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MommyTo3Boys1Girl
11-10-2004, 09:28 PM
I won't go in to all the details but here is a brief synopsis.

Day 1 Nov. 1
Fly on Horizon Airlines non-stop from Boise to LAX, flight leaves Boise at 7:25 pm. Catch Super Shuttle and thankfully we were the last on so we didn't have to circle. Arrive HoJos and get checked in to our room. Get the bags unpacked and let the kids play. In to bed around midnight.

Day 2 Nov. 2
Kids wake at 7:30am which is their normal wake up time at home, since we are on MST this is 8:30 at home. Brooks, our 3yo was ready to go. Eat breakfast at Denny's. Get to the park about 10:30. First day is spent at Disneyland. It was actually warm but the park was not crowded and the longest wait we had was Peter Pan, 10 mins. Dinner at 5:40pm at Blue Bayou, our first time. And we saw the Buzz show, my 3yos favorite in the early afternoon.

Day 3 Nov. 3
Same wake up time. Breakfast in the room this time, fruit and bagels. Spent the day at DCA. DH decided to see if our older son had reached the 40 inch mark yet, tried to take him on Soarin', he barely made it, and he LOVED the ride. This meant he was also tall enough to go on Jumpin' Jellyfish, which he was very happy about. We saw Muppet Vision 3D, both the boys liked it, and they loved the Playhouse Disney show. After 5 minutes in to It's Tough to Be a Bug, my 3yo told he was scared and we left. He had 2 great days getting autographs in his book. That night I met up with Wendi and left DH and the kids and we did the Mysteries, Myths and Legends tour. It was great. Gracey was our host. We saw DH leaving POTC on our way out of the park so I walked back to the room with him. That night our friend arrived from Idaho, with his daughter who is 8. His sister and husband work for Disney so they had free admission tickets.

Day 4 Nov. 4
Wake up at 8am this time. Breakfast at Denny's. Head over to DL. My 3yo was not feeling well. He wanted nothing to do with the characters and finally when he told me he hated DL and wanted to go home I knew it was time DH took him back to the hotel. Our baby and our friend and his daughter hung out there until about 7 and went back to the room for a good night's sleep. Another friend of ours flew in from Chicago Sunday night, she is dating our Idaho friend, so he road out to SNA to meet her. My stepdad and his grandson also flew in that night. His grandson is almost 5 and has never been to DL.

Day 5 Nov. 5
We had plans for a character lunch at Ariel's, meeting up with Wendi and couple other ladies from a mommy message board we have been a part of since PG wirh my 3yo. Sadly our 3yo was still under the weather and wanted no part of the characters again, he now is telling me he wants to get Ariel's autograph, of course. Our 1yo had a ball playing with the characters. We split from our friends and did our own thing. Met up with Wendi again that night on the curb in front of Penny Arcade to catch the first officcial night of Believe. Wendi and I both were teary eyed as we watched our little ones and the magic in there eyes. We said bye to Wendi that night and headed back to the room once it was done snowing. My mom flew in and met us at the hotel that night.

Day 6 Nov. 6
Our friend's sister and her DH came to the park with us this day. This was the last day for my stepdad and his grandson, so we split from our friends again and went back to DLR. We had a great day. Brooks was old enough to go on Splash Mountain, he was SO excited. I sat behind him, didn't have a coat to wrap around him as was suggested but I figured I would just hold on to him. He had a death grip on the bars until the drop, then he just let go! I saw him start to lift out of his seat and grabbed on to him. I asked him later why he let go and he said he was trying to put his hands up like daddy! Gave mommy a heart attack. Once we cleared the water from our faces he wanted to go again. We got fast passes for an hour later. Got pretty much everything accomplished we needed to do. Headed over to DCA for the Electrical Parade and made a mad dash to DL to see the fireworks one more time. Back to the hotel for bed.

Day 7 Nov. 7
Back to DL again. My mom had to leave at 6pm for her flight out of Orange County so we took advantage of her being there and had her watch the kids while we did a couple adult rides, Indy and BTMRR. I still have a hard time getting on that ride without thinking of the man that died, and we sat in the front car, which made me a bit nervous. My 3yo wanted to do the canoes again so I went with him. He was so cute rowing. DH got it on video. The last ride of the night was iasw. We had already been on it several times since it opened on Friday but our friend was proposing to our other friend on there. It was truly a perfect spot for him to do it, he did it in the last "room", the one with the white snowflake Christmas tree. We sat behind them in the boat and pretended we were just videoing the ride so we got it on tape. She had NO idea! It did rain off and on, and rather hard in the late morning but wasn't anything to ruin our day.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. The crowds were light, other than Matterhorn being closed, we were able to ride all the rides we loved. My 3yo loves POTC and we must have ridden it 20 times during the week. We cannot wait to go back.

rentayenta
11-10-2004, 09:47 PM
That was a great report! It sounds so magical from the proposal to meeting up with friends. I cannot imagine how cool Believe is; I have never seen it.

