Springtime Jaunt to Disneyland: Final Days and Final Thoughts: COMPLETE 6/11/08 - Page 12 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Day 4, Part 3: “You Came From Kentucky for a Salad?”
Day 4, Part 3: “You Came From Kentucky for a Salad?”
We arrived at Ariel’s grotto about 8 minutes late for our PS time. Chuck checked us in while I headed to the little girl’s room. I met back up with Chuck and we are told to go down the stairs to have our picture taken with Ariel and then we would be seated. Kind of the opposite of CRT in WDW, where we go up a spiraling staircase to get seated. Anywho, we arrived downstairs and the first thing Chuck whispers to me is “Hey, Ariel has legs.” We get our picture taken, and the host takes us to a waterside table for four and provides us with our menus. We look over the selections and then waited for our server. Here’s our picture with Ariel.
Our server arrived and took our drink and appetizer order. Both Chuck and I decided on the Ship-Shape Cheesy Onion Soup (Rich beef broth with sweet onions and chives, swirled melted cheeses and sourdough crouton) and water to drink. I have to say that that annoying cough was making itself known again but I just kept downing the allergy meds in the prescribed fashion and trying to ignore it. Our server returned with our drinks and soup. The soup was okay in my opinion. Chuck thought it needed more cheese, and I thought it was way too salty.
We had placed our entrée order when our server brought the soup. Chuck went with the "Under the Boardwalk" Half-Pound Burger with Cheese (Topped with lettuce, sliced tomato, onion and pickles and served with steak fries), and I chose the Avalon Chicken Caesar Salad (Seasoned chicken breast atop romaine lettuce, tossed with a classic Caesar dressing, sprinkled with fresh Parmesan cheese and garnished with diced tomato).
Before our entrees arrived, we had a couple of visitors at our table. Now I have to tell you that if I would have looked at myself in the mirror for more than a partial glance, I could tell you that I was on my way to getting sick. So, you will only see picks with Chuck. A little vain yes, but I really looked awful. First up was Cinderella with Snow White following soon after.
Our entrees arrived and they looked wonderful.
Before we could get started, our final two visitors arrived. First was the Fairy Godmother. She was awesome. I think she spent close to 10 minutes with us. After she signed our book and stood for pictures, she asked us a whole bunch of questions like “How long were we here for?”, “How long have I been with my price?”, and “Where were we from?” When I told her we came from Louisville, KY, she looked at my entrée; she looked at me, and asked, “You came all the way from Kentucky for a salad?” We both got a good chuckle out of that one. She finally had to move onto other tables but Princess Aurora was soon to follow.
With the characters out of the way, we sat back and enjoyed our meals. Chuck said it was a burger, nothing special. I truly enjoyed my salad. I order a lot of chicken Caesar salads at home, but the added tomato made it even better. Definitely a nice addition. Our waiter came and took our dessert order and refilled our drinks. After about 10 minutes, we both had pushed our plates away and our desserts magically appeared. I decided upon the Granny's Cinnamon-Apple Specialty (Cinnamon-sauteed Granny Smith apples topped with streusel, creamy Dreyer's vanilla ice cream,, and caramel drizzle), while Chuck went with the Chocolate Paradise Cake (Chocolate malt cake with dark chocolate icing and smooth strawberry sauce). Both were very good even though neither of us could finish them. After settling the bill, we decided to head back to the hotel and rest up. We cancelled our PS at Hook’s Pointe and chose to see how many rides we could do in MK since they were open late that evening.
We stopped in the gift shop and picked up some drinks for the room. I literally kicked my shoes off and fell on the bed. Chuck said I was out within 5 minutes. He just lounged next to me and watched ESPN. He woke me up around 4:30pm so we could get some sort of dinner. We decided upon PizzaPort again as it never fails to have a good slice. I changed clothes as it was getting cooler, and got myself looking presentable. We decided to go without the camera and park bag as we wanted to be able to just ride rides. I regret not taking the camera for reasons you will understand later, but it made for easy touring. We headed into DTA and caught the monorail over to DL. We noticed as we were pulling into the Tomorrowland station that Nemo wasn’t running yet again. We headed toward SM to grab some FP and then headed into Pizza Port. We had a repeat of the meal from earlier in the week. Just as good as before!!
We still had about 15 minutes before our FP window opened for SM, so we headed in to Buzz. Chuck beat me, which is the norm don’t forget, and we were able to email our photo home.
After defeating Zurg once again, we headed back to SM as it was time. As luck would have it, the FP line moved rather quickly and we were directed to a front row seat of the train. Knowing that we would probably be purchasing the ride picture, we made sure we showed our excitement. However, upon exiting the ride, the people behind us who were here for a convention weren’t too happy they couldn’t be seen. Oops!
Now we wanted to be in Fantasyland before the Parade of Dreams started. However, they had already begun the roping off process and we had a heck of time getting over there but we succeeded. As the Parade went along its’ route, we were able to knock out Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Dumbo, and ended our time in Fantasyland with Peter Pan. Not bad, not bad at all. We headed into Frontierland and grabbed a ride on BTMRR at night. Chuck really wanted to do Autopia. It meant crossing the park, but if my man wants to drive some cars that go 6MPH, who am I to turn him down? We made our way across and stood in the longest line of the night. We did stop and get a couple of PhotoPass pictures along the way.
