountains are very green with trees, remember?” Again, she said “Ok” and went back to, you guessed it, DuckTales. LOL This DVD was SUCH a great choice from Netflix! Both my kids ended up LOVING it! Plus, it’s over 3 hours long! HA!!

We arrived in Anaheim a few minutes before 1pm and as we were driving on Disneyland Dr. (I think it was Disneyland Dr. Was the road that takes you to DTD and Grand Californian and Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotel?) Anyways, we passed the DL Hotel which was have stayed at a few times with Jyl in the past and she chooses NOW to look up from her movie and says “Mommy, I think we might be at Disneyland! I see the hotel!” to which I promptly lied and said “No baby, Disneyland is far far away! I sure wish we were at Disneyland tho!” and she said “Yeah, me too. I wish we could go far far away” and went back to her video. Hee hee Sneaky mommy!!! We got to the parking garage and ended up on the Goofy level. Jyl spots all of the pictures of Goofy and says again, “Mommy, I think this is Disneyland!!!” to which I AGAIN lied and said “Naaaah, we are at Target!” and she said “Ok, I want cheese!”. Hee hee Seriously, this kid will never trust me again! HAHAHA!! We park and I open her door and unbuckle her and point my new camera at her and say “You were right Jyl. We ARE at Disneyland!” and then snap a picture. Here is the face she was making:
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Then she says, “Not Target???” and the people getting out of their car next to us just laugh and laugh! We get down to the ground and wait for the tram and call my parents to let them know we have arrived.
My dad is particularly tickled with all of the sneakiness that went on and then we board the tram.
The line for bag check isn’t bad and the one to get in the park isn’t terrible either. Must be the whole, 1pm thing, LOL. Once in the park, we realize it is really quite warm and our heads are already getting hot! We head straight to the Mad Hatter where we each purchase a hat. Mine is black with the Cheshire cat on it and it says in hot pink letters “Crazy works for me!” (It’s funny cos it’s true!) and Jyl picks out a white adults hat with Tinkerbell on the front that lights up when you push a button. $44.72 for TWO hats!!! CRAZY!!! LOL
We get a locker ($6.00) and then board the train. where Jyl promptly tells everyone she is going to Disneyland in a fairly loud song, LOL. We take a trip over to the Toon Town station and head immediately for Space Mountain. I check Jyl’s height and we get Fast Passes. Then we head to Star Tours where Jyl has her first ever flight to Endor!! She did NOT like Star Tours. We were in the front row and she does NOT like feeling like she is going to fall, LOL. Got a teeny bit teary here but quickly got over it. She LOVED the robots and still talks about them! HAHAHA

After failing to reach Endor, we ride Buzz Lightyear and then make it back for our Fast Passes at Space Mountain. I wish I could have bought the picture of us on this ride, but Jyl was SOOOO short you can only see me and one of her little arms sticking up, LOL. She had a death grip with the other hand though but joined me in saying WOOOHOOO several times. After the ride, she said she liked it but didn’t want to ride it again, maybe tomorrow. Ok, fine with me!
We went to the bathroom and then to the Space Station where I bought her a lollipop for not freaking out on 2 very scary rides. The one she chose came in a 3 pack and was $3.75.

Off to Pizza Port for a lunchy snack! We shared a kids spaghetti with a METEOR meatball which came with grapes and carrots and a small drink.
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Jyl ate all the grapes and 2 carrots, 3 bites of spaghetti and then chomped down on her sucker. I actually let her finish it too! Usually I am in such a rush, my kids get half of it down and then we are off!

Off to Fantasyland! We get our PhotoPass pictures in front of the castle (not a fan of this days! LOL) and then go over by Snow Whites wishing well. Jyl has never been over here and it turns out to be really hard to drag her away. She LOVES the fish that pop up out of the water when Snow White sings. LOL Mary Poppins and Bert were there and I couldn’t drag Jyl away from the fish long enough to get a photo with them. Oh well!! This is a FUN relaxed trip, so just let it go Mom!

We head into Fantasyland and check out the Tinkerbell shop, see nothing that catches our eye (except Jyl is into the Capt. Hook costume and a sword. My lil tomboy!) We decide on Snow White first, cos the line is non-existent and Jyl has never been on it before. We walk right on and she loves it. Afterwards, Pinocchio, only a 2 minute wait (or even less!) and the on to the Carousel, which had a wait of maybe 5 minutes.

