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JDBlair
03-19-2006, 11:35 AM
Day 1: Monday, March 13

We (husband, myself, my son (12) and my daughter (2 ½) flew from Phoenix to Long Beach around 9 AM and were picked up by my cousin, an A.P.’er who loves to call me when she’s at DL and I’m not! We make our way to Anaheim with little traffic. We find our hotel, Anaheim Marriott, to check our bags. We were told we may be able to check in and sure enough, we were able to. So, we drop our bags in our room and make our way to DL. My aunt, her grand-daughter and my sister were already in the park and had called to tell us they were going to the Tiki Room. We told them we’d be there soon and to meet us at the Main Street Station. I wanted to take the train around the park so my husband and daughter could see the entire park. My husband had only been to DL once when he was 13 and only visited for about 6 hours. My daughter is 2 ½ and this was her very first trip. So, we circle the park and everyone is very full of excitement. It’s close to lunch (or is lunchtime) and we’re hungry. So, we circle again and decide to stop in Tomorrowland at the Pizza Port. Before heading for lunch, we stop for Fastpasses at Autopia. Lunch was good but we had to eat outside and it was a little chilly so the pizza got cold fast. After lunch, I encourage most of the group to go ride Space Mountain because the line was about 45 minutes and the 12 year olds (2 of them in our party) were ready to ride. So, off they went with instructions to meet at Autopia at 3:30 for our Fastpass. Then my aunt, daughter and I headed over to IASW. The line wasn’t long at all and we enjoyed our ride. Still had time to burn so we rode Storybook and Snow White. Met at Autopia for Fastpass and my daughter was thrilled to drive her own car, with Daddy pushing the gas, of course. After Autopia, we get in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride, all of us. That was a lot of fun! As we exited, saw there was no line for Star Tours and all but my aunt and daughter went on that. By this time, it was about 5 PM and my aunt couldn’t be out in the night air. She also hadn’t been able to check in to her room and would need help getting her luggage in. So, we leave the park to walk to the Fairfield Inn and help her to her room. We then have dinner at Mimi’s. It was already pre-determined that I would stay to see the fireworks that evening and my husband would go back to the room with the baby. But my aunt offered to keep the baby in her room and allow my husband and I to see the fireworks together. The 12 year olds pooped out as well and left my sister (23), cousin (35) and husband and I (30) to go back to the park ourselves. The parade had just started and we made our way to Space Mountain. The line was about 45 minutes but we were enjoying the wait. The ride was so much fun. At this time, it’s about 8:40 and I thought the parade started at 9:00. So, my husband and I made our way to the castle while my cousin and sister went to ride other rides. I had read enough on this page to know where we should be and that was in front of the castle, as close to the castle as possible. We found a spot to the left of the castle and right before the Pavilion area. There was a tree kind of blocking the view of the air but we had a very good shot of the castle. I couldn’t believe our luck. I was nervous a CM would come along and move us but nobody ever did and the show started. It was lovely!! The tree blocked a lot of the fireworks to the left of the castle but we got the gist of what was going on if we moved around a little. We could definitely see most, if not all, of the effects on the castle and that was what mattered to me. Tinker Bell was amazing and I felt very sorry for her because it was pretty chilly that night and just kept thinking she had to be freezing. But I was so thankful we were able to see the show and I did have tears in my eyes by the end. So, the show was over and thanks to this website, I knew there was a tunnel leading to Frontierland and knew that would be our best exit!! And sure enough, it was. No crowds or anything going that way. Rounded to Thunder Mountain and thought we could ride since we didn’t need to meet the rest of our party until 10 at the Bobsleds. TM was closed and we overheard a CM explain they had an “incident” where someone reached out to grab something and…. Anyone know what happened there??? The 4 of us rode the Bobsleds on the Tomorrowland side and thus ended our day one. We were going to do Early Entry Tuesday morning but since we left the park later than I thought we would, decided we’d wait and do EE on Thursday and would just meet at 10 AM on Tuesday for breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace.

passthepixiedust
03-19-2006, 02:01 PM
waiting, waiting..........;)

