California Dreamin - The Live TR About This Page:

[lfredsbo]

Just got caught up as I was playing with Mickey all weekend while you were in Cali - glad I didn't miss the DL update yet! Sounds like you all had a GREAT time!! Love the luau!!! Seemed like a great time with great food!!

[Principessa_di_Fata]

Tuesday, October 9

It was Disney Day!! I was up at 6:15am again, and grabbed a shower while Meri slept. Jeannie ran the kids to school, and then came back to grab me and Meri. We were ready, and we all hit the road just before 8am. Just past the 91 we realized that there was a tractor trailer on fire just past the 10. What?! We kind of laughed in a “go figure” way, expecting traffic now, which would kind of put a kink in my plans for the morning. Fortunately, though, the problem must not have been that bad, because we had no backups, and after one quick u-turn (GPS decided the car rental place should be in an empty field), we were parked in front of Alamo. Actually, we had gone in via the rental car return area, instead of the pick-up side… so we were BEHIND Alamo, but that’s just semantics.

At 8:39am I texted Jeannie that we had our car – a white Yaris. I have to say the VERY first thing Meri noticed was that we had a Mickey in our car...



At 8:45am we drove out of Alamo’s lot, and I anticipated an hour-plus drive to Disneyland… but we pulled in at 9:30am!!



There was absolutely no traffic, and we were able to make great time. I was pleasantly surprised.

Even the parking garages are pretty!




When you park at the Paradise Pier Hotel, you get 5 hours free – and after that it’s $12 / hour with a $51 max. You have to present a shopping or dining receipt, though, from PP, upon departure. We parked in the garage behind PP, and lucked out, finding an open spot just 5 spaces in on the right, across from the doorway to PP! I took a picture of the back of the car / tag because I was afraid I’d forget what car to look for (even though it was pretty easy to remember being across from the door, lol).

We paused in the lobby to take a photo with Goofy...



Our reservation for PCH Grill wasn’t until 10:30am, but thankfully we were able to check in early, at 9:45am. We were seated 10 minutes later, after taking a photo with Mickey (which they later tried to sell me for $32 or something to that effect. Fortunately, Jeannie had gotten the Photopass Plus, so that covered my breakfast photos! Score!

When we were seated, I asked the hostess if she could tell me the “path” in which the characters take through the restaurant, so I could anticipate when to go get breakfast. She had no idea what I was talking about, and said that I didn’t need to worry, all characters would make their way around. She didn’t understand the question when I rephrased, so I gave up and figured I’d just guess and hope for the best. It wasn’t a huge deal, I just like to try to time things out so I don’t feel rushed when trying to get the food. I did manage to figure out their path, so it was easy enough.

Almost immediately after we were seated, there was a surf party, so Meri headed up to jam out with all of the characters.

While she was gone, I ordered us some drinks (apple juice for Meri and coffee / OJ for me). Our server was Nicolas, and he was lovely. He was fabulous with refills and very friendly and efficient.

When Meri got back from her dance party, we got our food from the buffet, and then sat back down. We both dug right into our food.

Meri's breakfast


My breakfast


I was shoveling down my omelet – it was amazingly good. I wish I had one right now! The scrambled eggs were absolutely disgusting, though. I was appalled, lol. But everything else was positively delicious. I would kill for one of those omelets right now! I actually put diced ham and shredded cheddar on my grocery list so I could make an omelet at home! MMM!!! But I digress...

Our first friend to visit us was Daisy!



She twirled Meri and then she twirled herself around, and they danced for a minute, which was cute!







Once Daisy was gone, Meri and I discussed Mickey, and somehow we got into a conversation about the fact that Mickey doesn't talk. I had explained that if Mickey talked to every single person all day, plus did his shows and parades... he wouldn't have any voice at all! So he had to conserve his voice where he could. She thought about that and told me it made sense to her, but that she had thought that there were just two Mickeys, and one could talk, and one couldn't.

I had so many questions for her about that, because I'm dying to get into her mind... but I didn't want to go down any road that would kill the magic for her... I'm dying to know if she knows that Mickey et al are people in costumes. She said that once about characters at a festival we went to - not sure if she's made the leap to connect that to Disney. I'm afraid to ask because I don't want to put the thought in her mind if it isn't there.