Upon arriving at Autopia, it was a good 25-30 minutes before we were handed out Autopia Driver’s License and directed toward our cars. I got behind Chuck because even though it said no bumping, I have played NASCAR 08 with him and he has a fondness for some bump drafting.
We had a good time on the ride even though we got behind someone who had a hard time keeping the peddle down and moving. I have to admit, those things definitely work out the thigh muscles. After exiting the ride, Chuck wanted a smoke. I went off in search of liquid refreshment because the fumes from Autopia were irritating the lungs. Chuck actually found me and we headed over to New Orleans Square at a leisurely pace. I wanted a ride on POTC and he was more than willing. Instead of cutting across the hub, we took the long way to see if the Nemo Subs were up and running. We met up with a CM and were told that they are doing a test run and hoped to running the last two hours of the night. No Nemo yet.
We made it over to NO Square and got on a boat for POTC within 10 minutes but I don’t even think it was that. On the ride, the cough began to makes it presence really known, and we decided to call it a night. We did go through the Emporium just for looksies and I had that mental list growing for purchases tomorrow night. We were back at the hotel by 11:00pm and I immediately took a shower and popped some more meds. I knew I wasn’t sick but my allergies were irritating my bronchial tubes which made the cough sound awful. I settled in for the night as did Chuck after checking in at work.
Coming Up: No Sleep + Dehydration= Pre-Mature End of Trip
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Your energy level is amazing....I am sure all those meds have to be taking an effect. I am glad you had such a productive day because it sounds like the tide is going to be turning....
danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
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Day 5 and Day 6, plus Flight Home: No Sleep + Dehydration = Pre-Mature End of Trip, Plus Final Thoughts
Day 5 and Day 6, plus Flight Home: No Sleep + Dehydration = Pre-Mature End of Trip, Plus Final Thoughts
It’s sad that this trip report has to end on this note. I spent the whole night coughing. The WHOLE night. It wasn’t a productive cough at all. It was the itchy scratchy kind of cough. I went through about 5 20 ounce bottles of water throughout the night along with a Sprite. If I wasn’t coughing, I was in the bathroom. Somehow, Chuck slept through the whole night. I wish I could sleep like that. So, I spent the rest of the night and early morning watching TNT. Lots of Law and Order. I went and took a shower hoping that it would help, and then woke Chuck up around 7:45AM as I was still planning on going to Lilo and Stitch’s Aloha Breakfast. He took his shower and when he came out, I had fallen asleep sitting up. He took that as a sign.
I won’t go into the horrid details of the day, but I want to commend Chuck. I kept telling him to go out and enjoy the parks, go shopping, do something other than sit in the room. While I was sleeping, he went and got tons of bottled water, Nyquil (not cheap at resort prices), some snacks for both of us, and a small Eeyore. I woke up for a little bit and drank a full bottle of water and then drugged myself on some Nyquil. I was out again. :sleep: Chuck stayed with me the whole time. He went out and got us lunch at some point. He spent the day taking care of me, watching ESPN, doing some work, and shopping online. Mousekeeping called to ask if we would be leaving the room and when Chuck told them no and the reasoning why, they sent up some chicken noodle soup and a milkshake. No charge. I woke up coughing and decided to stay up for a bit. We ordered a late dinner from Room Service and watched some movies. Chuck also took care of most of the packing as we were leaving the next afternoon. Just have to give my kudos to my hubby and know that I him very much!! So this is why I regretted not taking my camera the night before. We didn’t hit the parks anymore. We didn’t get any souvenirs, so that mental list of things I wanted was never checked off. I didn’t spend the whole night coughing and got maybe 4 hours of sleep.
We got up the next morning and finished packing. We did make it to Goofy’s Kitchen for breakfast because I insisted. Chuck had a good breakfast and the characters were great. Goofy gave me a huge hug despite me almost coughing up a lung. After breakfast, we went back upstairs and rested a bit. We had to be downstairs by 11:00am to catch our return motor coach to LAX. The bus arrived on time and we made it LAX with plenty of time to spare. We had a heck of a time getting through security. People were insane and cranky. Once we made it to our gate, Chuck ran and got some drinks for us. We boarded on time and the flight to Dallas was uneventful. I stifled my coughing as best I could not to alarm the other passengers. We had a layover in Dallas for about an hour. Luckily, we upgraded at check-in for first class on the final leg of the flight.
On the flight to Louisville, there was a mom and her two kids in first class with us. In the one hour I was awake, one of the little boys asked his mom if I was okay. The mom asked if there was anything that she could get me to help. She wasn’t upset that I was coughing and making a ruckus, but was being mom-like to me. I smiled and told her I just needed to get home and all would be better. We finally touched down in Louisville and made our way to baggage claim. It took about 20 minutes for our luggage to arrive but only one piece made it, my red Mickey luggage. Chuck’s bag was MIA. We had to wait in line with about 4 other people on our flight to make a claim. I kept trying to make it better saying the Nigel and Trent (who were in Chuck’s bag) wanted to have a night out on the town in Dallas. At that time, Chuck wasn’t interested in my attempt at humor. Claim was made, and we grabbed a taxi home. Chuck got everything upstairs, told me to take a shower, down some more Nyquil, and go to bed. He went to his office to pick up his new Blackberry, at 11:00pm. I did what he asked but the coughing would not stop again.