How was the food at Ariel's? We haven't been there but since they are adding Mickey to the mix, we may have to give it a go.

A 10 minute wait for Peter Pan- amazing.

Could you give more details on the tour? I wanted to do one but it's just not in the cards for our upcoming trip.

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
11-10-2004, 09:51 PM
The food at Ariel's was great. I will confess, we lied to the water. They charge per head, even if you don't eat and Brook was sick he wasn't going to eat anything. So we told them he wasn't yet 3. I wasn't going to pay $16 for him to sit there, he didn't get off DH's lap! I had the fish and fries and it was really good. A couple other people in our party had chicken salad and they liked it. My favorite part was the cotton candy dessert. :p
As far as the tour. I will PM you, don't want to give away to many details to those that haven't gone yet.

DISNEYloon
11-11-2004, 09:20 AM
Thanks for the trip report, sounded like fun..........and aren't you GLAD YOU WENT, I think you mentioned before you were nervious about a terrorist attack.

Anywho, was the lengends tour worth it? I have to confess we've never done any sort of 'tour' before at DLR..........you know, always the mad rush to the rides and touring through our favorite shops.

Thanks again!

51 days and counting for my family!
oh and p/s we're going but my kids don't know and last night a DLR commerical came on my and 10 year old daughter says, "Ahhh, disneyland, my favorite place ever" then she says I can't believe this is our first year we're not going..........(hee hee hee) CAN'T WAIT to see the look on her face when we arrive!

Wendi
11-11-2004, 09:28 AM
I think the tour was worth $25, we got some nice special treatment, but I have to say that I think I'd rather do Walk In Walt's Footsteps... next time maybe I will. My brother did that tour this time and had a very good time. I just think I'd rather have real Disneyland details than ficticious ghost stories. Again, yes, it was worth it, but if you are expecting something more than made up stories from another time, you may want to try something else. One really great thing about the tour is that we were the last guests to ride ToT, so we went on twice in a row, and we were the last to ride HMH, and they slowed down the ride tremendously so we were really able to see every last detail which was very cool! Oh, we also got to stand on the steps of the old Skyway... nostalgic, and a little sad...

Emma
11-11-2004, 10:56 AM
MommyTo2Boys, which characters were at Ariel's? I have friends who have said that the food there is the best, but I haven't taken my girls there yet. :confused:

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
11-11-2004, 12:46 PM
I agree with Wendi, which is a good thing since we took the tour together. LOL It was worth $25 but I would have been disappointed if I had paid more. I would have enjoyed more Disney stories too, as Wendi stated.
That is SO cool that your kids don't know. I bet your daughter is going to be SO excited. I would have a hard time keeping it in! Hehe

As far as characters at Ariel's, she was there of course, Minnie, Chip and Dale, Pluto and Goofy. The food was tasty but I think you are paying more for the atmosphere. I will do it again when both my kids are a bit older, and feeling themselves.

dizgirl
11-12-2004, 08:03 AM
Hi-
I really enjoyed reading your trip report. We will be there Nov 30-Dec 4th. We have a 4 yr old who just makes the 40 inch mark. I have not been to DL since '99 and I have a question about Splash. I hear the logs have changed and you no longer straddle the seat so you can hold your loved ones close. Everyone has there own seat now?? I'm concerned about my 4 yr old and you mentioned something about using a jacket to make them feel secure. Could someone enlighten me or tell me how the seating is really arranged?

Also, one other question for any of you. I heard there was a central place within the park where you can have your child measured once and get a wrist band so it is clear what they can and can't ride. Anybody know??

We are getting so excited for our trip! Last did WDW in 2000 for the first time, but I am so excited to be returning to our home park. :D

Wendi
11-12-2004, 08:48 AM
Hi-
I really enjoyed reading your trip report. We will be there Nov 30-Dec 4th. We have a 4 yr old who just makes the 40 inch mark. I have not been to DL since '99 and I have a question about Splash. I hear the logs have changed and you no longer straddle the seat so you can hold your loved ones close. Everyone has there own seat now?? I'm concerned about my 4 yr old and you mentioned something about using a jacket to make them feel secure. Could someone enlighten me or tell me how the seating is really arranged?

Also, one other question for any of you. I heard there was a central place within the park where you can have your child measured once and get a wrist band so it is clear what they can and can't ride. Anybody know??

We are getting so excited for our trip! Last did WDW in 2000 for the first time, but I am so excited to be returning to our home park. :D

Yes, all of the Splash logs now have separate seats, so your child will have her own seat. You can sit behind her and wrap a jacket around her and hold onto the sleeves from behind to hold her into her seat better if you are worried.

They no longer offer those wrist bands, too many people abused the system and took wristbands from their taller children to use on those that didn't really meet the height requirement... why anyone would do that to their child is beyond me, but I guess it was a problem.

Have a great trip!!!

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
11-12-2004, 01:19 PM
Wendi answered your questions for me. We didn't have our jackets with us, so I just scooted up and sat real close to the back of his seat and put my arms around him.
Have a blast!