A Spring Fling at the Disneyland Resort!
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TiggGrrrl · 08-08-2002, 07:31 PM

Next ride for Tina and I was Mulholland Madness – a wild mouse style roller coaster. It looks pretty tame from where you stand but it is a wild mouse after all! There are some good jolts and a few surprises along the way – I won’t spoil it for anyone! I thought Tina might have gotten really scared at a few points but she was giggling and smiling the whole way! That girl is really a little daredevil!

We did a little shopping at an open-air kind of store they have there in Paradise Pier called Souvenir 66. I got a few postcards for the folks back home, as well as some for that scrapbook I’ll get to work on someday. I bought Shane the 2nd of 2 hats he lost that day in CA – my boy has one hat and one hat only that he likes to wear and somehow I forgot it in the car that day. I haven’t figured out yet what I’ll do when he outgrows it!

It was time for my Fast Pass for my second spin on California Screamin’ – YEEEE HAAAA! Ria wanted to watch me take off so they stood on the pier right next to the launch site and I went off to take my second – and unfortunately final of the day – trip around Paradise Pier via California Screamin’. I gave my FP to the CM and walked straight through the queue area and was place in my spot for the next ride. This time they put me next to a big biker man with way more tattoos than me – LOL! I issued my standard scream warning to him and he laughed really hard – he said his wife was too scared to come on the ride with him so it was great that he had me to sit next to him and scream like she would if she had the nerve! I thought that was pretty funny – and I was glad he had a sense of humor! Before I knew it, we were moving out of the loading area and into the launch area. Ria, Grandma and the kids were there on the boardwalk waiting to see my take off. That is the worst part of the whole ride, sitting there and waiting to be catapulted forward and up that huge hill to the first drop. Ria got this great picture of our car as we took off!

As I mentioned before, after the first go round on this ride, I was determined to keep my eyes open as much as possible to really see everything – and I managed to do just that – YAY ME! The thing that amazes me about this coaster is how long it is! There’s really a lot going on – twists and turns and drops and loops and bunny hops…AWESOME! The imagineers sure earned their bucks on this one! The soundtrack, the atmosphere, the thrills – MAGNIFICENT! A MUST DO! Do you think I like this ride?

Upon my return, we left Paradise Pier for the day and moved on to The Golden State. First order of business was lunch, so we stopped at the Taste Pilots Grill for some burgers. They’ve got these really cute little kid sized burger bundles – it’s a pack of 3 burgers about the size of a golf ball – that Tina and AJ were crazy for. Shane’s not a burger eater so he munched on some chicken tenders and smiley face French fries.

We next headed over to the Grizzly Peak Recreation Area where Ria took AJ to blow off some steam and climb around the rocks and trails of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Grandma took Shane for some ice cream and Tina and I headed over to Grizzly River Run. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this ride, since I had heard it was a combination of a rapids ride and a flume. You can get a pretty good look at the ride from the path leading up to it, but you can’t see everything – and who would want to?! As was the case all day, we waited just a few minutes before we boarded our boat/raft for our trip down the Grizzly River. The boarding area is just like at Kali in AK and the boats are the same only a bit smaller. I buckled us in and asked Tina if she wanted me to hold onto her and she said no, but I’ll let you know if I change my mind! You start out on this ride with a pretty high climb to get you to the top and then swoosh you’re off! Along the way you bounce around in the rapids and hit two decent sized drops and no matter where you’re sitting – YOU WILL GET WET! This is because this ride is so fast moving and the boats only seat six so you’re constantly bouncing off things and changing directions giving everyone a good soak! We had so much fun we went right back on when we got off and then went again after that! We were nice and wet by the time the adventure was over.

We did a little shopping in Grizzly Peak and then walked over to Condor Flats to see Soarin’ Over California – Ria took Tina and Grandma and I waited with the boys. We did the baby swap and I went next by myself – and was I ever glad I did. Truly amazing. You honestly feel like you are flying over the state of California! I saw the simple beauty of sites that I’ve seen for myself like the Orange Groves of Camarillo and the absolute majesty of things I hope to someday see like the wine country of the Napa Valley. This ride is a delight for the senses – you can actually smell the oranges! Holy cow! The music captures the emotions of what you are seeing perfectly and when it’s all over, you find yourself wishing it weren’t. I don’t want to tell you too much so as not to spoil it, you must experience it if you can! Another one that I must say - MAGNIFICENT! A MUST DO!