JDBlair
03-19-2006, 04:26 PM
Day 2: Tuesday, March 14

Today, two additional people were added to our party making us a party of 10. 9 of us arrived at the park around 9:30 in the morning and made our way to Indiana Jones to get Fastpasses. We then went across the way to Riverbelle Terrace for Mickey Mouse pancakes. Okay, my daughter and I were the only ones to have the pancakes but that’s okay, we loved them. Our Fastpasses for Indiana Jones was shortly after our breakfast but before we entered the line, I took everyone’s tickets and ran for Fastpasses at Splash Mountain. (Again, thank you to this site or I would have never known the little tip to get Fastpasses for your next attraction before showing up for your reserved time at the first attraction.) I usually don’t enjoy Indiana Jones but this time, it didn’t feel like the ride was so bumpy! And I was the driver!! That was very fun. After Indiana, we did Jungle Boat and really, really enjoyed our host. He was very funny!!! By this point, our entire party was together and we went to Haunted Mansion. I was worried my daughter would not enjoy HM because of her age but I knew there were many exits between the beginning and the buggies so I could duck out if necessary. She did very well. She clung to me with all her might but never cried or hid her eyes or anything. After HM, we made our way to Splash Mountain. 3 people rode the Pooh ride instead. It’s a little difficult to make your way through DL with 10 people. Because we had a 2 ½ year old and my aunt is a little older and doesn’t like the fast rides, our entire party could not ride all the rides together. And there were some rides some people just didn’t have any interest in. A lot of the time, we waited and waited for others to finish and while waiting, we’d lose other members of our party who would just “go over here for a sec” or what have you. I think we stood in front of the Pooh ride waiting for people to shop for quite some time and that wasn’t fun for those of us who were wet from the ride because it was cold!!! Finally, we were able to leave the area. My parents were the two new additions to our party and today was their first day in the park. They were ready to see the castle so we made our way to Fantasyland while I rushed ahead to get Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain. TM was open and the line was about 20 minutes so 8 out of 10 of us rode while the other 2 shopped at the Merchantile. It was in Fantasyland that a few of us went our separate ways. For those of us that stayed in Fantasyland, we rode Snow White, Peter Pan (and my daughter pointed out each and every time the witch made her appearance), the Carousel and then made our way to the Monorail because we all had 5:20 reservations at Goofy’s Kitchen. Goofy’s Kitchen was very cute and a huge, welcomed relief from the park at that point. Our feet were killing us and the park was pretty busy. It was nice to sit and eat a nice meal. We were greeted by Pluto upon our entry in to the restaurant. He was very attentive to our party, wanting kisses from everyone (well, the women) on his nose. Goofy greeted our table almost as soon as we were seated. The characters we saw were Pluto, Goofy, Belle, Aladdin and Miko (spelling?). We had a very nice dinner but I think everyone got a kick out of the desserts the most. We were probably in the restaurant for about 90 minutes. Since my daughter was the youngest in the group and she was scared of the characters, I think the other families around us were enjoying the setting more. When the characters stopped by our table, a few members in our party didn’t pay too much attention. I enjoyed it and would do it again when my daughter is a little older. But I think it was an experience kind of wasted on most of my party. (Scrooges!!) Nobody ever rushed us and Pluto came by our table a couple of times. Aladdin was very charming. I got the feeling from Belle that she didn’t appreciate being ignored by our party too much. She commented on my daughter’s plate of food and mentioned the Beast eats hot dogs too. But she was gone before I could even get a picture with her. We managed to get pictures with Aladdin and Pluto. I wish the walk to Goofy’s Kitchen hadn’t been so long from the park. My feet really hurt. We decided to call it a day after dinner. We had plans to be at the park by 9 on Wednesday for our Mickey’s Morning Madness. My son stayed behind with my parents and they rode some more rides, even though they were supposed to watch the fireworks and I even told them about my special spot. My husband, daughter and I made our way back to our hotel and soaked our feet in the hot tub for a few minutes – that really helped!! On the ride back to our hotel, I was thinking DL should offer an attraction where you can get your feet rubbed. I would pay for that!!