I did end up going to Immediate Care the next day. They gave me some steroids, anti-biotics, and some good cough medicine. Apparently, it was bronchitis that was sparked by my allergies. Chuck’s luggage did arrive in Louisville and was returned to us on Sunday with Nigel and Trent in tack. So, that’s it. Kind of blah ending to a great trip. Chuck said it was the best/worst trip to a Disney park he has taken. He meant that the trip was incredible as far as what we did and the meals we ate. But more not so great things happened than on any other trip. Did that make sense???
So instead of prolonging this TR, I will just move on to the final thoughts. Thanks for sticking with me this far.
American Airlines: This was the first time I have flown with them. The price was right, and the ability to upgrade on some portions of the flight was worth the extra money. Won’t be using them again due to some of the most recent changes they have made. I’ll be sticking with Southwest or Airtran.
Disneyland Resort Express: Had a coupon so I thought why not. We had a long wait to be picked up from the airport, but the ride back to LAX went smoothly. I recommend sticking with one of the shuttle services or town cars available. It’s worth the extra money.
Disneyland Hotel: Great hotel with a lot of Disney history and touches. I loved the bedspreads and the armoire with the old Disneyland park map. I was hoping to take the tour of the hotel that is available but that was planned for our last day so I didn’t get a chance to do that. The Neverland pool had great theming. The TS restaurants are great but you don’t have to stay there to appreciate them.
The meals I went into detail during the actual TR, so I won’t rehash them.
Overall, it was a great trip despite the ending. Fantasmic was spectacular and I recommend that if it showing on your trip, see it. You will not be disappointed. Disney’s Electrical Parade is another not miss thing. Takes you back to the day of Main Street’s Electrical Parade. Chuck and I got to spend some quality time together, even more so with the loss of the Blackberry. It was Chuck’s first vacation since October 2006 so it was needed.
Thank you for all the comments and taking the time to read this TR. I appreciate it and let me extend the memories a little longer. Who knows when I will get to scrapping this trip as I am so far behind. Thank you again and stay tuned for the Grand Duo Birthday TR coming in November!!
Great finish Dawn!! I'm sorry you were so sick and had to spend the last day in the room What a great guy Chuck is Keeper And sorry about all the souvenirs you missed too Just another reason to go back
Thanks for sharing your adventures with us It was a great ride
Oh Dawn, I am so sorry you became so ill...you are a real trooper to be traveling home in that situation and Chuck gets and "A" for being a wonderful nurse! I am glad the first few days were so wonderful and you have some great memories.
Thanks for sharing it all with us.
danielle
__________________
~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
So sorry that you got so sick. What a bummer to end your vacation that way. Glad your hubby stuck by your side (not so sure mine would have LOL). Looking forward to more reports in the future.
Dawn, so to hear that the end of your vacation wasn't quite so magical. Sounds like Chuck has great bedside manner!! Glad everyone made it home safe & sound, including your party animals - Nigel and Trent! for sharing your TR with us!! I have so enjoyed reading it!! Can't wait to read the next one!!
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We headed toward SM to grab some FP and then headed into Pizza Port. We had a repeat of the meal from earlier in the week. Just as good as before!! 
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him very much!! So this is why I regretted not taking my camera the night before. We didn’t hit the parks anymore. 
After breakfast, we went back upstairs and rested a bit. We had to be downstairs by 11:00am to catch our return motor coach to LAX. The bus arrived on time and we made it LAX with plenty of time to spare. We had a heck of a time getting through security. People were insane and cranky. Once we made it to our gate, Chuck ran and got some drinks for us. We boarded on time and the flight to Dallas was uneventful. I stifled my coughing as best I could not to alarm the other passengers. We had a layover in Dallas for about an hour. Luckily, we upgraded at check-in for first class on the final leg of the flight. 
We finally touched down in Louisville and made our way to baggage claim. It took about 20 minutes for our luggage to arrive but only one piece made it, my red Mickey luggage. Chuck’s bag was MIA. We had to wait in line with about 4 other people on our flight to make a claim. I kept trying to make it better saying the Nigel and Trent (who were in Chuck’s bag) wanted to have a night out on the town in Dallas. At that time, Chuck wasn’t interested in my attempt at humor. Claim was made, and we grabbed a taxi home. Chuck got everything upstairs, told me to take a shower, down some more Nyquil, and go to bed. He went to his office to pick up his new Blackberry, at 11:00pm. 
I did what he asked but the coughing would not stop again. 
Thank you again and stay tuned for the Grand Duo Birthday TR coming in November!! 
to hear that the end of your vacation wasn't quite so magical. Sounds like Chuck has great bedside manner!! Glad everyone made it home safe & sound, including your party animals - Nigel and Trent! 
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