Holy Mess!! Where Did The Time Go??? Kaitlyn's Sweet 16 Trip to Disney **Updated 5/26** - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Well, today is the big day... HER 16th BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! Where did my baby go?? I can't believe I have a 16 year old!
We had a great time, and I am going to write our TR notes this weekend. I won a dream! It was a small one, but after 5 trips during this YOAMD promotion, I am stoked to finally have scored something!
It was really hot, and lines were much longer than I am used to (we don't normally go to Disney in May), but c'mon... WE WERE AT DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading along. I will update more with pictures when I am not at work!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
They grow up so fast, don't they? My oldest grandchild turned 18 last November and on Tuesday he will graduate from HS!! Hope she had an awesome birthday!!
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Awww, you guys are so sweet!! Thank you for sympathizing with me. Gosh, I just don't know where the time went!! Dyan, that is so cool! I can't wait to show her! And holy cow, Kathy - it was stinkin' HOT! And STICKY!! And I am from So CA... I did not expect that.
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Saturday morning came early for us - 4am! The night before had been Drama Awards at the school, so DD and her DBF didn't get home until pretty late. Kaitlyn didn't win an award this time, but Justin won 3! AND he was elected as Vice President for Drama Club for next year. Quite a night for him! Anyway, after a big night like that, they were bushed. Our plan was to pack the last minute stuff in the car, pick up Justin, and be on the road by 5am. I am happy that we were able to stay on track with that! Needless to say, they weren't much company on the trip, as they were busy catching up on .
I was hoping that we would make it to Anaheim in time to make the 10am opening for CA Adventure, but traffic was HORRENDOUS in LA. We didn't end up getting to Anaheim until 11am . We decided to go ahead and check into the hotel, get freshened up, and head over to the parks from there. This was my first experience in staying at the Anaheim Hilton, and it really is a beautiful hotel. I couldn't complain about the price, either - $47 per night on Priceline! Honestly, though, I really much prefer the Crowne Plaza, simply for the size of the resort and the fact that transportation was included. The Hilton is ginormous, and very spread out. The rooms were beautiful, and it is located in a very good location. The staff was extremely friendly. However, our rooms ended up being on different floors, and different wings, which I was not very happy with. Justin was placed on the 13th floor!! I didn't even know hotels HAD a 13th floor!! And I thought the walk over to the parks was really stinky. Going there it wasn't bad, but I knew we were going to be tired on the way back - and we were. If I could have found a taxi, I would have definitely been utilizing it!
After we got settled, freshened up and met back up, we all walked over to DLR. Our plan for the day was CA Adventure, and TOT was our first stop!
It was, as always, amazing. I love this attraction so much! But I think it is evil of Disney to make you walk down stairs as you exit the attraction. I am always so shaky after coming off of this one; I just know one of these days I am going to eat it and go head-first, tumbling down those stairs!
OK- I know I can admit it to you. Actually, it's not really even an admission for us Passporters. I LOVE TO PLAN!!!!! I love to plan my Disney trips. I like to know exactly where I am going to be, to maximize park time. Well, this trip, my one instruction was NOT to plan. DD said DBF's mom is an uber-planner, and he doesn't like that. So she asked me not to plan. So we get to the parks, and I am asking them - What do you want to do now? They both look at me like, I don't know, I don't care… blah blah blah… typical teenagers! Oh my gosh, they were driving me !!!!! I spent so much time trying to get them to figure out what they wanted to do, that we wasted tons of park time. And Kaitlyn has been to Disney like five billion times, so it's not like there was anything that she wasn't aware of!! Plus - it was HOT and the parks were CROWDED. I am definitely not used to wait times of an hour.
Next, we headed into the Animation Academy. Lines here were crazy long, so we just watched the Toy Story spinner (I am sure there is a technical name for this… if there is, I don't know it. That thing is awesome, though! ) After watching that a couple of times, we walked over and got FP's for Soarin' Over CA. Amongst the I Don't Know's and I Don't Cares , I made the executive decision that we should go check out the line for CA Screamin'. First, though, we passed by Mulholland Madness, and Kaity and Justin got in line.
I decided to go in search of drinks for the three of us. When I had our water bottles in hand, I found a place to sit and relax in the shade. I just people-watched for awhile, and enjoyed being in my favorite place in the world.
We made it over to CA Screamin. The wait was 40 minutes, which at this point didn't seem too bad. We hopped in standby and waited in line.