We catch the train from Toon Town station and take a ride to my personal favorite, New Orleans Square. Pirates of the Caribbean, my #1 favorite ride at DL, was a walk on. Jyl was a teeny bit scared of the ride. Must have been fear of the unknown cos she used to LOVE this ride (if you hadn’t noticed the shirt she was wearing, it’s a PoTC one and it’s her absolute favorite shirt and has been since her last trip, May 2006.) We head to Haunted Mansion where the wait is about 5 minutes. I hold her in my arms in the stretching room where the screaming always freaks her out but this time no problems. After HM, we hit the bathroom over by French Market and then head to Café Orleans for our 5:50 dinner reservation. Can you believe I had to ask for directions?!?! I have never eaten here before, LOL, and couldn’t find it. We sit down and I order the 3 cheese Monte Cristo and water with lemon, and Jyl orders the kids mac and cheese and an apple juice. I snap a gorgeous photo of the Columbia and of Jyl being the little Pirate that she is
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and then our food arrives. Jyl didn’t really care for the mac and cheese, ate maybe 5 bites of it. She scarfed down her 2 bunches of grapes and 1 strawberry, my 2 strawberries and my 2 bunches of grapes and then drank my water. She didn’t like her apple juice at all, which was my fault. At home, we water the kids’ juice down-half water, half juice and I guess full on juice was too much for her, LOL. She had a bite of my sandwich and thought it was tasty but didn’t want any more. She especially liked dipping her strawberries in my powdered sugar, LOL. I LIKED the cheese Monte Cristo but not as much as the original. Next time, will definitely be going with original, LOL. Grand total was $23.68, I made it an even $30 with tip and we were off.

We walked to Main Street to get Jyl some cotton candy ($3.00) and then cleaned out our locker and headed to the candy shop. We got a Mickey Mouse chocolate covered coconut heads package, 1 dark chocolate covered strawberry and a marshmallow stick covered in caramel and chocolate. Total-$9.16.

We left the park and headed to the Kmart by our hotel and bought some bubblebath for Jyl (this stuff is cool!!! It’s bubblebath, shampoo AND body wash all in one!!!!) and a beach towel for the pool. Went to the hotel and checked in. We got room 205 which was on the 2nd floor and had a balcony! We had a beautiful view of the pool and Jacuzzi at night. We went to the pool. Pool was like ice but the hot tub was exquisitely toasty. So warm though, we only stayed 15 minutes or so. Jyl got super pink cheeks! LOL After the tub, we went back to the room where Jyl took a bath and I unpacked. Jyl went to bed and I watched TV and then read and then out before 11pm.

Coming up: Day Two! With even MORE pics!

Day Two: April 18th, 2007

We woke up this morning a little after 7am. I went downstairs and got some of the free breakfast stuff for Jyl. They offered Fruit Loops, Cheerios, Frosted Flakes and Raisin Bran; milk, Sunny D, Coffee, a big pitcher of ice water with several lemon slices floating in it, and a few tea bags and hot chocolate pouches; Bananas, red apples & green apples; apple horns, berry horns and bear claws; several different brands and flavors of yogurt. Not bad for included in the price! I got Jyl some Raisin Bran, Sunny D, an apple (red) and a Yoplait Strawberry yogurt. I grabbed a bear claw for me. Not as tasty as I remember from being a kid, LOL. Jyl took 1 bite of the apple, ate the whole yogurt and drank the milk from her cereal. TYPICAL!

While Jyl was eating, I took a shower and got our stuff ready for the day. We got to the parking garage (Daisy, 9C) right around 9am and took the tram over to the park. While waiting in the bag check line, Jyl was dancing around and I was chatting with a nice guy and his female friend and I guess he is a dance instructor and my daughter has “an amazing turnout and needs to be taking dance lessons”. LOL Right on! Line to get in the park was equally huge, but hey, it was opening time, what did we expect?! We got a locker ($6.00) and headed straight to Peter Pan. Blech, 30 minute wait for this ride but Jyl loves it so I took it in stride. After soaring over London, we took a ride on Snow White, 5 minute wait at most. Afterwards, I stopped the PhotoPass lady and got a few pictures taken of us on the inside of Fantasyland, something I had never done before (these pictures did NOT turn out, the sun was shining right on us.)

