Disneyland by Surprise TR -- February 10-12, 2012 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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So great! I remember goofyboysmama's video and am amazed that Peter got it just right! What a great little actor... and then he just couldn't hold in the excitement. I love it!
He told me later that he wanted to believe it was true, but didn't want to be disappointed if we were joking, which is why he was so hesitant about it (but you can see from the big smile on his face that he WANTS to believe us). You can't hear very well, but after Jacob unzips the suitcase he says, "Dude, there's clothes in here," which is what finally convinced Peter that this wasn't some cruel practical joke!
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Originally Posted by Dlandmom2
Loved the reaction! He's such a little actor, isn't he? Jacob still looked a little dazed about the whole affair!
I'm not thrilled with United's boarding policy either. If I understand it correctly, it's all the window and inside section seats first, then it's the seats next to the window, then it's all the aisles last...or something like that. It was quite annoying the last time I had to deal with that! What's so wrong about boarding from back to front? Oh well, at least you made it to Anaheim!!!
What made even less sense to me is that we had the EXACT same seats on the flight back to Houston, and we were in group 6 instead of group 8?!?
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Originally Posted by chezp
What a great actor you've got there! I love Jacob's reaction!
I think he was just excited that we had taken him out of school unexpectedly -- his day was already awesome even without a trip to Disneyland! LOL.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great video! Glad you're on your way!
!!
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Originally Posted by PrincessSharon
Great start. Love the video! Looking forward to more!
Thanks for reading!
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Originally Posted by Shari2137
Always enjoy your reports - looking forward to reading more. Your boys are so cute!!!
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I forgot to mention that when we checked in, we received 4 special cards (one for each of us). Each card could be used to get 2 immediate FPs for any attraction -- so you could put the card into the FP machine and it would spit out an FP that was valid immediately. So, we had those burning a hole in our pocket as we headed for the parks.
We asked the kids what they wanted to do first. They immediately chose California Screamin', so we headed over to DCA.
On our first trip to DLR in 2010, Jacob had just barely been tall enough to ride California Screamin' He pretty much has a permanent case of bedhead, and that worked in his favor -- with sneakers on, standing up tall, and with his cowlicks sticking up, he just reached the bottom of the measuring stick at the ride entrance. We boarded the ride and pulled down our shoulder harnesses. As the CMs checked to make sure everyone was securely in their seats, I heard a wail coming from the seat in front of me. Jacob freaked out and got scared and didn't want to ride. So they released everyone's shoulder harnesses so Jacob and David could get off. Later in the trip, Jacob mustered up his courage and decided to ride. But this time, the CM at the ride entrance wouldn't let him on because he was too short (I guess his cowlicks were lower that day ). So, he has never ridden it, but he has heard all kinds of good things about it from the rest of us.
This time, as we walked toward the rollercoaster, Jacob's excitement turned to nervousness and he started saying things like, "Maybe we should ride something else first." We weren't going to let him off the hook this time, and we headed straight there. The wait was only about 15 minutes, so we entered the standby line. Jacob and Peter rode together with David and I behind them. Jacob LOVED it!!!
We walked around Paradise Pier a bit and then I got the text message that our villa was ready. So we headed back to the Grand Californian. David retrieved our bags from Bell Services while I went to get our room keys. We were in Room 1506 -- the first time we've ever gotten a first-floor villa.
As a side note, this was actually pretty amusing to us for one reason: On our first trip, we were on the 4th floor. The elevator to the villa was one of those that announces the floor number when you stop. Something about the way the computerized elevator lady's voice said, "Lobby" cracked us up. It sounded like, "Labby." So this has been a running joke in the family any time we're in an elevator. The kids were looking forward to hearing Ms. Elevator say "Labby" every time we left the villa. Well, we were on the first floor, so there was no elevator needed. We never got to hear the infamous "Labby" announcement. Perhaps we should have ridden the elevator up and down for that reason alone. Hee, hee.
Our villa was awesome! The boys are used to sleeping on the sofa bed in a 1BR, but this time they had their own bedroom because the only available villas were 2BR. Each one got his own bed, which made them doubly happy, and they had their own patio area. The living room was very spacious, as was the master bedroom. We also had our own patio. From our patios, we could see part of Goofy's Sky School (and a lot of the construction walls outside the Little Mermaid attraction). I completely neglected to take photos of our room or the view from the patio.
We unpacked and watched a little TV before heading out to Disneyland park. We were happy to find that POTC was only about a 5 minute wait, so we got into the queue and set sail.
I love this ride at either park, but I think I prefer the DLR version a bit better.
By the time we finished our pirate adventure, it was about 5:45. We had a 6:00 reservation at Blue Bayou, so we checked in early. David and I had tried to eat here on his 40th birthday trip last June, but just before we were to be seated, there was a fire in the restaurant and we had to evacuate the New Orleans Square area. So, we ended up eating at Wine Country Trattoria that night. We were excited to eat there and so were the boys. I didn't realize, however, that the famous Monte Cristo sandwich is only on the menu at lunch!
No worries, though, because there were plenty of other yummy choices. I ordered salad and jambalaya, Peter ordered gumbo and a filet mignon, David ordered salad and the sirloin, and Jacob got the kids' mac & cheese. He was also pleased to find that the kids' menu doubled as a pirate hat!
We were a few tables away from the bayou itself, so we couldn't see the POTC boats, but the atmosphere was still really lovely and made for a fun dinner. The salad was yummy because of whatever dressing they used. The jambalaya was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't terrible either. Everyone else enjoyed their food.
