Whirlwind 42 Hour Disneyland Weekend - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Wow, you guys had tons of fun!!! How funny that you drew Daisy duck in California too!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Have you ever noticed, while on vacation, that you have no problems hopping out of bed to get to the parks? Well, that's me. Normally, at home, I have 2 alarms set. They go off, I have to give myself time to wake up … It's usually at least 30 minutes from the time the first alarm goes off until I finally roll out of bed. When I am going to DISNEY, however, I just pop right up!
I had left a wake up call at the front desk for 6:30am. In less than an hour, we were up, showered, dressed, packed, and checking out at the front desk. I wish I was this motivated all the time! As we were checking out, the nice man at the front desk gave me two breakfast coupons for their restaurant, for up to $15 each, plus beverage coupons for coffee, hot cocoa or whatever. So I paid $46 for that hotel, but got food and beverage coupons equaling enough to make that a very sweet deal! We asked the man at the front of the restaurant if we could just take a couple of pieces of fruit and Danishes or something, because we were attempting to catch the first shuttle of the day. He was so sweet, and he left and came back with Styrofoam containers and told us to help ourselves. Kaitlyn loaded up on scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and fruit while I ran next door to the beverage bar to grab hot cocoas to go. We dashed out the door, loaded the Murano with our luggage, and were able to make it to the shuttle stop with several minutes to spare. We ate our breakfast and geared up for the day.
DLP opened at 8:00am, and we lined up at the gate about 15 minutes before opening time. The lines at the front gate didn't look too bad, and I was hoping that all of those cheerleaders decided to sleep in! As soon as we made it through the gates, we P-O-W-E-R-W-A-L-K-E-D to the subs - I was determined to ride Nemo first thing!!! I hesitate to say that we ran, because I don't want to be included in that group so affectionately called 'The Running of the Guests' , but we booked it over there pretty quickly. We jumped in line, and already the wait was 30 minutes. Kaitlyn doesn't like boats, so she was a little freakish - I didn't think she was going to attempt it. I thought she would sit this one out. But she soldiered on, and even though she felt a little queasy toward the end, even she really enjoyed it. It was soooooooo worth the wait! I d it!
While we were in line for Nemo, I had tried to talk Kaitlyn into walking over to get FP's for Space Mountain. She didn't want us to get separated, so she didn't go. It turns out, I didn't need to worry. Right after Nemo, we got FP's for Toy Story, and headed to Space Mountain. They were listing a 10 minute wait in standby, and I don't think it was even that long. I had planned to ask for front row, but we ended up lucking out and getting it without me asking! I was last on Space Mountain at DLR last March, when they had the Red Hot Chili Peppers music blaring. I LOVED that, and wish they wouldn't have removed it from the attraction. But, just having ridden Space Mountain at WDW in October, I was so glad to be riding the California version again - darker, faster and WOW!! I hope when WDW does their revamp, it comes out like the DLR Space Mountain. That one rocks!!
Toy Story was up next. Although we had FP's, it was a walk-on. We had a lot of fun, and I tried to take pictures of our score, but it doesn’t matter. They were bad. I am nowhere in a lot of your leagues, but at least I kicked Kaitlyn's booty! By the time we came out, there was a little bit of a line - I think 10 minutes. We gave our FP's to an older couple that had just entered the queue.
Our next stop was the Matterhorn. Here again, the line was practically non-existent. And I got the front row again, without even asking! I never understand why people sleep in and then try to hit the parks after 10am. We are always able to get soooo much accomplished in those first 2 hours! It was just 9am, and we had already done Nemo, SM, TS and Matterhorn. Crazy!
We wandered over to Toontown. Goofy and Pluto were out playing, and there were just two couples with little kids. Those characters spent so much time with those little kids! It was so heartwarming to watch. They were just adorable. Goofy and Pluto were play-fighting, really getting into it. Then, when it was time to leave, they did this whole little bit with Goofy trying to 'walk' Pluto on a leash, and Pluto was pulling back - he wasn't having any of that. I don't often get to just sit and enjoy the characters, without them being mobbed by a ton of people. I really enjoyed just sitting and watching them do what they do best!
We walked right on Roger Rabbit. I mean, there was NOBODY in there! And the park had already been open for over an hour by this point! I don't remember the last time that the line here wasn't over an hour long. In fact, it had been so long, Kaitlyn doesn't even remember ever riding it! We had our own car of course, and I felt it was ok to take flash pictures since there was nobody else in there. This started my new experiment of trying to take pictures during every ride.