After our misadventures with the PhotoPass (HA!) we went to Snow Whites wishing well (yes, AGAIN!) Got a picture of Jyl looking into the well
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and then dragged her away from the fish (YES, again!!!) and we headed to Plaza Inn for our 10:50am reservation with Minnie and Friends. Plaza Inn was a MADHOUSE!!! We have eaten here 3 times before, twice when it was Pooh and once when it was Princess and this was just crazy!! Or maybe it just felt that way since it was just me and Jyl against the world I mean the Land. HAHA!! They had a nice selection of grub. I got the “breakfast” which consisted of biscuit with gravy, bacon, ham, and scrambled eggs and then 1 piece of French toast for me. I got Jyl 2 Mickey waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. As we were in line waiting for waffles, they ran out!! It took about 5-10 minutes for more waffles to come out too!! <sigh> So we stuck it out waiting while the rest of the food got really cold. Our total came to $32.95 after my AAA discount. The characters we saw were Minnie, Chip, Dale, Hook and Pluto. Minnie came first and she took a picture
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and scrammed outta there faster than you could say MOUSETRAP. Chip spent an equally short amount of time with us, but Pluto was pretty good. Hook was AWESOMELY sweet but really not in character at all, LOL. When he came around to us, I told Jyl “Jyl, I smell a codfish!” and he just acted all butt hurt about it. Oh well! LOL
Dale never made it to us, but we saw him from across the room. Overall, I think I will stick with Ariels Grotto for character meals. It’s better choreographed, you’re not rushed, if it IS crowded you never know because you don't have to get up and maneuver around other people and the food comes to you. Live and learn!

Jyl and I decided to head over Toon Town where we got FastPasses for Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin (neither of us had ever done this ride before) and while we waited for them to become available, we went to Mickey’s house. The house was not crowded but the line in the barn to meet the Big Cheese was horrendous!!! We waited over 30 minutes to get in there, but at least it was air conditioned! Can’t complain too much!! You know how they could make this better tho? If they would show actual cartoons instead of commercials for cartoons on a continuous loop! LOL Jyl wants to live with Pluto!
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After meeting the HMIC (Head Mouse In Charge!) we went to RRCTS and waited in a fairly decent line even with our FastPasses. Not much to say about the ride. Jyl and I LOOOOVE the movie so I guess maybe I expected more from the ride? I really despise Toon Town (it’s just so hot and there’s no shade and soooo crowded and I never can find a place to sit, blah blah whine and moan) so I let Jyl choose 1 more thing to do here and she chose to take a picture in a car. Go figure!
We got on the train at the Toon Town station (very big line to get on train!) and once we were seated, the train broke!! Or the train in front of us broke; we never really got the full story. So we decided to rest our feet while others chose to get off.
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Less than 10 minutes after announcing they didn’t know how long we would be sitting there, the train chugged its way on to Main St. We got off and headed to California Adventure.

As soon as we got in DCA, we got our pictures taken in front of the bridge (yay for PhotoPass!) and then hit the bathrooms. After potty time, we headed to Soarin’ and got FastPasses for 2:20pm. Jyl held my hand and we headed to Tower of Terror. Now, I am NOT some mean woman who would just drag my kid on all the scary rides just because she is tall enough. Especially Tower of Terror, which I can seriously take or leave. But Jyl just seemed so up for anything that I decided, what the hey! Try it once! We got in line for Tower of Terror and waited less than 30 minutes total. Actually, it was a walk on into the room with the TV and the rest of the wait was waiting for a front row in the elevator because I did not want a repeat of Space Mountain-not being able to see Jyl in the ride photo! We board our elevator to the Twilight Zone, the doors close, the lights turn off and this *voice* starts speaking. Jyl has a hold of one of my hands and covers 1 ear with her other hand and tries to cover the open ear with her shoulder/arm/elbow. Guess the *voice* is the scariest thing about this ride! We drop, we shoot into the sky, we plummet, our stomachs fall on the floor, my beloved child whimpers, ready to cry from holy terror and I lean over and whisper in her ear-WOOHOO!! Jyl is a very suggestive child. If you say something is scary, then by golly it’s scary! But if you act like it’s SUPPOSED to be doing whatever is scary and that it’s really FUN, she will calm down. So, she continues holding my hand and attempting to cover her ears (don’t know why, *voice* is gone) and when we get off the ride, I am just completely overcome with my brave girl. I ask her if she likes the ride and she says nope. I say, what didn’t you like about the ride, Jyl and she replies it was too dark and too loud. WHAT?!?!?! What about the part where they shoot 100 miles into the ground and then ram you back up to the top again? And again? And again?!?!?!? She says, hmm maybe it was a little fast but it was waaaaay to loud. OK THEN!!! My child is amazing!! Amazingly weird, that is!! HAHA We buy our ride photo
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and I buy her the shirt that has the hotel on it and says I SURVIVED on the bottom, total $32.74 or some odd cents. We stop at P.T.'s fruit market and get some grapes, a plain Dasani and a raspberry Dasani for Jyl for $8 even and sit in the shade in front of a Bugs Land and enjoy our snack.