Before long, there was another surf party! I think they happened every 20 minutes...





Stitch had them all shaking their booties... lol...


At the end of our conversation, Minnie sneaked up on Meri, though Meri wasn't startled the way I had hoped. Minnie sat down at the table and "talked" to Meri for a few.









Look, I'm taller than Minnie!!!



Before long, Stitch came around...



[IMG][/IMG]



... and then it was time for the final surf party!







We got these pins at the end of our meal



We paid up ($53.26 with tip, but I added an additional few dollars because Nicolas was fabulous about refilling my coffee and OJ... four cups of coffee, three cups of OJ).

We had to kill a little while, because we hadn't seen Pluto yet. Finally he came out and we got our pictures...



[IMG]hhttp://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv41/jaimelemer/California%20Oct%202012%20TR/Day%205%20-%20DISNEY/IMG_4529_zps7002cc16.jpg?t=1350012734[/IMG]

Dear Meri... you are not impressing me with your photographic skills...



...and then we were finished! At this point it was 11:00am. I was SO glad that we didn't wait until our 10:30am reservation time... the restaurant was pretty empty, and the last surf party happened at 10:35am. So we'd have gotten just one party instead of the three we enjoyed, and we'd have gotten just rushed visits from the characters.

I will say, I had heard that there were tons and tons of characters at Disneyland meals, but there were "only" five at ours. Now please don't mistake me - I was MORE than satisfied with five, lol. I just kind of expected there to be more, given the reports I've gotten from others.

With breakfast done, we headed out, pausing to take a couple of photos of the buffet area for you all...

On the right there were cereals, and then beyond the green wall thingy, there were pancakes, waffles and syrup. On the left was a buffet that included two different types of sausages, bacon, hash browns, eggs (NOT cheesy ones, I am sorry to report), and a bunch of other things that I can't remember but wasn't interested in. And then further past those were various pastries, baked goods, etc.



Here was the make-your-own omelet area





On the way out, we stopped in the store to pick up a little souvenir for Meri. She chose a little Tink pouch that attaches to a pin lanyard. She wanted to hold her ticket and her pressed pennies. Once done, we headed out to drive over to the DL parking lot.

On the way out, we admired this awesome kiddie area...



We drove to the parking garage and I showed our tickets in order to get free parking - woo hoo! But here's where something odd happened... the parking guy actually hit on me. Blatantly. Asking if I was single, "joking around" about getting my number. It was flattering and I wasn't particularly offended, but it was very weird and a bit inappropriate to me, considering we were at Disneyland. Well we did get two pretty pins out of the deal, lol, so whatever.

We parked in Donald 3F, and I loved that on the parking ticket, they had places where you could circle where you were, so you didn't lose your car... it came in VERY handy! Our first stop was a restroom, and then we hopped on a nearly-empty tram!







There were these really adorable scenes all along the tram route.



Once in DTD, we went to a sunglass kiosk so I could get my glasses fixed. The screw fell out and the arm of the glasses (is it called an arm? lol) fell off. The sweet lady at the kiosk fixed it for free, asking only for a donation to a charity that deals with glasses.

Then it was off to the most important stop. The face-painting! It was all the way on the other side. I took some pictures of scenery along the way...









Continued in next post...

[Principessa_di_Fata]

Continued...

We found the face painting booth and Meri chose her design immediately. I was so glad to see that she chose one that went perfectly with her outfit! Saved me from having to try to redirect!



The guy made it look so easy! I found myself thinking, "I could do that!" Of course, I am quite sure I could NOT do that, lol, but he did make it look so easy...









After face painting (which btw cost $17 - I didn't tip, do you suppose I was supposed to?) Meri wanted to trade a pin!





After this it was off to the Lego store for a while!













How about all those options??



After the Lego store (which netted Meri a small lego set) we headed over to the Disneyland Hotel for some relaxation!









While meandering around, we passed Goofy's Kitchen, and lo and behold, Goofy was standing outside!! I wasn't sure if he was posing with meal guests, or just anyone - but it turns out anyone was welcome to come meet Goofy, and only one couple was there - so off we went!!! Meri and Goofy both messed around with their ears, lol, and it was really cute! It was an unexpected magical moment!