JDBlair
03-19-2006, 06:23 PM
Day 3: Wednesday, March 15

We arrived at the park around 8:45 for Mickey’s Morning Madness. The day before, while my father picked up his tickets for the park at Will Call, I asked the CM how MMM worked. She said I take my coupon and make my way to the front of Main Street and show the CM my coupon and they’ll move me to the side for ToonTown EE. Upon our entry in to the park, the ticket attendant said the same thing. Main St. was packed so we made our way through the stores and to the front. There we were greeted by 2 CM’s. One was pleasant, the other was not. She very abruptly and rudely told me there was no EE today and I would have to wait outside with everyone else and then make my way back to Toontown. Now, I understand she may have explained this to a million people before me but this was the first time she was explaining it to me, I didn’t even argue or complain, but her tone was not appropriate and I didn’t appreciate it. If I hadn’t been so humiliated, I would have remembered to write her name down to complain because the way she handled it was just ridiculous. But nevertheless, the rope dropped at 9 and we headed back to Toontown. There was no line at Roger Rabbit so we rode that first. I have never been on Roger Rabbit before because the line was always insane. It was a cute ride. Most of the crowd was in the center of TT and greeting character’s. My 12 y.o. has no interest in characters and my 2 ½ year old is scared of them so..we took advantage of people being distracted and rode the roller coaster twice. After our second ride, the ceremony in the center of TT had ended and the crowd was moving from attraction to attraction. The fact that there were only 2 rides in the area really surprised me. The Goofy toddler area was closed so we didn’t get to play there. We decided we’d taken advantage of everything TT had to offer us and made our way to IASW to meet our party at 10. We had some time to kill so we rode IASW. We had fun pointing out the different scenes and guessing the countries we were visiting. As soon as we were off the ride, 3 other people from our party joined us and we went to ride Dumbo. From Dumbo we went to the tea cups and then Alice. After Alice, we stopped in Mad Hatter’s for our hats and opted for all of us to get ballcaps so we could use them again after the trip. While in Mad Hatter, another person in our party joined us so we were up to 8 people. I believe this is when we made our way over to watch Aladdin in Frontierland. That was a cute show. After, it was time for lunch and we decided on Carnation Café. That had a bit of a wait but it was a nice lunch in a relaxed atmosphere. For dessert, we shared the chocolate chip sundae on the children’s menu. That was yummy! We were serenaded for one song by Dapper Dan’s, which was neat. Since we were seated separately at tables of 4 each, and our table was seated first, we were finished before the others in our party. And because we had the 2 ½ year old with us, she grew restless. So, while the others finished their lunch, we went out to Main St. and rode the horse drawn car. At the end of Main St., we caught the Fire car back. That was fun, my cousin got to ring the bell and my daughter decided to help herself to ringing the bell, also. We enjoyed waiving to people as we rode by. This is where we did a little shopping in Emporium and I exchanged the ball cap we bought my daughter for a sun hat. I really appreciate that DL was happy to exchange the ball cap even though it was my error to buy something too small. What we did between Emporium and dinner time is kind of blurry to me. I can’t remember when we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride again but know it was during this day because I bought my daughter one of the Buzz Lightyear guns. And I know after Buzz, most of the party rode Star Tours because, again, the line was small. I believe we went to the Tiki Room and watched the show while one member of our party went to meet two other members of our party who had gone in to L.A for the day to visit museums. Everyone met again and we had dinner at the Plaza Inn. By the time we were finished with dinner, it was about ½ an hour before the start of the parade and ½ an hour before the start of ASIMO in Innoventions. That was an attraction my father was very interested in and something I knew my husband would love. So, most of the party went in that direction while me, my daughter, mother, aunt and cousin went in search of a spot for the parade. We found a pretty decent spot ride behind the Matterhorn. I really, really liked the parade. I loved how they’d stop everything and you hear Mr. Disney say, “To all that enter this happy place..welcome” and the parade erupts. That was just very thrilling to me. I was amazed at the CM’s on “stilts” and jumping in the air. My goodness, that was impressive. Really, I just loved the entire parade and so did my daughter. We were pointing at things and waving and laughing. She may not have fully understood what was going on and she may not remember it, but in that moment, she enjoyed it and I will treasure the look on her face and the expression in her eyes when she’d see a character she noticed or watched an amazing thing she’d never seen before. Really, I loved it!! After the parade, there was a 10 minute wait at Autopia so the entire party rode, this time I was with my daughter and she drove while I pushed the gas. She laughed and laughed while we bounced from one end of the track to the other. It was hilarious. I never thought riding Autopia would so funny!! By the end of our ride, we’d been at DL for almost 12 hours and we were tired. Anticipating EE the next day, we headed back to our hotel for some zzz’s.
D

lobotomomma
03-19-2006, 07:44 PM
Thanks for sharing , JDBlair! I am getting SOOO excited to go after reading your entries!! I have a question....I was also under the impression that the MMM in TT was EE (lots of abbreviations!) on Wed. as well. Am I wrong? For every other CM except for the rude girl (darn her!) to tell you that it was is strange. We planned on doing that on the Wed. of our trip. Do I need to rethink our plans? Thanks again!