After snack, we head to Bugs Land. We ride Heimlichs Chew Chew Train, Tuck and Rolls “Bumper” cars and Francis’ Ladybug Boogie. After a Bugs Land, which I absolutely love on a normal day-the themeing is just beautifully done and you really do get the sense that you are as big as an ant under all those huge "clovers"-
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but today it was just really crowded. Hmm what’s the deal? LOL We head off to Soarin’ and take a ride and Jyl absolutely LOOOOOVES this ride!! She calls it the ride where you fly like Superman. I thought MAYBE the heights would bother her but uh uh. I guess everything is tame after Tower of Terror!!! We head to EnginEars so I can check out the Potato Head pieces. The only things they have that I don’t already have is a body for the Incredibles and that just isn’t worth $18 for a stuffed Potato Head pieces box so we peruse the other items. Jyl finds a baby Pluto with a blanket and a bone and I find a Kermit antenna topper (Jyl thought he was a squid!!!) and we check out for $23.71.

After spending money, we head back to the ‘Land and put our purchases in our locker and then back to Fantasyland we go. We stop at the bathrooms by Pinocchios food court (never saw THAT in the movie HA!) We get in the incredibly looooong line for Dumbo where Jyl says she has to go to the bathroom. Ok Jyl, you JUST went potty, do you REALLY need to go again RIGHT NOW or can you hold it? If you can’t hold it, we will get out of line and go to the bathroom…No, she says she can hold it.
We don’t get the orange one so Jyl was a little miffed (both of our fave. color) until I say wow, look at this BEAUTIFUL blue Dumbo!! Happy times!! LOL I let Jyl control the up and downs and after 10 seconds (or so it seems, after waiting 30+ minutes in the sun) we headed back to the bathroom. Jyl does her thing AGAIN and we go get in line for Storybookland Canal Boats. Neither of us have ever done this ride. My kids always say Monstro looks too scary but Jyl decided she wanted to do it. The line was HORRENDOUSLY long, waited about 45 minutes? GAA! Was cute though, don’t think I need to repeat it any time soon. Do you know how Monstro came to live in Fantasyland? After that smart Pinocchio built a fire in him and made him sneeze, Monstro sneezed so hard it blew his tail off and now he spends his time in Fantasyland. Ummm ok…. After seeing all of the teeny tiny houses and plants and castles and towns (too cute!! I love that the plants are REAL and only grow 1 inch every year!) we get in line for the Teacups. Not a bad wait here compared to the other 2 rides.
After the spinning cups, it is time for dinner (almost 7pm) so we head to Redd Rocketts Pizza Port (I still think they should change this to Pizza Planet. Fits in better with all the Buzz!) where it is REALLY crowded. I get a Countdown Chicken Fusilli, a bottled water, kids pizza meal with apple juice, a big ol thing of the bread and a chocolate cookie.
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Jyl eats the cheese off of her pizza and all of her grapes and a few carrots and then honks down on my fusilli. Even with the both of us noshing on it for quite a while, there was still half a plate left. We tore a hunk off the bread and shared that hunk (seems like we wasted a LOT of food!) and then shared the cookie. Cookie was REALLY good!!

After finishing our meal, we decide to go back to the hotel and swim for a bit. We go to the locker to get all of our stuff and Jyl’s poor wittle hand gets smashed in the locker door, while she is holding it open for me!!! And I mean H-A-R-D!! AWWWW!!! Poor baby!! Here she is crying big ol tears and blowing on it:
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I advise not letting your kids "help" by holding these doors open! LOL
We tram to the car and hit up Georgies Donuts for some lovely-fabulous-mouth-watering-artery-clogging yummies (2 ham and cheese croissants for breakfast tomorrow and 6 donut holes). As soon as we hit the hotel room, Jyl is nekkid, on the pot and in her bathing suit before I can even put the food in the fridge (oops, left the ham and cheeses out alllll night, had to toss them!) and we hit the pool. I decide to just put my feet in the hot tub tonight. It’s only lukewarm tho. Bummer!! After Jyl “swam” for a bit, we head upstairs where she takes a bath and I purchase hi-speed internet. $5 for your stay, not a bad deal but the last time I brought a laptop to this hotel, the internet was free. Hmph! After yapping with hubby for a bit and cruising my DIS sites and MySpace and checking email and looking at our PhotoPass pics, we hit the hay.
Coming up-last day in the Parks. Musical chairs with magical friends?! Nasty lunch choice. Near death experience. Or at least, near EXTREME pain experience. Wasted ice cream. Mommy loses the magic. BIG TIME. And someone gets magiced in the heart. AWWW!!!

I'm so enjoying your trip report, can't wait for the rest.:)

Me too, I can't wait to read the rest!