It still is my favorite in CA Adventure, although I am sad that they have taken out the Red Hot Chili Peppers music from this and Space Mountain. I think it added so much to both of these attractions! After this, we decided we were hungry. Kaitlyn had her birthday button on, so we were sure we would score a stack of birthday tortillas at the Mission Tortilla Factory! Not so - the CM said "Happy Birthday!" to DD and handed her one tortilla! I don't get it. That's what happened when we went in March, for my birthday, too. But I am constantly reading TR's of people scoring STACKS of birthday tortillas! I am obviously doing something wrong. Next up was the Sourdough Bread Factory. Mmmmm, mmmmm! This place just smells heavenly to me. We got our bread samples, and then it was time to get some real food. Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill was what we eventually decided on, and the food here was surprisingly good!
We caught the Aladdin Show, which I still absolutely . The Genie just cracks me up! He used many of the same jokes from March, but he added some new material too. I get teary-eyed every stinkin' time I see this show! We back-tracked to Soarin', and took our journey over California. And we got first row!! This was the first time I actually smelled the orange groves.
Most of you probably know that I not a big fan of park-hopping. I normally feel like it is such a waste of time! But by this point, with these two indecisive teenagers in tow, I was thinking they might like to do some of the bigger attractions over at Disneyland Park. We hopped over to the other side, and headed directly for Space Mountain. The wait was an HOUR long, and there were no FP's left for the day! We were all pumped to ride it though, so we stood in line.
There was a guy in back of us, who spent the entire time in line getting waayyyyy too close and in my personal bubble. And to make matters worse, he was making this snorting sort of phlegm noise the whole dang time! Kaity and I were actually feeling queasy, it was so gross. It got to the point that we were either going to be sick, or just laugh about it. So we would just look at each other and giggle. Ughhh, I was so glad when we were finally able to board our spaceship!
The line for Buzz Lightyear was surprisingly short, I think only 20 minutes. Kaitlyn and Justin got in line for this attraction while I spent some time shopping. Kaitlyn said that Justin scored three times as much as she did, yet they still made the same rating! We tried to ride the Matterhorn, but the line was super long. Little did I know, but we should have stood in line then. It only got worse on Sunday!
It had been a long day, and we were all getting tired. I didn't think we had gotten enough accomplished, but with the no-planning and the two undecided teenagers, I thought we did fairly okay. Nobody wanted to stay for fireworks or the parade, so we decided to head back to the Hilton to get some sleep. The walk back was very long, I was very tired, and Justin was walking very fast! By the time we made it back to the room, I was pooped. We ordered room service, watched some Hitch on TV, and we were all asleep fairly quickly.
Next Up: My YOMD - it's a little one, but I was still thrilled!!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
That reminds me why I plan - I remember not planning in the past and asking DH what he wanted to do and he did exactly the same, stood there for ages, unable to make up his mind!
I know what you mean about the indecisiveness - DH is like that. We get into the "What do you want to do.....I dunno, what do you want to do" Drives me NUTS!! I pretty much do all of the planning, but just once I would like for him to make a decision when I do ask him what he would like to do!
We totally the Toy Story spinny thing! Everyone around it was mesmerized! I'm also glad that you mentioned the orange groves in Soarin'. I thought the scents kind of blended into each other, when we were there in February.
Sounds like you're having an excellent time!! Can't wait to hear more
Sorry you had to deal with teen indecision. I guess I just realized that when I plan for my family, we just do what I want to do (or what I think they'd like). I only ask them every once in a while if there's something they want to do. I guess they don't mind, because they never complain. I like to think they want me to do their thinking for them. Once I get more than one "I don't know/care" I just do what I want.
You did manage to get a lot done despite the crowds and the heat. Looking forward to more.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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Where did my baby go?? I can't believe I have a 16 year old! 
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Kaitlyn!! Can't wait to hear all about it!
Thank you for sympathizing with me. Gosh, I just don't know where the time went!! 
AND he was elected as Vice President for Drama Club for next year. Quite a night for him! 
. 
. We decided to go ahead and check into the hotel, get freshened up, and head over to the parks from there. This was my first experience in staying at the Anaheim Hilton, and it really is a beautiful hotel. I couldn't complain about the price, either - $47 per night on Priceline! 
!!!!! I spent so much time trying to get them to figure out what they wanted to do, that we wasted tons of park time. And Kaitlyn has been to Disney like five billion times, so it's not like there was anything that she wasn't aware of!! 
After this, we decided we were hungry. Kaitlyn had her birthday button on, so we were sure we would score a stack of birthday tortillas at the Mission Tortilla Factory! Not so - the CM said "Happy Birthday!" to DD and handed her one tortilla! 
I am obviously doing something wrong. 
We got our bread samples, and then it was time to get some real food. Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill was what we eventually decided on, and the food here was surprisingly good! 
More please 
I guess they don't mind, because they never complain. I like to think they want me to do their thinking for them. Once I get more than one "I don't know/care" I just do what I want. 
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