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 07:42 AM
Thanks for sharing , JDBlair! I am getting SOOO excited to go after reading your entries!! I have a question....I was also under the impression that the MMM in TT was EE (lots of abbreviations!) on Wed. as well. Am I wrong? For every other CM except for the rude girl (darn her!) to tell you that it was is strange. We planned on doing that on the Wed. of our trip. Do I need to rethink our plans? Thanks again!

Hi LOBOTOMOMMA! Usually, Toontown does not open until an hour after the park opens. But on MMM, with your coupon, you can get in to Toontown when the park opens. Don't bother working your way to the front of Main Street, though. Just get there in time for the rope drop and then make your way all the way back to TT. There was a line to get in to TT and a CM takes your coupon. I noticed the Morning Madness ceremony didn't start immediately. There were quite a few people gathering in the center for some character greets. We made it all the way through Roger Rabbit and were in line for the coaster by the time the parade started. If you have kids that are interested in the characters then I would say you would enjoy the MMM. And if you don't want to wait forever to ride Roger Rabbit then go for it. A co-worker said he waited an hour to ride the coaster (during a visit a few months ago) and was so disappointed the ride was like 40 seconds long. I think we waited 5 minutes for the coaster but I would not wait 1 hour for it.

lobotomomma
03-20-2006, 07:57 AM
Hi, JDBlair! Thanks so much for the info about MMM! I think my 2 younger kids will want to see characters but my hubby will take the 2 older ones on rides while most everybody else is busy with MMM. I apprecaite your advice. Are you doing any more trip entries? I have enjoyed reading yours.

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 08:30 AM
Day 4: Thursday, March 16