Well here we are, our last day at Disneyland. <sigh> Seems to just go sooo fast once you get here!!! We didn’t set an alarm or a wake up call today and slept in until the positively sinful time of 8:30am. I went downstairs to get Jyl some more of that free breaky (strawberry yogurt, red apple and Sunny D today) and took a shower while she honked down on it. And spilled Sunny D on the bed. GAAA! LOL Jyl decided she wanted another go at the hot tub more than she wanted to get to the park at opening so down we went.
Jyl lasted about 10 minutes in her warm tub today because it was SUPER cold!! BRRR!!!
After her cold adventure, I gave her a quick shower and we were dressed and then rolling on down the Blvd. Harbor Blvd. of course!! We got into the Mickey and Friends parking structure and actually parked on Mickey this time! WOOHOO Did we win something? LOL We took the tram to the park, went through security and the turnstiles and we was IN! Like Flynn!! We immediately saw the band playing and Jyl thought it was a parade!! HAHAHAHA Being the former band geek that I am (where I met 2 of my most bestest friends EVER and my future hubby!) we stayed for a few minutes and boogied down. As much as you can to a marching band. Which is a LOT. If you used to be a band geek. And your best friends were band geeks. And your husband of 10 years was a band geek. Moving on….We headed to the lockers and sprung the $10 for the BIG locker, figuring we would probably buy a lot of stuff today and we would need the extra room. Jyl kept far far away from the locker and refused to hold the door for me. Poor baby!! Guess she hasn’t forgotten the pain of the “mean” locker last night!

We stop in at City Hall and I tell the lady at the desk, I would like to get some information about a character and before I can say it’s about a SPECIFIC character, she pulls out one of the white paper Daily Guides you get at the turnstile and shows me all the info for princesses and whatnot. I say, no, I need the goods on Peter Pan please. So she goes to the Batphone on the back desk (ok,ok, so it’s just a regular old phone!) and she finds out that PP will be walking around FantasyLand at 1:45pm and then playing musical chairs at Coke Corner at 2:30pm. Right on!

Jyl and I book it for FrontierLand for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FastPasses and then lunch for me, as I have yet to eat. I fall upon the first place that resembles a restaurant, which just happened to be Rancho del Zocalo, of course. I ordered a chicken burrito I think? And a coke? And a kids OJ for Jyl and my total was $13.00. After looking at my receipt, I don’t think they charged me for the coke. Right on!! Cos the food was N-A-S-T-Y!!
It was spicy and cold and hard and the line to get it was HUGE and then the line for soda and OJ was HUGE and then to pay the line was frigging ginormous!!! Grrr! Bad food makes CJ grumpy! LOL

After choking about half of the food down, we hightail it over to BTMRR to use our FPs. Jyl is JUST 40” so on we go.

****Warning!! The following is NOT for the faint of heart! Near death experience!!!****
After getting through the line and we actually board the “train” and the handlebar goes down, I notice a small problem. Or a big problem. A big THIGH problem. Like, I have a big booty and not thin thighs and when the handlebar goes down, there is a TON of room between Jyl and the safety bar. The train was on it’s way before I could motion to the CM that Houston, we might have a problem and after we turned the first bend, I KNEW we had a problem!! Jyl went FLYING towards the opening and I grabbed her arm and squished her to me as close as possible. I put my right arm around her and grabbed the bar with that hand and then held on for ME with my left hand. Never again!! This ride was NOT worth almost losing my lil Jyli-Bean. Disney really needs to do something about this as well. Better checks from the CMs, a higher height restriction, something! Sheesh! LOL
***And this concludes our death defying experience. We now return to our regularly scheduled TR, already in progress...***

To calm our nerves (yeah, that’s it, just to calm our nerves!) we got some ice creams from a vendor and headed to the Tiki Tiki Tiki room. I was hoping we could share an ice cream cookie, as I had a bite of my SILs when we went in 2002 and I remember it being soooo fabulous but Jyl would have none of it. She wanted a Mickey ice cream so a Mick she would have! I got me the Nestle ice cream cookie sandwich thing and for Jyl the Mickey head cookie sandwich thing and the total was $7.75.

There was a bit of a wait for the next show and Jyl amused herself with her ice cream and watching the god MALIBU (I think that was his name! Maybe it was MAUI). Whichever one where the water fills a bamboo thing and then it dunks down? Whatev!

We enjoy the show (we tossed the ice creams on the way in. Definitely too big for one person!) After the show, it’s on to Coke Corner! We kill about 20 minutes just waiting and looking at pins and rocking to some music over a loud speaker and Jyl asks me, what are we doing here? So I told her, I am waiting for my friend to come play with us and she looks at me like I am crazy and then continues dancing.

Right on!
(***Back story: my sister-in-law, Nicole, and I took our two 2 year olds to Disneyland together in December of 2005 and the one person her 2 year old wanted to see was Cinderella and the one person Jyl wanted to see was Peter. Needless to say, they saw neither, HA! Jyl had been back to Disneyland 2 times since that trip and STILL never seen Panny and STILL asked about him every time, so THIS trip, we were on a mission. Just not from God. HA!) Now back to our regularly scheduled TR…

I see a figure in green running and skipping our way but keep quiet when all of a sudden, we hear an “I’m BORED!” hollered out and who do we see?!
Peter!!
Jyl just ogles Peter for a few minutes when he is joined by some more friends!
The gang (Peter, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Alice and the Fairy Godmother) quickly organizes the kids into a game of musical chairs and much fun and laughter ensues!