We stopped for a spot of lunch...







At this point Meri was annoyed that her bangs were covering her face paint, so I worked a bit of magic and poof - new hair!









We watched a bird show, which was interesting and fun!



We had about another 45 minutes to kill, so Meri played with some legos and raced some cars with other people!









On our way to Disneyland, with about 20 minutes to go, we were sidetracked by a bakery...




In the bakery was a guy dressed just like Santa. I wondered if it was the guy I read about in the news not terribly long ago, that was booted out of Disneyland for walking around dressed like Santa and taking pictures with kids. Honestly I found him just slightly creepy. I can't explain it or pinpoint anything that was wrong about him. I just felt a little weird, so I was more than glad that Meri didn't want to go talk to him or anything. I'm a big believer in trusting my gut, and for whatever reason, my gut said he was just a smidge off. Oh well.

We did, however, get a cupcake! We sat in the Grand Californian and shared some of the cupcake... wow, what a lobby!







MMMMMMMMMM



After we finished the cupcake, it was just before 3pm, and time to head to DL to get let in for the party!!! Wahoo!!

Up next: Pre-partying at DL!!

[cubfancolleen]

Looks like a fun breakfast!
Hit on y te parking guy?! Oh my!

[lauriep]

Looks like the morning is going perfectly according to plan! The breakfast looks good and the time with the characters relaxed, but I'm surprised at only 5 characters also! I thought the meals were all like the breakfasts I went to, with new characters constantly appearing. VERY strange behavior for the parking lot guy! Wait, I don't mean that it's strange that a guy hit on you-- just strange for a Disney CM! DTD looks empty. I hope you don't have a hard time filling the time until the party.

[Grammy Grumpy]

All caught up and am now eagerly awaiting the next installment!!!!

[chezp]

What a great time at Disneyland so far!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great start to your day! Love all the pictures!

[MayraLR]

Great time so far!

[shazza]

All the photos are great. Meri looks so cute with the "matching" face paint.

[JKnott17]

Great start to your DL day! Meri looks adorable in her face paint. They always make that look so easy to do, don't they? I know it would definitely NOT look like that if I tried!

[lauriep]

I don't know how, but I missed your second update last night! All caught up now. Nice time wandering the hotels and DTD. Meri looks adorable in her face paint. I don't know if you're supposed to tip them or not?? (I'm paying more attention to all these kid things now that I'll be at WDW with my new "granddaughter" next summer.) All ready for the party!

[lfredsbo]

Looks like a great morning/early afternoon!!!

Yeah..........Santa dude just sounds creepy!!! And the kid in the parking lot......hmmmm.....wonder what Walt would think of that????

[KMB733]

You and Meri are having a great time and you haven't even entered the park yet!!! I'm enjoying your pictures and remembering my trip at the same time last year. Can't wait to hear all about the party!!

[Principessa_di_Fata]

It was a big morning already, and as already pointed out, we hadn't even gotten to the park yet!!! As awesome as the hotels and DTD were, it was still the most exciting when we were able to FINALLY get into Disneyland!

We headed for the gates and went through bag check. The lines were insane but actually moved really quickly.



The security lady barely glanced in my bag. At WDW they always pick through my bag and make me open the zippered pockets inside, but this lady didn't even care what I had. A cursory glance in and she waved me through.







Once in, I quickly realized we had to get into the lines for "Special Events"... the lines were long but they didn't take terribly long to filter through.







We got through the ticket line quickly, but the people handing out wristbands were very slow, and so it was getting backed up waiting to get wristbands. Finally we got our pretty sparkly pink wristbands and we were free to go! I had wanted to take a photo right out front, but my GOSH, it was absolutely a zoo. People were milling around, it was jam-packed, people would stop short, looking at their maps, right in the middle of the walkway... it was just craziness. I gave up on the photo and finally made it through to Main Street. We made a quick bathroom stop (fortunately we JUST beat the mass of women heading that way, lol) and then we were there!! All told, it took us 15 minutes from arriving at bag check to walking into the park.