Today was our last day to take advantage of Early Entry so 6 people in our party went in. My 2 ½ year old was just tall enough for the Bobsleds so that’s the first attraction we went to. My husband was a little nervous about her riding and so was I but she really loved all the other rides we’d been on and loved the coaster in TT so I just had to take her on the Bobsleds. Our line was about 20 minutes. My daughter and I were in the front and I had the death grip on her. We rode on the Fantasyland side. I noticed the track was a little slower than the Tomorrowland side so that was good for maintaining my death grip on her. She loved the ride and kept saying, “Wee..Wee..” From there we went to Mr. Toad’s and that line was about 20 minutes as well. Then we did Pinocchio. (I had forgotten there was a Pinocchio ride until I read the map to determine what things we needed to do in Fantasyland that we hadn’t already done earlier in the week!) Our last stop was at Casey Junior and the ride had just opened with the rest of the park. After Casey Junior, we looked around in the Princess shop and my daughter screamed for the Snow White costume. As much as I would have loved to purchase it for her, it just wasn’t a wise decision. Maybe for Halloween? It sure was cute, though! We had breakfast at the bakery on Main St. My husband found a very long hair in his chocolate croissant and that was way gross. They exchanged it for another. Fortunately, no hairs in the new one! The plan was to do DCA for the day because 2 members in our party of 10 had tickets that were not Park Hoppers. So, around 10ish, we made our way to DCA. However, 6 members of our party were at DD for breakfast and when we called for their status, they were having problems losing members to various stores. This was my first time to DCA so I had no idea where anything was and it’s really hard to read a map in a mob of people. Fortunately, I noticed the Playhouse Disney sign and the first show was at 10:30 so we made our way there and the show started in about 5 minutes. My daughter is a huge Playhouse Disney fan – especially JoJo and the Wiggles. It was a cute little show and she was in awe of JoJo. At one point, the just had the screen up and Playhouse Disney in the corner and this convinced my daughter the Wiggles were next. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, “THE WIGGLES!! THE WIGGLES!!” Unfortunately for her, no such luck. When we exited the show, the rest of our party had made it and were in line for Soarin’. We made our way over there. My daughter wasn’t tall enough to ride so my mother sat out with her and the CM gave her a pass to ride when we returned. Soarin’ was very, very cool and we were in the front row! We liked the ride a lot and even my son, who is mortified of heights, enjoyed it, but didn’t want to ride again. When we exited, my mother and aunt used the pass to ride again. This began our wait of about 40 minutes for the party to reconnect from 2 people riding Soarin’ and multiple different trips to the restrooms. It got to a point that I had to start refusing to let people wander away or we’d be sitting there all day. We decide to head towards Tower of Terror for Fastpasses. But the line was only 10 minutes so we rode, instead. That was so much fun! I laughed so hard. I was very proud of my son for riding because originally, he refused. I guess he decided his 12 year old GIRL cousin couldn’t show him up. Besides, as a birthday gift, she had given him a T-shirt earlier in the week that said “Tower of Terror I Survived”. He had to live up to his T-shirt. After TT, we headed to Monster’s Inc for the 45 minute wait. But 20 minutes in to the line, a very faint voice over a very low loudspeaker speaker announced the line had broken down and we were welcome to wait but they didn’t know for how long. Okay, really, we couldn’t hear that so a member in our party went to the entrance and asked what they had said. We turned around and walked out. Muttering on the way out, “The ride broke down!” We then went to Aladdin because the show was set to start soon. The A.P’er in our group doesn’t care for the show so she took everyone’s tickets to get FastPass to Screamin’ and she made her way over there for tickets and a glass of wine. Aladdin was nice but 4 of us were in the Orchestra section due to our “Preferred Seating” coupons and the only part we could see of the flying carpet was the bottom! But the show was cute and the Genie was hilarious. It was a nice break for our feet, too. After the show, we headed to Paradise Pier area to join the A.P’er and eat some food. We had lunch at the place with the soup and sourdough bread. We had a yummy roast beef sandwich and a yummy bread bowl of clam chowder. This is where my father and husband found the beer cart. They had really yummy beer! It was time for Screamin’ and those of us with Fastpasses went on. That was so much fun! I really liked that ride!! My aunt and daughter were riding the carousel when we got off and that was such a cute carousel. Afterwards, we rode the Sunwheel and I forgot I don’t like ferris wheels until we were in the air. It was so cold up there but a beautiful view of the area. 5 of our party were in the swinging cages and 3 of us were in the normal cage. I think I would have gotten sick in the swinging one. After the ride, we went to this photo area where they take your picture and croup you in to a Disney scene. We chose Nemo and our picture turned out really cute. All 10 of us are in the picture!! While 6 of them waited for the completion of our picture, 4 of us went to A Bug’s Land because I am a big fan of A Bug’s Life and wanted to see the area. The show was just starting so we rushed in to watch. Totally was not expecting that but it was the cutest show!! I loved how it looked like we were under ground. I just loved the whole thing. After the show, we made our way back to the ride area. It was dark so pretty hard to see a lot of things and the details. We rode Heimlich – that was hilarious. “Momma says carrots are good for my eyes..but I don’t want to put carrots in my eyes!” That was hilarious! And Disney is getting fancy with the special effects including smell!! Wow!! The only ride my 2 ½ year old couldn’t ride was the bumper cars. And the Flik’s Flyer broke down while we were in line. It was getting close to closing and some of the group wanted to ride TT again so they made their way over while 3 of us shopped. I found a JoJo stuffed animal for my daughter, who was crashed in her stroller. We waited for our party next to the cotton candy stand so we had to help ourselves to some yummy cotton candy. We caught our shuttle back to our hotel room and ordered room service for the 3 of us that were still awake. Room service was cheaper than a meal at DL and I don’t think I’ll ever get over that little chuckle. But it was very nice to eat a meal in some peace and quiet, from the comfort of our room. Friday would mark our final day at the parks and I was not eager to get it started. I was really enjoying our trip.

lobotomomma
03-20-2006, 08:38 AM
Love your trip entries, JDBlair!!! Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your next one....