After each kid was “disqualified”, Peter and Alice would take the kid aside and have them tell a joke to the crowd. Was a nice touch, to help them not feel bad I think! All the characters told jokes throughout the game as well and here’s my favorite, from Pan the Man:
What’s the difference between broccoli and boogers?

Kids don’t eat broccoli!!! LMAO EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Jyl came in third place and got to tell a very weird joke which I didn’t get at all:
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange and that’s IT!
Ok….anyways….after 16 months of waiting, Jyl finally gets her picture with Peter and we say our goodbyes and we head off to Critter Country. As we are walking by the Haunted Mansion, Jyl tells me we are going the wrong way, Pooh doesn’t live this way. Umm trust the Mom, kiddo, she knows where she is going! I can’t help it, when we get to the Pooh ride I say to her, “See, I told you I knew where Pooh was!” LOL I couldn’t help it, cos I always have to be right! I bought a bottle of Dasani from a street vendor along the way and promptly left it on the Pooh ride. D'oh! That was a waste of $2.75! After visiting the 100 Acre, we go to the Pooh “dump” shop and check out what’s the what at the bakery. I see Tigger Tails for the first time!! 3 marshmallows on a stick, dipped in orange colored (and flavored? I’m not sure) white chocolate and then drizzled with chocolate “stripes”. Too cute, but doesn’t sound like something I would want to eat.

Jyl picked out a non-pareil for $2.50 (a giant chocolate dot with little sprinkly things on top) and I got a bag of semi-sweet non-pareils for $4.50 (not worth it, I STILL have a ton of these left! HA!). We rode Pooh one more time and then we bought another water. Jyl made sure to lecture me about not losing THIS one. The things we teach our children!
We moseyed on down to Pirates of the Caribbean, where the line moved rather quickly and we were soon visiting again with our favorite Pirates, Barbosa and Jack. Love love LOOOOOVE this ride!! I think it’s my all time favorite!! And I cannot say enough good things about the Davey Jones water feature either---soo awesome!! (I was lucky enough to ride the newly revamped ride with all of the new features in July, the day after we watched the midnight showing of Dead Man’s Chest and THAT was amazing!!!)

We caught the train in New Orleans Square where we ate some of our goodies and got off at Main Street so we could hit Soarin’ one or two more times. And here is where Mommy loses the Magic. BIG time!

We walk across the esplanade to DCA and Jyl decides she wants to take a picture on the letter C this time. We hit the potties, and then head straight to Soarin’. We get FastPasses and then hop in the standby line, me thinking “hey, it’s Jyl most favorite ride ever, we can ride it TWICE before DCA closes for the night!” The line seems very long, has a wait time listed as 35 minutes. We finally get inside and out of the heat and as we are standing there, Jyl starts freaking out that she has to go to the bathroom. But Jyl, we JUST went when we got in DCA, about 20 minutes ago. Are you SUURE you have to go? Because if we get out of line we have to stand in the outside line again. Can you hold it? Jyl says yes she can hold it, she doesn’t want to get out of the line. Ok, no biggie. Jyl and another little girl play in line, a little inappropriately (the girl keeps trying to kiss Jyl. No thanks, we like our own germs best, LOL). I try moving Jyl in front of me, therefore blocking the other child and the kid just goes around. I say loudly, no thanks please don’t kiss! And her parents just stand there blissfully unaware. I finally just pick Jyl up and hold her because they aren’t going to do anything and I am much too much of a chicken to say, hey get a hold of your child please! LOL Then Jyl starts doing this little freakout thing, where she has to go potty RIGHT NOW but she doesn’t want to get out of line but she can’t hold it but she doesn’t want to leave Soarin’. So I tell her we can come RIGHT BACK after we go to the bathroom, come on, lets go to the bathroom. So I literally drag her out of the line and she is hollering the whole time making me feel like Mother of the Year into the heat, where I see the standby line is now HUGE and at 60 minutes wait time and the FastPass return line is very very long as well, and I am a little exasperated with my hollering child, so we march to the bathroom with her crying the whole time, thinking she will never get to ride Soarin’ again. We spent 10 minutes in the bathroom because she didn’t have to go as badly as she thought she did (that doesn’t bother me at all, I would rather us leave and her TRY to go than for her to have an accident because she wasn’t listening to her body. What made me lose the magic was the crazy hissy fit. Jyl is a very even tempered child and it takes a lot for her to meltdown like that so that along with the heat and the new lines, BOILING POINT! LOL) We get back in the newly long line and eventually ride the ride. Right now, I am just going through the motions because I am hot, my feet hurt and I am just tired. Soooo tired. And Jyl has yet to say she was sorry for the fit! Hmph!