Jeannie and I had sat up the night before and worked out a basic plan of attack for both before their arrival and after. First I listed every ride that I considered a must-do. Then I made two columns - "before Jeannie" and "with Jeannie". We did this because Evan has a GAC, and we figured it made sense to maximize our time by using it for anything that might have a wait. Plus we wanted to make sure to wait to ride all of the rides that Evan and Sophia wanted to ride.

With that plan in mind, I knew that before Jeannie arrived, we wanted to ride POTC and then focus solely on Fantasyland. We headed straight through Adventureland to Orleans Square...



We arrived at POTC at right around 325pm, and it said it was a 10 minute wait. We hopped on the line and it was a pretty quick line, clocking in at just about 10 minutes, I'd guess. I loved that there is a restaurant there. It was really pretty.

Meri's pirate face, lol










I felt like much of the first half was a little different than WDW, but the rest was fairly familiar to me. I really liked this version. And I liked that there's two drops!







Once we were finished with our cruise, we headed through the hub and castle to hit Fantasyland! I knew that Aurora's castle was smaller than Cindy's, but it was still so strange to me! I couldn't get over it! It was beautiful, but so tiny!





I loved these little seating areas in front of the castle




The first ride we absolutely had to hit, with no question, was Mr. Toad. The wait was at 20 minutes, and we did wait every bit of 20 minutes. We chatted with a man and his son behind us, and that helped pass the time.









Finally it was our turn!!!



After our spin on Mr. Toad, which made me just so happy, we had a decision to make. It was 4:25pm. Did we want to continue riding rides, or did we want to grab a seat and watch the 5pm parade? I let Meri make the decision, and she chose the parade. So off we went to find a seat. I had already memorized the parade route, lol, and I knew I really wanted to try to get a seat in the hub, because I wanted to be able to see the castle AND the parade all at once!

Fortunately we found a lovely spot right in the hub, and we got settled in. We only had 30 minutes to wait.



Meri amused herself by snacking and playing on my phone, and then we called mom so Meri could fill her in on all of the happenings thus far.



Meanwhile, I took notes. I was glad we had sat down when we did, because it was really starting to fill up...







Emmy was ready for the party, too! (I know I was spelling it "Emmie" but Meri decided she wanted it to end in "y" now... so... I'm just following directions from the boss.



At one point, an entire group of cows walked by - with one farmer (you can kind of see him in the way back on the left)... there must have been more than 25 cows, lol... there were just SO many! It was absolutely hilarious and everyone along the parade route was clapping and cheering as they went by! It was really a fabulous idea!



Finally the parade began!!! It started down by the train station and ended up I think in Fantasyland.











I will tell you, the costumes in this parade were absolutely spectacular! I was blown away by the detail and depth of imagination in them!



















































I will say that while I felt the costuming in this parade was far superior, I preferred the WDW daytime parade to this one. I felt like this went just SO fast, and the characters didn't really stop to interact with anyone at all. Typically I've always seen the WDW parade characters give high-fives or waves or whatever, but these guys just sort of blew past so fast that I was a little surprised. I felt like the floats went faster, too, though that could just be my perception. All in all we really enjoyed it, and none of this is a complaint. Just some observations and comparisons!

After the parade was finished, I got a text from Jeannie saying they were on the tram, so we headed to the Photopass shop and kept a look-out for them! Once in the shop, Meri told one of the CM's that it was her first time in Disneyland, and they got her a first visit pin! she thought she was quite the big deal after that, lol!



We waited about 15 minutes, and FINALLY there they were!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! We went inside the Photopass shop so Jeannie could get her photopass card activated, and oh my goodness it was a lot of back-and-forth... we went to the first open CM, and first he told her to hold on a moment, and he went to consult with someone. Then he came back and said she had to go down to the other end of the shop, to the cashier. So off we went. Then we had to go BACK to the other end, where we originated, but someone was at the CM's station, so he moved us BACK down to an open computer beside the cashier, lol. Jeannie and I were laughing at the absurdity of it all. It was sort of annoying but only mildly - it was more funny than anything else. Once at the computer, they loaded my breakfast photos on there, and then we were off and running!

Continued tomorrow with the Halloween Party update!!!