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potterphreak
01-07-2006, 09:09 AM
Full Name: CJ H.
Email Address: Potterphreak@comcast.net
Dates of Trip: 01/03/2006-01/05/2006
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: Disneyland Hotel

Cast of Characters:
CJ, age 27-Disneyland fanatic, 4th trip since Thanksgiving
Delaney, age 6-eldest daughter, 2nd trip since Thanksgiving
Jylian, age 2-youngest daughter, 2nd trip since Thanksgiving
Diane, age 48-Mother-in-law, first trip since 2002

Day One: Tuesday, 1/3/06
We left Modesto around 8:30am after stopping for a top-off of gas and some McDonalds. We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel around 3pm, got a bellman for our luggage, dropped the keys off with valet parking (there was NO parking and I figured $24 was more than fair for being able to check in quickly). The line for check-in was HUGE. Diane grabbed a seat and the girls watched cartoons with the other kids. Goofy was walking around, keeping the kids entertained-a definite plus for a line this long! After what seemed like ages, we got our room, #2932 in the Bonita Tower with a waterfall/koi pond view. At first, I was disappointed to not get a room in the Sierra Tower which is where I have always stayed before but I must say, I definitely prefer the Bonita!!! It was the same room (bathroom was smaller with a teeny counter compared to the rooms in the Sierra Tower) but the view was AMAZING!!! We were on the 5th floor and with our windows open we could hear the waterfalls which just sounded amazing and looked gorgeous! We could even see the fish. The walk to Downtown Disney/Disneyland was about a block longer than from the Sierra but well worth it. Also, was super close to the Cove Pools! After unpacking and all we decided to head over to Disneyland. Thankfully, Diane had purchased her 2 day Park Hopper at the Disney Store in our mall so we were able to take the Monorail into the park. We stopped at Buzz Lightyear first because Delaney and Jylian both L-O-V-E this ride but the line was really long and the FastPass return time had a 3 hour return time and there was a LONG line just to get a FastPass so we decided to come back later. We headed to It’s A Small World Holiday as it was Diane’s main reason for getting a 2 day hopper as opposed to a 1 day (Tuesday was IASWH’s last day). The line was incredibly long but moved fairly quickly. I snapped a few photos and then thought, I have never just enjoyed this ride without taking a million photos so I put the camera away and just focused on my kids’ reactions. Much more fun than getting pictures I already have! After IASWH, we went to the front of the castle and staked a spot RIGHT IN THE FRONT for fireworks. We spread out a blanket and sat down. I left for about an hour in search of popcorn and hot chocolate for everyone (Bah! All while everything was roped off for the parade!) and eventually settled for a massive turkey leg and a pretzel for everyone to share until dinner. After I got back, we had about an hour left to wait. Fireworks were scheduled for 7:25 and of course at 7 o’clock Jylian jumps up and yelling she had to go pee. So I ask the Cast Member “guarding” the area in front of us how I got out to take my 2 year old to the bathroom and was informed that I couldn’t (it was wall to wall people behind us). After hearing this, my 2 year old started to cry and hold herself and I of course got extremely upset. Poor baby, hasn’t been potty trained for very long and she was terrified she was going to wet herself. A little later another Cast Member walked by in a hurry to go somewhere else (Mycha) and I hailed her over to me and explained in a very calm voice that my 2 year old was hysterical (still crying and being crazy) and we really needed to find the bathroom. She explained to me that yes, I could go under the rope with her BUT she couldn’t guarantee that I would make it back for fireworks as I would be unable to return that way-would have to climb over the People Wall. I said I had absolutely no problem missing the fireworks, I had seen them several times already, blah blah blah. I took Del and Jyl and the EXTREMELY AWEWSOME Mycha led us to the restroom at Rancho Del Zocallo (the Mexican restaurant, I may have the name wrong tho!) The line was long there, I actually contemplated taking the girls into the boys room, hee hee, but we didn’t. We went around and braved the People Wall. After much grumbling from the Wall and MUCH MUCH MUCH apologizing/groveling on my part we made it back to our spot with Diane. Some lady came through with a group of people saying, Excuse me, excuse me I am trying to find my party, I’m not trying to crowd and then was unable to find her non-existent party so she ended up just squishing the bejeebers out of us and sitting down with her entire brood. Rude! But, oh well. My kids were dry and didn’t have to potty so we settled in for the show. The fireworks were awesome, as usual. This was the first time my kids got to see Tinkerbell and it was so magical to see them enjoy that!!! Diane said that IASWH and the fireworks were MORE than worth the extra money for the second day. We left the park via the Monorail and then proceeded to get stuck in the Monorail for about 15 minutes on Harbor. Fun! After escaping the dangerous Monorail (haha!!!!) we headed to the ESPN Zone, where I swore to Diane we would have some awesome food. I had eaten there twice before and found the food AND the service amazing and couldn’t wait to share it with her. Well, the service AND food was really off that night. It took 20 minutes to get our drinks and another 30 to get our food. Food was not great; in fact, it was just plain bad. I told the waiter my food was nasty and sent it back and then left with the girls to take them swimming. I gave Diane some money for our food, thinking he would take my food off of my bill but nope, I guess at the ESPN Zone you pay for food whether or not it is edible, LOL. Oh well, live and learn! Day Two: Wednesday, 1/4/06