Once we exit Soarin’, the FastPass line was sooo long there was no way we could have made it in before DCA closed and we would have barely any time left in DL and I just couldn’t do another long line in the heat anyways, so we left DCA and headed back to Disneyland. Right smack dab in the wait for the parade. Now, we have purchased those DVDs off of eBay from RU42video where he does a BEAUTIFUL job of getting amazing shots and then splices them all together (yes, this is a plug. You want year round magic, you buy his stuff! Check it out! HAHA) and we have his 50th Celebration DVD which includes the fireworks and the Parade of Dreams and we have the Fantasmic! DVD as well, so it really surprises me that Jyl decides she wants to see the parade. I am still in “Lost the Magic” mode so I try to talk her out of it. But Jyl, there’s no spot for us. Don’t you want to ride more rides??? Jyl is having none of it so we grab a seat at Coke Corner and hope for the best. You can KIND of see where we are at but it’s not great. I see a small hole in the roped off section on Main St. (you know, the rope divides the people waiting for the parade and the other people who are walking by) so I grab Jyl and we occupy the hole. There are a ton of people in front of us so I will have to hold Jyl but that’s ok. I know this parade, I know there are parts of it I can put her down while there are pauses in the action. The parade starts (note-I absolutely love this parade and have the music at home and it NEVER fails to make me tear up!) and once I hear the music and I have my Jyl in my arms, the grump fades. Very quickly. And standing there alone (or so it felt! We were in our own world!), listening to that song that I absolutely love, holding my wee one who was almost 4 and just had the most beautiful look of awe and wonder on her face (even tho she has seen it 100 times on the TV and once in person!) I just got the magic back. Like, instantaneously. So, to anyone reading this, if you were there standing next to the lady holding the child singing along to the music and crying, well sorry, but that was my own personal magic time and really, I’m not sorry at all! LOL
Welcome to our family time
Welcome to our brotherly time
We’re happy giving and taking
To the friends we’re making
There’s nothing we won’t do!
Welcome to our family time
Welcome to our brotherly time
This is the festival
And best of all
We’re here to share it all!
This has to be the most beautiful
The most peaceful place I've ever been to
It's nothing like I've ever seen before!How can you not tear up?! LOL So, anyways, I was teary and utterly happy with all in my life, with my arms and back screaming because I was carrying an extra 34 pounds and after the last float went by (the Mouses!), Jyl turns to me and puts her little arms around my neck and whispered in my ear “Mommy, that magic-ed my heart”. Umm ok, this trip was worth every penny and every ounce of frustration for that ONE moment!!!

After my heart had grown about 4 sizes (like the Grinch, don’t ya know!) we went to the locker to get warmer clothes. I tossed on my favorite cardigan and put Jyl in one of her Gymboree track suits with a long sleeve shirt underneath and we headed for the potty again. This is rapidly becoming my favorite attraction!! After the bathroom (Pinnochio bathrooms, in FantasyLand) we got in line for Dumbo. About 2 rides away from our turn, Jyl does the potty thing again. I ask if she can hold it and she says yes. I tell her, really it’s no big deal to get out of line and go and then come back. She says she can hold it. So, we ride the ride (I don’t know what color we got!) and then we head BACK to Pinnochio’s Favorite Potty Ride and then get in line for It’s A Small World. The line for this is ridiculously long!! The only other times I have seen the line this long is during the Holidays. <sigh> My feet are seriously on their last leg! Jyl amuses herself during the line by buttoning the large buttons on my cardigan and then I undo them and then she does them again. And again. And again…

After cruising with the smallest peeps in the world, we head back to the locker, gather our gear and head on out of the park. Good-bye Disneyland! It’s always sad when you have absolutely NO idea when you might come back….

We hit Varsity Burgers on Lincoln Blvd. for dinner and are sooooo pleasantly surprised!! I had the BEST burger and Jyl got a kids corn dog meal which was HUGE. It was so delicious, I seriously recommend this place to everyone. They make everything fresh----even cook the meat, while you wait!!!

We hit the hotel, eat while watching Grey’s Anatomy and then lights out for both of us.