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 09:46 AM
Day 5: Friday, March 17 – Our Final Day

2 people in our party were departing today, making their way back to Temecula, CA. The plan was to meet for breakfast at Mimi’s at 9. When we exited our hotel to meet our ride, we were greeted with very dark clouds hanging over Anaheim. I had been watching the weather predictions prior to our trip and listening to reports during our trip and knew Friday had a very good chance of rain. I tried not to let it damper my spirits but we had reserved seating for Fantasmic for the 10:30 PM performance and rain could seriously spoil those plans. After breakfast and helping my aunt load up her car..we made our way back to DCA because there was plenty there we still wanted to see. 3 of us made our way to Guest Services to pick up the Fantasmic tickets while the rest went in to DCA and went to a Bug’s Land to get photos of the area in the daylight. When we picked up Fantasmic tickets, the CM explained if the show is canceled, the CM’s at the Riverfront would assist us with our refund. Knowing we’d get a refund made us feel a little better but I’d rather see the show than get a refund. We head over to DCA and meet the group in A Bug’s Land. We ride most of the rides and really loved the way the area was decorated. So, so, so cute. I love a Bug’s Land!! So cute. We leave A Bug’s Land to go ride Monster’s but the wait was 75 minutes and that was crazy. So, we watched the Muppets 3D and got a good giggle out of that. When we exited, the rain had started so we went across the way to see Turtle Talk. We had to wait for the next show so we went down in the area with the “which character are you”. My daughter and I are Dot. My son is Tarzan and my husband is Captain Hook. We did the voice-over thing and sang to “Heigh-Ho” and acted out the scene in Bambi. That was a lot of fun and so cool! It was time to watch Turtle Talk. Dude! Way cool, totally! It didn’t hold my daughter’s interest, though. When we exited, the building was swarming with people; it was a madhouse so we head outside. It’s raining. We watch Muppets again because my parents are still in Aladdin. After Muppets, we all meet up and agree this rain is really not fun. People had umbrellas and were almost poking eyes out. Our 2 ½ year old really made the rain even worse because she was in a stroller and it was very hard to keep her dry even though she had a poncho on and the umbrella draped over her stroller. We decide this just won’t do and we’ll leave the park for lunch. Since my parents had a rental car and the A.P.’er had her car, we decide to head off property for lunch at King’s Fish. Husband and I aren’t huge fish fans and I didn’t really want to leave the property but majority rules. The service was beyond slow and the restaurant was empty so there was really no excuse for how long things were taking. Our food was good but expensive. For a family of 4, I spent $93 – ouch. I even had to point out that we were charged dinner prices and not the prices on our lunch menu. Lunch took almost three hours. Insane. I was not a happy camper and the dark clouds gathering outside were raining on my parade. When we finally return to the Fairfield Inn (my parent’s hotel), my family of four head back to the park. The area over DL had clear skies but there were clouds near-by. I still need to pick up merchandise for co-workers who had given me money and requests. There were also a couple of things I wanted to get myself. We get in to the park around 6:45 and Main St was not busy but Emporium was crawling. We find our merchandise and decide to take the train to New Orleans Square to shop the Nightmare Before Christmas shop (husband and son are huge fans – I don’t get it!). Once on the train, we decide to do a round-trip to see the park at night. While we were waiting on the train Main St, we see different characters being paraded down the street in cars. The CM explained the parade was canceled and they were going to have a Mickey Rainy Day Parade. He further explained the fireworks and 9 PM show of Fantasmic were canceled as well. The train rounds to New Orleans Square and you can see activity on the river and the grounds. Looks like they’re setting up for something? The CM explained the 10:30 show was still on but if it rained again, they’d cancel. He explained they were busy trying to get things dried off. My fingers crossed so hard I think I cut off the blood circulation. We made our round-trip while talking to the CM about the cat he and another CM spotted at the Toontown station. We talked about the mice (and not the big Mickey!) and the cats. He said there are things in Jungle Boat that scare away most CM’s from going in to some areas of the attraction. Yuck! Before we exited, he said things looked good for 10:30 Fantasmic. (My fingers were still crossed!) We did our shopping at various shops and pick up just a couple of trinkets to take home. I purchase a Disneyland photo album for our photos I’d been taking all week. This trip was our first family vacation and this will be our first family photo album. So, I’m excited to put it together, later. 3 others from our party join us and my mother and son make their way to ride Indiana for the last time. A woman stopped them with Fastpass tickets she didn’t need and they were on the ride in about 5 minutes. They had time to burn so they rode Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion, too! We kept hearing the announcement that Fantasmic was canceled so we made our way to the reserved seating area and asked a CM if they were referring to the 10:30 show. She said the 10:30 show was still on but could be canceled at any time. She asked for our tickets and checked us in. We grabbed a bench and rested while my daughter slept. We were supposed to report back at 9:50. It was very cold in the park and we were huddling together to keep warm. At 9:50, we reported for duty. We were 2nd on the list and were seated with a very nice view of the stage. Our CM took our drink order and then excused us for our desserts. My favorites were the chocolate covered strawberries and the Mickey crispy treats – those were so yummy and much better than the ones you can buy in the bakery. In the words of my son, “We gorged ourselves”, because he was convinced we needed to eat and drink enough to cover the $59 per person cost. But I wouldn’t call it gorging. I just couldn’t resist the strawberries and Mickey treats! The hot chocolate was very appreciated on that cold evening. My daughter woke up in time to watch the show. I thought the show would scare her but it didn’t. She screamed “Mickey” every time she saw him and loved seeing Buzz. Our view was perfect. The river on fire was our favorite because we were freezing and wish they would have kept the fire burning a little while longer. All in all, personally, I think the $59 per person was worth it. We had a great view, we had some lovely desserts, and it was something we’d never done before. This ended our DL trip. Not knowing what to expect with my 2 ½ year old daughter and this being my husband’s first real trip to DL, I didn’t know what to expect. I’m very happy to report that around day 3, my husband commented, “When we come back again, I want to stay across the street from DL.” All that would ring through my ears was, “When we come back again!” That meant there would be an “again”.