We headed toward Barnstormer, and I couldn't believe that it was a walk-on! Last March, my DNieces really wanted to ride. The standby was posted then at 40 minutes. We waited and waited, and the line never moved. So literally, this time, we walked through the queue and onto the train!
Look at the line!!
We were having so much fun, and I held my breath a little as we came up to Mickey's house. Could I dare hope that our luck so far would hold out? Miss Minnie was outside of her house, posing and taking pictures with a little group. But nobody seemed to be around at Mickey's… We walked in and nobody was there. Kaitlyn kept trying to look at things, but I was walking faster and faster. I couldn't believe it! We were halfway through, and so far we hadn't seen a single soul!! We made it through the entire house, through the gardens and to the place where you watch the movie. Still…nobody in sight!! I asked the CM if there was a long wait to see Mickey, and he said we were the first of the day!!!!! Immediately, another CM popped his head out of the door, and said Mickey was waiting to see us! OK, my daughter thinks I am a huge dork, but I almost get a little teary when I see that Mouse. Mickey seems to have shrunk a little since we saw him in Orlando , but it was so magical for us to have some time with him! I was very happy after that. So happy, in fact, that I let Kaitlyn go to Five and Dime, her favorite store in Disneyland, and browse to her heart's content.
Next up…They Don't Call It 'Splash Mountain' for nothing!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 03-16-2008 at 02:47 PM..
What incredible luck you're having with the lack of crowds. That makes for the most memorable trips!!! So far, it's been so much fun.....
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
You accomplished a lot in a short period of time. That's why I always say "sleeping in is for suckers" And now I really can't wait to ride the Nemo subs. I love all your pictures, too. How that you got to be the first to meet Mickey for the day. Hurry back with more!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Hi guys! Thanks for your patience. Sorry it's taking me so long to finish this TR! Kaitlyn had all of her wisdom teeth extracted on Monday (what a fun way to spend Spring Break ), so I have been taking care of my little sickie. I am going to try and get it finished at work tomorrow!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
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I am loving your report! Whatta packed couple of days you two had. It sounds like a blast!
So sorry to hear about your daughter's wisdom teeth. Yikes! Hope she is feeling better soon.
After spending quite a bit of time in Five&Dime, we made our way out of ToonTown and toward the Big Girl rides!
Kaitlyn wanted to ride HM, because we hadn’t done that in October (who the heck goes to Disney in October and doesn’t do HM?? us ) BTMRR was on the way, and the standby was posted at like 10 minutes. It ended up being more like 15-20, but still very manageable.
I attempted some ‘during the attraction’ photos, and they didn’t come out too great. Oh well.
BTMRR is one of my favorites, and we had a great time!
We stopped at POTC, but it was down. Oh well, we thought maybe it would be up a little later. HM was up next, and it was practically a walk-on. Kaitlyn doesn’t like Bride 2.0. She liked the story of the old bride better. But I still am in love with the scene of all of the dancing couples in the ballroom/dining room!
Next up, Splash Mountain. Splash had a standby posted as 20 minutes, and we got in line. I had been thinking that the lines had to increase at any time, and this is where they started to build. As soon as we got in the queue, there was all of a sudden a ton of people behind us. As we were waiting for SM, we passed the queue for Pooh’s Hunnypots – standby was listed at 5 minutes. I mentioned to Kait that we needed to jump in that line as soon as we were done. Then, we saw a HUMONGOUS line for Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. So, no pictures with DD and Eeyore this time.
OK, so I had been lucking into the front seat during this entire trip. I mean, that is really cool because I never get the front seat, and it was so neat to experience all of these attractions that I love from a different point of view. But, as soon as we got to the loading area, I had a feeling that I was going to get *gulp* the front seat of SM!! That cannot be good. I ALWAYS get wet on this ride, but being in the front seat… My weight dipping down the front of that log, that cannot add up to anything good! And in the front seat, there is nothing to hold on to!!!
As soon as we hit the first little dip, I got drenched. The next one had water in my shoes, in my jeans - I was just wet. Kaitlyn screamed after every dip because she was getting soaked, too!! By the time we got off, I was literally twisting out my clothes. We totally were walking around with the ‘wet diaper’ walk! Needless to say, I won’t be so anxious to score the front seat next trip!
Sorry, I’m being too lazy to switch it!