Nexters, we headed over to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot. Hollywood Boulevard is a site to behold and if you’ve ever seen the real thing you’ll realize what an amazing job Disney did here! There were some street performers there and Ria got dragged into the show! She ended up on her knees bowing to some Hollywood diva and then dancing with her – it was a real hoot and we were all laughing really hard! When her performance was over, Ria and I took Tina and Shane into the Disney Animation building (Grandma, bless her heart was really tired at this point so she stayed outside on her scooter with the napping AJ) to explore. This is an amazing building that you can spend a whole lot of time in. When you go inside, you enter the Animation Courtyard were there are dozens of movie screens of all sizes around you showing drawings of some of your favorite Disney film characters as they come to life (from sketches up to full color!) – all accompanied by the appropriate soundtrack for whatever is on the screens. From here you can choose to enter any of three areas.

We started in the Sorcerer’s Workshop where you can pretend to be an animator! Lots of hands on things to play with here! There were some neat spinning things where you got to see how the first cartoons were made – you look into them and spin and there you have Mickey walking around! We had a bad case of the giggles while playing in Ursula’s Grotto – sort of Disney karaoke where you sing your choice of song from a famous Disney scene. Ria and I (Tina was too mature [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] chose to do Hakuna Matata and you know, you never realize how bad your voice actually is until you hear it played back for you – LOL! It was fun though! My favorite, by far, was the Beast’s library, not so much for what was in it but just because of how it looked. There was the fireplace and the pictures on the wall, you’d swear you just stepped into the movie! While there you can learn from Lumiere and Cogsworth which Disney character you’re most like just by answering a few questions. Ria was Cruella! I was Belle – YAY!

The last thing we visited there was Drawn to Animation (we didn’t have time to explore Back to Neverland), which is a show starring Mushu from Mulan. He and a CM show you how a character is developed from start to finish in a really interesting, funny presentation. Shane got the biggest kick out of Mushu and was jumping up and down and squealing and laughing the whole time – the CM kept losing her concentration and forgetting her lines because she was giggling at him! He’s really too cute sometimes!

It was getting late – about a half hour before closing - and I really wanted to explore the rest of Hollywood Boulevard, just to see what was there. So we left Disney Animation and started to stroll down the Boulevard when I spotted Mickey in his director’s costume down at the end of the street and sort of off to the side – which is perhaps why no one noticed him. I said to Ria “Big Cheese straight ahead” and off we went. When we got there, not only was the Big Cheese himself there, but so was Cruella, Goofy and Max! And there was NO ONE THERE! What more can you ask for?! Tina and AJ walked over to them and got there books signed, took pictures and just wandered back to Grandma – I think they were Disneyed out by this time (can you imagine?). I took Shane out of his stroller and he just ran over to Mickey – get your hankies folks because this is serious tear jerking stuff coming! This baby was SO EXCITED he was jumping and dancing around and shouting YAY YAY YAY! The characters were having an absolute field day with him, running around him and jumping up and down. Cruella kept saying “come here ugly” and “you are just the ugliest thing I’ve seen all day” but she couldn’t keep from smiling a little and kept on giving him hugs! Mickey bent down and put him on his lap and Shane kept on kissing and hugging him! I was pretty much hysterical at this point – this is the kind of thing a Disney fan dreams of but never has happen to them and here I was watching my beautiful baby boy play all by himself with the Disney characters! I’m getting choked up just writing this and looking at the photos.

Ria and my Mom kept saying “can you believe this!?” There was a man there videotaping for the first few minutes and I was going to ask him to please, please, please send me a copy of the tape (I’d have paid him for it of course!) but he left before I got a chance to ask him. If any of this looks familiar to anyone here, PLEASE tell me, I’d give anything for a copy of that tape! I didn’t bring my video camera – DUH! Anyhow, this private audience with the four characters went on for the better part of four (UPDATE - not sure why I wrote four, it was more like ten or so - duh) minutes and only once did another child come by for an autograph. I still can’t believe it happened and it’s a good thing we got TONS of pictures because I’d still be pinching myself to see if it was real! There was a Disney photographer there and he was snapping away too and I of course had to buy all those pictures as well. How many times in a lifetime will something like this happen?