lobotomomma
03-20-2006, 10:16 AM
Awesome report, JDBlair!!! I especially liked the "coming back again" part for you, too :o) Sounds like you had a great time~Thanks again for sharing!!!!

SeansMom
03-20-2006, 10:42 AM
Lovely trip report(s)! Thanks for sharing. Sure makes me want to be there NOW....

yellowrosedtxn
03-20-2006, 11:10 AM
Thank you so much for the trip report! I really enjoyed your vacation!

Glad you enjoyed it and glad your hubby said "WHEN we come back...."

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 02:14 PM
Hi, JDBlair! Thanks so much for the info about MMM! I think my 2 younger kids will want to see characters but my hubby will take the 2 older ones on rides while most everybody else is busy with MMM. I apprecaite your advice. Are you doing any more trip entries? I have enjoyed reading yours.

You're welcome. :) I hope you have as much fun as we did!

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 02:15 PM
Love your trip entries, JDBlair!!! Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your next one....

Thank you!

Crazy4DL
03-20-2006, 02:58 PM
What an absolutely fun report! I could totally relate about the large party and it being hard to move about. We travelled with 16 in our party last August! Fun but kind of hard too. We ended up splitting up part of the time.

Thanks for taking your time to do a report. Glad you had fun and glad you will be going back! :)

Malcon10t
03-20-2006, 03:47 PM
Great report! Glad you enjoyed Riverside. Bora is such a sweetie, isn't she!! We just figured out for our trip in June, there wont be any Fantasmic! shows due to the Premier. I may just move our trip dates.

lobotomomma
03-20-2006, 03:58 PM
You're welcome. :) I hope you have as much fun as we did!
I will be sure to post a report when I get back! THANKS again for sharing your great report with everyone!

ktrm
03-20-2006, 04:46 PM
How did you like the Marriot Hotel with its indoor pool ( or at least half of it is indoor)? If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay? Our hotel was extremely nice but I am always looking for new experiences.

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 06:15 PM
How did you like the Marriot Hotel with its indoor pool ( or at least half of it is indoor)? If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay? Our hotel was extremely nice but I am always looking for new experiences.

We booked through WDTC and our total was $1,397 and that was DL tickets and hotel. I probably could have had a cheaper vacation if I had booked the hotel and tickets separate. The pool was way too cold to swim in and the only opportunity we had to swim was the night we stuck our feet in the hot tub but the pool water was chilly and the air was breezy and cool. The pool area was very lovely and had it been warmer and the hotel closer to DL, we probably would have done a lap or two. It was a pretty pool area and our room was right off the pool so in the summer - it would have been a fabulous hook-up! We have already said we'll do DL next time during a warmer month. Of course, we're from PHX so we're always a little cold in S. CA! LOL