Day 4, April 20th, 2007-Leaving Anaheim

Well, I must say, Jyl and I were exhausted Thursday night because we waaaay overslept! I had set the alarm on my phone to 9am as checkout was at 10 and I guess we slept through it (hard to do, cos it is AC/DC singing Back in Black. LOUD!) So, we wake up at 9:55am, 35 minutes to shower, pack and checkout? AACK!! I call downstairs and ask for more time after explaining that I overslept and the employee who answered the phone snottily offers me an extra 30 minutes. I counter with an hour so I can actually shower AND pack, and then play the “I’m all alone with a 3 year old…” card so he finally agrees and says I can check out at 11:30. (While it was nice of him to give me an extra 30 minutes in the first place especially since it was MY fault I overslept, the customer service here used to be soooo different! The former employees would have offered me an hour in the beginning of the conversation.)

I throw Jyl in a bubble bath while I pack everything up, wash her and give her clothes, cartoons and a granola bar while I shower and we are checked out by 11:15. Now, here is where all of my planning comes back to bite me in the butt. I had put off almost all of my souvenir shopping (mostly for my 7 year old at home, who desperately wanted Sleeping Beauty earrings for her newly pierced ears) for our last day, thought we would shop at World of Disney and then head to Rainforest Café for our reservations. Well, it’s raining outside. Warm, but raining. Ok, no big deal. We stop in one last time at Georgie’s where I place the granddaddy of all heart attack orders (2 jelly donuts, 1 apple fritter, 4 ham and cheese croissants and a maple bar-I don’t feel bad because I know that these are all for home for sharing but I do stand there feeling quite…greedy. LMAO!!) Off to DTD!


We park at Downtown Disney and the skies just open up and let go. Ok, again, no big deal. I peel off my soaking socks and roll my jeans up to my knees (I know, it’s a sexy look!) and do the same to Jyl. This was like monsoon weather. There were HUGE puddles (and we hit them in our Crocs with no socks! FUN!!!) and rapidly moving “rivers” and it was just crazy. I had a rain jacket but Jyl didn’t so we jumped into Rainforest Café and I decided right there, whatever souvenirs we got, we were getting from RF!! I bought each of the girls a tshirt (Jyl’s is blue with a jaguar or cougar and Del’s is red with a parrot), a pink Ty 11” beanie baby giraffe for Del, a necklace for Del and then a little stuffed cat for Jyl. I felt so bad about the earrings though!! Poor Delaney! We paid for our stuff and headed outside and the rain was even harder now. <sigh> I pick up Jyl and we bolt back to the car. We get in the car and drive to a gas station with an overhang where I use our newly purchased (from Kmart, on day one, remember?) beach towel to dry us off pretty well and I give Jyl new socks and shoes, wipe off my feet and legs and the inside of my Crocs and we are good to go. Now, Crocs MAY be ugly, but they ARE functional-comfy and you can wipe them cleaning after running through puddles with your almost 4 year old!!

We hit the McD’s at the top of the Grapevine for some much needed food (Jyl had a granola bar earlier this morning and I had had nothing) around 1pm, where we encountered the worst service EVER! <sigh> Now, I do not like McDs. I have seen Super Size Me about 3 times too many to really like *any* fast food company, but there is something about McD’s that just bothers me anyway. Anyways, rambling aside, we fuel up our bellies and make a pit stop in the bathroom and get back in the car. About 4pm, I start texting hubby my locations and he does the same, trying to see who would get home first (he works in Pleasanton) and wouldn’t you know it-he actually wins! We are home before 6pm and that’s the end of our tale!!

Check out all my pics from this trip, if you're interested!

http://cjthegreat.smugmug.com/gallery/2740284#145530890

What a fun trip report! I throughly enjoyed it . . thanks for sharing. You have a little cutie there, btw! :)

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I can't believe how many details you remembered! Amazing!

your daughter is absolutely adorable! Having mommy=daughter time is awesome and you have wonderful pictures to show for it!

Good for you to have a mom-daughter time! Your trip report was great and the pictures were wonderful!

hello potterphreak, i live in turlock!! i am new to mouseplanet and haven't been able to pry myself away from everyone's trip reports. it's so awesome. I just had to send a message that as a huge Toy Story fan, i totally agree with you about "Pizza Planet". in fact, that is why my family and i refer to it as. lol. Have a Fantasmic day!!

Thanks for all of the nice comments/remarks!! Sure is nice!! I loooove going to DL and I sure do loooooove writing TRs! LOL

And Turlock!! Wow, talk about super close to me!!! In fact, I do 60% of my shopping in Turlock!

LOVED your TR, Potterphreak! You are a great Mommy. :) And your daughter is SO cute!!!! Thanks so much for sharing. :D

I loved your trip report, potterphreak -- thank you for helping me kill some time on a really dull workday.

I loved the pictures -- your daughter is adorable! One of these days after the blackout days are over, I may have to whisk my DD3 off to the parks for a day of fun. ;)

I loved your report! Thanks for doing it!