We stopped in the Pooh shop outside of SM, to try and dry off a little, and DD found a lot of cute Eeyore stuff. Have you seen those new character backpacks, where it looks like Pooh or Eeyore is riding on your back? They are adorable. Kaitlyn didn’t want to wait in line to see Eeyore, it was waaayyyyy too long, so we headed over to Pooh’s Hunnypots – it was a 40 minute wait already!! Holy cow, how did that happen??
We had no plans for lunch, but we were both starving by this point. We grabbed FP’s for Indiana Jones, and then headed off to find something to eat. We decided to try River Belle Terrace. I have never dined here before. The service was S-L-O-W, with a ton of CM’s standing around not doing very much to help all of the guests waiting in line. But the food was fantastic!!! I will definitely be eating here again! We sat on the patio, overlooking Tom Sawyer Island, and split our turkey salad and pulled pork sandwich. It was so nice and relaxing, and a great way to dry off a little bit. Kaity even saw Captain Jack on the island, as she was waiting for me to bring out the food.
For the next while, I indulged Kaitlyn’s retail fetish and let her browse to her heart’s content in all of the stores in Frontierland and Adventureland. We saw the funniest tshirt that I still wish I had bought for my BIL, that said “I’m Grumpy Because You’re Dopey!” That just cracked us both up! Especially since he doesn’t ‘get’ the whole Disney thing. My DSis bought him a shirt to wear to Tokyo Disney that is Grumpy, so now I am associating that character with him. I still might get it for him for his birthday.
We still had quite a bit of time to kill before our FP’s were due for Indiana Jones, and that standby line was just gigantic. The line for Jungle Cruise (for some reason this trip, I kept calling it Jungle Book) wasn’t too bad, so we got in line. DD was hoping to see the American Sign Language translator that was supposed to be there, but no such luck. Our tour guide was very funny, and we had a nice, relaxing cruise.
The back of water!!!
Now, we only had 20 minutes left until IJ, but the CM would not let us in early. We both decided that we had pretty much accomplished all that we wanted to, so we found some people in line to give our FP’s to, and slowly headed down Main Street. We caught the tram back to Crown Plaza, made a run to Starbucks, and were on the road within 20 minutes of leaving the main gate.
Not even out of Anaheim yet! I guess it doesn’t matter how old you get. No trip of mine would be complete without this precious face at the end.
42 hours after leaving our house, we pulled back into our driveway...tired, happy, and with a magical weekend to look back on!
Thanks for reading! Now I can start seriously counting down to WDW!!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 03-20-2008 at 07:17 PM..
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Pixie Dust
Well, that's me. Normally, at home, I have 2 alarms set. They go off, I have to give myself time to wake up 
… It's usually at least 30 minutes from the time the first alarm goes off until I finally roll out of bed. When I am going to DISNEY, however, I just pop right up! 
I wish I was this motivated all the time! 
As we were checking out, the nice man at the front desk gave me two breakfast coupons for their restaurant, for up to $15 each, plus beverage coupons for coffee, hot cocoa or whatever. So I paid $46 for that hotel, but got food and beverage coupons equaling enough to make that a very sweet deal! 
As soon as we made it through the gates, we P-O-W-E-R-W-A-L-K-E-D to the subs - I was determined to ride Nemo first thing!!! 
, but we booked it over there pretty quickly. 
d it!
But, just having ridden Space Mountain at WDW in October, I was so glad to be riding the California version again - darker, faster and WOW!! 
again, without even asking! I never understand why people sleep in and then try to hit the parks after 10am. We are always able to get soooo much accomplished in those first 2 hours! It was just 9am, and we had already done Nemo, SM, TS and Matterhorn. Crazy!
I don't often get to just sit and enjoy the characters, without them being mobbed by a ton of people. I really enjoyed just sitting and watching them do what they do best! 
Previous trips: POFQ 2005 & 2007, Boardwalk 2008, BCV & AKLV 2009 (our honeymoon) & 2012, BCV & BLT 2011, BCV 2013, AKLV 2014
And now I really can't wait to ride the Nemo subs. I love all your pictures, too. How 
that you got to be the first to meet Mickey for the day. 
Hi guys! Thanks for your patience. Sorry it's taking me so long to finish this TR! 
), so I have been taking care of my little sickie. 
PassPorter Guide Author
for her. 
us 
My weight dipping down the front of that log, that cannot add up to anything good! 
- I was just wet. Kaitlyn screamed after every dip because she was getting soaked, too!! By the time we got off, I was literally twisting out my clothes. We totally were walking around with the ‘wet diaper’ walk! 
fantastic!!! 
I guess it doesn’t matter how old you get. 
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