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 06:22 PM
Thanks everyone for reading my Trip Report and the nice things you've all had to say! I know I enjoyed reading others reports and promised I would post mine. I can't believe I'm already planning our next visit in my head. :rolleyes: Couple of things struck me odd during the visit and I was wondering if anyone else felt this way - the castle seemed smaller to me. I use to go as a child and I've been there as an adult. But on TV and in pictures, it seems so much bigger than in real life. I am thinking the photographers are shooting up! But I had to stop in my tracks a couple of times and scratch my head. Just seemed small to me. But it was lovely, either way. Also... I was very mindful of the strollers and such. I noticed the problem isn't so much the strollers but the people that jump out in front of the strollers, stop right in front of the strollers or physically push the stroller out of their way. One woman was pushing a wheelchair and I witnessed another person jump immediately in front of this wheelchair. The woman pushing the chair absolutely had no time to stop and the "jumper" was hit. The "jumper" then glared at the pusher. Having witnessed the entire situation, I commented to the jumper and pusher saying, "You wouldn't have gotten hit had you not been in such a hurry and jumped right in front of her!" The person in the wheelchair then chimed in and said, "You obviously saw us, we're hard to miss." I think the jumper's tongue was tied - she stared at the both of us in disbelief. :rolleyes: But I also giggled on the night we watched the fireworks and the parade as I went in search of a spot 30 minutes - 1 hour before the show. People definitely gave me the stare down as I walked past their spot. I had to giggle thinking about the debate here earlier. :)

JDBlair
03-20-2006, 06:23 PM
Great report! Glad you enjoyed Riverside. Bora is such a sweetie, isn't she!! We just figured out for our trip in June, there wont be any Fantasmic! shows due to the Premier. I may just move our trip dates.

Who is Bora?

Malcon10t
03-20-2006, 07:10 PM
Who is Bora?
Bora is the person in charge at Riverside. She generally does all the checkin. Then calls you up to seat you. My kids love her. She is so sweet, but if anyone thinks they will stand in front of the Riverside seating area, she makes sure they keep moving. We visit her each time we come down. She got everybody in the area to sing HB to my daughter on her 16th birthday. Made her stand on her chair and everything. Last time we were there, I had headed back to the hotel and the kids went by and said hi to her. She sent me a small box with a couple of the strawberry filled shortbread cookies. (My favorites, next to the chocolate dipped strawberries.) Once while we were being seated, my youngest daughter commented after Fantasmic! she wanted a churro. Next thing I knew, Bora brought her a churro...

JDBlair
03-23-2006, 03:50 PM
Bora is the person in charge at Riverside. She generally does all the checkin. Then calls you up to seat you. My kids love her. She is so sweet, but if anyone thinks they will stand in front of the Riverside seating area, she makes sure they keep moving. We visit her each time we come down. She got everybody in the area to sing HB to my daughter on her 16th birthday. Made her stand on her chair and everything. Last time we were there, I had headed back to the hotel and the kids went by and said hi to her. She sent me a small box with a couple of the strawberry filled shortbread cookies. (My favorites, next to the chocolate dipped strawberries.) Once while we were being seated, my youngest daughter commented after Fantasmic! she wanted a churro. Next thing I knew, Bora brought her a churro...
I didn't catch the name of the woman that checked us in but she was very nice. A gentleman did "roll call". I never saw the woman that checked us in again. Bora sounds nice, though. A couple of girls seated behind us were being brought Churo's, Popcorn, ice cream - you name it - from a CM who was hosting some people down on the Tom Sawyer floats. I'm guessing those guys were extra, extra VIP's.

tmptink
03-23-2006, 04:37 PM
Day 4: Thursday, March 16

After Casey Junior, we looked around in the Princess shop and my daughter screamed for the Snow White costume. As much as I would have loved to purchase it for her, it just wasn’t a wise decision. Maybe for Halloween? It sure was cute, though!

Your trip sounds great. Makes me want to go now with my 2 1/2 dd. We are not going until May.

Also, my dd was Snow White for Halloween last year. I bought a really cute outfit at Wal-Mart but 2 weeks before Halloween the Disney Store had the outfits for $20 which was $3 more. I was so mad because I wanted the one from Disney. You mentioned about getting one for Halloween so I wanted to let you know to check a Disney Store (if you have one close by). Sorry for the long story.