But it doesn’t end there...

[ 08-10-2002, 01:25 PM: Message edited by: TiggGrrrl ]

TiggGrrrl · 08-08-2002, 07:33 PM

The CM came out to tell the characters that it was time to go so we said bye-bye and I put Shane in his stroller and we started walking away. Well, Mickey wouldn’t hear of it – he tapped me on the shoulder and gestured to me that he wanted to push the stroller! HOLY COW, AM I DREAMING OR WHAT?! So there we were, walking up Hollywood Boulevard to the front of the park with Mickey pushing Shane’s stroller and Goofy at his side! Shane kept turning around and looking at Mickey and then looking at me as if to say “Mommy, do you SEE this?!”. I walked beside them telling Mickey how Shane had already been to see him four times in his 16 months on this earth both here and in WDW and he held onto his head as if to say “WOW!” in the way only a Disney character can! When we got to the end of Hollywood Boulevard, he gave Shane another BIG HUG and KISS and Goofy patted him on the head and they were gone…

Can you say the perfect end to the most Magical Disney Moment we’ve ever had? [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

We stopped in Greetings from California to do some souvenir shopping and wait for the photos the CM had snapped during our magical moments – gotta love digital photos, they were ready in about 10 minutes from when we got there, that CM must have ran there with that disk!

With pixie dust in everyone’s eyes, we piled back into the minivan and headed back to Ria’s house.

TiggGrrrl · 08-08-2002, 07:35 PM

Thanks everyone - I'm glad you're enjoying my trip report! I really love doing them, it's like reliving the vacation all over again! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

Tara - I actually have you to thank for me getting this report up! When I saw how quickly you started yours I realized I better get mine finished and up here [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

infinity&beyond · 08-08-2002, 07:46 PM

WOW! So magical, I've got tears in MY eyes even. The picture of your son turned around in his stroller looking at Mickey is priceless!!! What a perfect goodbye to a perfect day!

BostonTeaParty · 08-08-2002, 07:46 PM

Just loving your report Jeannie!! It sounds like you guys had an awesome time. Shane is getting so big!! (Still cute as a button). Another Sephora girl!! I live near a Sephora and can easily spend a couple of hours there without realizing it. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] Looking forward to more tales from DL.

Nancy [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

BostonTeaParty · 08-08-2002, 07:48 PM

Oops! Jeannie, your posting so fast you already posted your grand finale while I was posting how much I was looking forward to it...LOL. Back to reading...

Tara O'Hara · 08-08-2002, 07:52 PM

Wow, Jeannie! That is amazing that you had those characters all to yourselves! That is just about the coolest private party that I have EVER heard of!! YOur pictures are killer! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

Tara

[ 08-10-2002, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: Tara O'Hara ]

Bert & Sully · 08-08-2002, 10:42 PM

Jeannie thanks for taking the time to post your April Trip!

**LilMarcieMouse** · 08-09-2002, 12:08 AM

Jeannie I have tears in my eyes! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I love the photo of Mickey pushing the stroller.What a lucky guy Shane is. What a great report. thanks for sharing.

Kasumi2279 · 08-09-2002, 08:12 AM

Thanks for posting such a wonderful trip report. I can only imagine how fantastic it was to be there. I'm getting teary eyed too, seeing the pictures.

Thanks again!
Kel

AKLRULZ · 08-09-2002, 09:30 AM

Omigosh, that Space Mountain on ride picture is the funniest! CLASSIC! I'm rolling on the floor! This is a super report!

GoofyMom · 08-09-2002, 01:48 PM

California Adventure looks and sounds like so much fun. They were still building it when we went to DL.

Those photos of Shane being pushed down the street by Mickey and escorted by Goofy, well just count me in on the teary-eyed club. Disney Magic at it's greatest - I hope Shane will remember it for a long time.

tikibird · 08-09-2002, 06:44 PM

WOW!!! What awesome character interaction you had!!! I'm loving your trip and your awesome pictures - keep em coming! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]