Up at 7:30am, showered and dressed and out the door we went. Monorail was down so we hoofed it to the Main Gate, which was smart as Diane needed to rent an ECV scooter. There was a pretty long line in the tent off to the side so I sat near the entrance with the girls and waited. I don’t remember what we did after entering the park other than getting a locker and Diane buying 2 Tinkerbell coffee mugs in the little Coffee Shop/Bakery next to the locker area. I don’t think we rode any rides, but we did head to Frontierland to try and see Woody or Jesse. After about 10 minutes of waiting, Woody AND Jesse came out but they didn’t stop at their little rock place, they waved to some kids and hugged a few more then linked hands and took off never to be seen again (this trip at least). Very sad, as my 2 year old really wanted to see Woody and was just devastated that he walked away from her. Oh well. Time to hoof it over to NOS for our Blue Bayou reservation, get some Courtyard of Angels photos and let Diane shop in that Christmas ornament store right there. We were a little too early to check in for BB so we went to the Courtyard and had a nice family take our picture then Diane spent about 15-20 minutes shopping for Tinkerbell stuff in the ornament shop. After that we went back to BB and checked in. I was really hoping for our first waterside table as this was the first time I had ever been able to get an 11:30am seating but no, second row again. Oh, the humanity! LOL This was Diane and Jylian’s first time to the BB and they LOVED it. Diane got the prime rib, I got the Monte Cristo and Delaney got the kids spaghetti. Diane said the prime rib, veggies and potatoes were superb, my Monte Cristo was excellent (of course!) and Delaney’s spaghetti was kind of gross. Delaney and I shared with Jyl. After BB, we went over to PoTC. There was a HUGE line, luckily we were able to go through the exit and take advantage of the wheelchair area, as Diane couldn’t have stood through all of that. We waited about 20-25 minutes to get one (we were third in line) and then we were off for a Pirate’s Tale indeed. Delaney and Jylian HATED the skeleton parts AND the drops, but as soon as those parts were over, we had some happy Pirates. We stopped in the Pieces of Eight store and both girls went nuts over the Pirate Playsets so I used their money to buy them each one (comes with a parrot, eyepatch, a telescope and a huge plastic sword that makes noise), $15 each. Jylian spent about 10 minutes playing in the “treasure” chest and I was going to buy her some “treasure” but decided to hold off until we came back in February. We left NOS and went to Fantasyland where we rode the Teacups and Dumbo, saw Captain Hook after Dumbo and then Diane rode the Carousel with the girls. It was 4 o’clock and Jyl was a grumpy gus so I suggested Diane take Delaney to DCA and I would take Jyl back to the hotel for a short nap. I said I would meet her in DCA by 5:30pm so we could go to Ariel’s for dinner at 5:40. Went to the Monorail with Jyl (why, oh why!!!) and waited second in line for 20 minutes and then when Monorail Purple got there, we loaded up and then waited another 10 minutes, we were informed that Purple would NOT be making a round trip, as soon as everyone exited in DTD Purple would be going into the shop. Arrived back at the room at 4:45, put Jyl in the bath as she had wet herself on the Monorail (poor baby! She was so embarrassed!) and let her play for a little while. Came back in and washed her up, dressed her and off we went. Diane called at 5 freaking out that I hadn’t come back yet, so I gave her the name of where we would be eating and told her I would meet her there before 5:40. Jyl and I booked it through DTD and DCA and made it to Ariel’s Grotto at 5:39pm. We were seated about 10 minutes later. All 4 of us REALLY enjoyed this Character meal. I must say, it was the best one we had ever experienced and the first time we had ever come here. We were seated right where the Princesses come out so we were always the first to see them. Diane ordered the meatloaf but sent it back, saying it was too “herb-y” for her liking and instead got the fish and chips, with the French Onion soup. I ordered the fish and chips with the Swimming Chicken Noodle Soup as my starter. Jylian got the Octa-Dog and Mac & Cheese with carrots and celery as her starter and Delaney got the kids fish and chips, also with the chicken noodle soup. Jyl was terrified of her “octopus” hot dog until I pulled all of its legs off and then ate one to show her it was good. The food was great, dessert was Three for the Rocky Road for me and Diane, Delaney got a root beer float and Jyl got the sundae without chocolate. I didn’t care for the dessert too much, next time I will try something else. Will DEFINITELY eat here in February, though! After dinner the park was closed so we did a little bit of shopping in the Potato Head store (forget what that is called) and in Everything Under the Sun. I wanted to get some Ariel parts for Jyl’s Potato but they were all out so I got her the set of Halloween and Easter parts. I figure in February maybe they will have the fin again. Just wasn’t worth buying a whole box of stuff we didn’t really need as I had seriously stocked up in December. After taking a picture in front of the bridge, I took Jyl with me to Disneyland to get everything out of our locker and Diane took Delaney with her to return her ECV. I told them I would meet them in World of Disney as Diane had more shopping she wanted to do. Disneyland was extremely busy, but it didn’t seem to take long to get our stuff loaded onto the stroller and go. Diane was waiting for us in front of WoD so I took the girls and most of the stuff back to the hotel for some swimming. Got back to the Hotel and changed, found out the Cove Pools closed at 7pm so we headed to the Neverland Pool. Pool was toooo cold to swim in so we mainly stayed in the hot tub. Delaney made a nice little friend named Abby from Visalia and they spent about 30 minutes playing in the freezing pool. We stayed until they actually came down and closed the pool area, went to our room, changed and went to bed.
Day Three: 1/5/06
I let Delaney sleep in and took Jyl down to the koi ponds to feed the fish at 8:50am as the front desk had told us feeding time was 9am but when we got there it wasn’t until 9:30am. Delaney and Diane came down while we were waiting, heading off to the Cove Pools. Jyl decided she wanted to ditch me and go swim too so I took her upstairs and changed her into her swimsuit. I took her down to the Cove Pools and went upstairs to pack. I organized all of our stuff and packed for almost 2 hours and was getting worried because time to check out had come and gone and Diane and the girls were still down at the pool. Around 10:50 they came back to the room, I got the girls changed and ready to go and gave them each an Uncrustable to hold them over until lunch in Bakersfield and then packed up the remainder of our stuff. We had a bellman come up and help us with our bags, got the car from valet and we were off. We had a fairly uneventful ride home, except for 15 minutes from our house, we had a blowout on 99 South. Terrifying!!!!! That has been my number one fear since I had kids-a blowout on the freeway with my girls in the car. AAA sent a very nice, hunky young man out (va-va-va voom!) and he put on my donut and helped me get back up to speed and merge back onto the freeway.

What a trip!
Tips:
Beware the Santa Ana winds! I was crazy grumpy from the time we got off the Grapevine until the time we were on the other side of the Grapevine on the way home. Don’t know what it was, but BLAH!!! Was NOT fun being that way at all.
Try new Character meals-sure paid off for us!

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raych30
01-07-2006, 12:32 PM
My kids and I ate at Ariel's Grotto the same day. We were probably leaving as you were entering, ha ha. This was our first time at Ariel's, my daughter was in princess heaven. Cinderella really went above and beyond spending time with Alissa (my dd) The look on her face as she was talking to her, man, I almost teared up.
The food was ok, both kids got the mickey mouse shaped chicken nuggets, I got the Maliboomer meatloaf. All in all, SO worth it!

Cheers,
Rachel

potterphreak
01-08-2006, 09:56 AM
Raych,
I agree, the Princesses were uber-awesome! My 2 year old was just in awe when her favorite, Belle, came out so she didn't say anything to her just stared. A little later, after she had calmed down, Belle was walking around at other tables and Jyl says "I want to say so nice to meet you to her and give her hug" and pointed at Belle, so I picked her up and we went over and waited for her to be done with her current table and then I said, My 2 year old is just in awe of you Belle, is there any way that she can give you a hug and take a picture with you? And Belle just gushed and said of course and blah blah blah. Now, to me, that is going above and beyond because technically we had already had our turn. Awesome!!!

raych30
01-08-2006, 03:34 PM
That's so fantastic.

My daughter is really REALLY shy, and Cinderella spent a lot of time at our table talking to her, trying to get her into a conversation. The look on my daughters face was pure amazement. I thought that was really sweet, as most of the princesses while talking for a bit, signing the autophraph book and taking a picture, moved on after a minute or two. Cinderella really went above and beyond what she had to. By the end of thier conversation, Alissa and Cinderella were talking like old friends. So cute!

Cheers,
Rachel

neffyh
01-08-2006, 06:01 PM
Iam having trouble see ur pics. Do u go too log in up on the top right hand corner. I went too that but it says it need ur email?

josephfive
01-08-2006, 06:37 PM
Thank you so much for your report! My 4 y.o. loves the princesses too, but doesn't want to go up to them - gets very, very shy. I think that the lunch with them, where they (the princesses) come up to you would be much better.

Ahhh, I can see a birthday plan coming together for her ...

Thanks again,
Jo5

potterphreak
01-08-2006, 08:53 PM
Sorry Neffy, can't believe I forgot the whole email address!!
Sign in as PottersDisneyPics@yahoo.com

GRRRR at myself, LOL!

Jo5, I think I am going to take my 2 yr. old to DL for her upcoming 3rd birthday in May and a stop at the Princess meal is a definite must, now!!! Some other little girl had a birthday there while we were there and they brought her this really neat looking Princess bucket thing with stuff in it and balloons and a little cake so I think that would be fun! Lucky for me, 2 year olds birthday falls on a Saturday this year, so I would have to take her to DL 2-3 days BEFORE her birthday, while she is still free, HEE HEE, I am so cheap!! Pitiful!