Jambalaya
Sirloin steak
For the Mardi Gras celebration, several restaurants in New Orleans Square had special menu items. At Blue Bayou, they were bouillabaisse and an apple fritter dessert, which is what I ordered. They were yummy, but they were pretty dense and I could only eat 2 of the 3 fritters on my plate (even 2 was a struggle because I was so full from the jambalaya!). The boys split a piece of chocolate cake.
Apple fritters
While in the New Orleans Square area, we just absolutely had to ride HM, which is David's favorite Disney attraction of all time. It was a walk-on and we soon boarded our doom buggies. Then we headed to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which was also a walk-on and something we had not ridden before. It was cute.
The kids were begging to ride Splash Mountain, but it was dark and already getting pretty cool, so we told them it would have to wait for daylight. Instead, we headed to another mountain -- Big Thunder Mountain, that is, for the wildest ride in the wilderness. It was virtually a walk-on as well, and for some reason, it seemed like more fun to be riding it in the dark!
We passed by the Storybook Land Canal Boats and saw that the wait was only about 20 minutes. We knew that this attraction usually has long lines during the day, so we hopped into the queue. From there, we got to see part of the Magic, Memories & You show projected on to IASW. This was another new-to-us attraction and it was neat. I'd like to go back and ride it during the day so I can get some good photos!
By the time we finished the canal boats, it was closing in on 9:30, which felt like 11:30 Central Time to our bodies, so we headed back to the villa and called it a night.
Disneyland Park had Magic Morning the next day and so opened at 7:00. We asked the boys if they wanted to get up early for that and they said yes -- they were as eager as we were to maximize our park time on this short trip.
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Lots done on your first day. Curious to know what your thoughts are on comparison of RNR at WDW to California Screamin. I have ridden RNR but not Screamin.
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Regarding the Monte Cristo...I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure you can ask your server at Blue Bayou if they can get it for you from Cafe Orleans which is next door and shares the same kitchen...I think. I recall hearing that somewhere, but now I can't remember where!
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What a great first day - you certainly packed a lot in!
It was a full day, indeed. We normally take a slightly later flight that arrives around 5:00-ish, but we wanted to give ourselves some extra park time and miss rush hour traffic. I think we succeeded on both counts!
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Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Great meal! Blue Bayou sounds wonderful!
Blue Bayou was really cool. The food wasn't extraordinary, but it was a good meal in a great atmosphere!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great first day! Dinner looked yummy! More please!
It was yummy!
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Originally Posted by PrincessSharon
Great first day!
Thanks! I am glad we were able to squeeze in so much -- I think David was a little worried that our dinner was scheduled at an inconvenient time in terms of touring. But we timed it perfectly to walk off the ride and right into the line to check-in at Blue Bayou just before our reservation time!
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Originally Posted by Shari2137
Lots done on your first day. Curious to know what your thoughts are on comparison of RNR at WDW to California Screamin. I have ridden RNR but not Screamin.
They are both really fun, but I think they are also quite different. A couple of things I love about CS are that it is themed to look like a wooden, midway rollercoaster, but it is actually a steel coaster, which makes for a nice, smooth ride. I also like that it is a long ride. But perhaps in good, laid-back California style, it is also slower and a little less exhilarating than RNR. Of course, the darkness and rock music help give RNR a bit more "thrill." Also, CS has a big hill and a loop, but not a corkscrew. Both of them have an awesome launch at the beginning.
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Originally Posted by Dlandmom2
What a great first day!
Regarding the Monte Cristo...I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure you can ask your server at Blue Bayou if they can get it for you from Cafe Orleans which is next door and shares the same kitchen...I think. I recall hearing that somewhere, but now I can't remember where!
Well, it can never hurt to ask! I definitely want to try the Monte Cristo some time, so I'll keep this in mind!
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Originally Posted by KMB733
What a busy first day!!! Dinner looks yummy!!
Just wait until you hear about the next day! Dinner was yummy. That salad really was delish, and I tried Peter's gumbo, which was pretty good too. The steaks were cooked quite nicely and, well, do I even need to tell you about the onion rings? David doesn't like them, so those went right from his plate to mine! I wish the batter had been a little thicker, but they were still yum-mee!
Our goal for today was to be at Disneyland Park by 7:00 a.m. for Magic Mornings. That meant I needed to get up at 5:30! For those of you who read my Peter's Very Merry 10th Birthday Vacay, you might remember that I had a few super early mornings like that in December as well. Maybe I need to re-think my vacation style -- I wake up at 5:30 for work!!
The kids' alarm clock went off at 6:00 and they got up and got ready. Because we had such a short trip, I didn't get any groceries for our villa. We hoped to grab something from the La Brea Bakery cart (the CS portion of the restaurant is being refurbished, so they have a separate cart near the restaurant in DTD), but it wasn't open yet.
We made it to the turnstiles just after 7:00, flashed our room keys and presented our tickets and in we went! The boys stopped on Main Street to trade pins with a CM. In the meantime, I snapped some photos.
Here is a photo of Roger Broggie's window. I am reading Sam Gennaway's book, Walt and the Promise of Progress City and it talks a lot about Walt's relationship with Roger Broggie and how they bonded over their love of steam trains.
Our first stop was Star Tours, where we walked right on with no wait at all. Then we headed to Space Mountain. For some reason, I like Space Mountain at DLR better than the WDW version. I always finish this ride with a great big on my face!
Next up was Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, a new attraction for us. The kids have never ridden Buzz Lightyear at WDW either. Every time they've been there, it has either been under refurb or something that we just didn't have time to get to. Jacob was a little disappointed that he lost to his brother. But the margin by which David beat me was downright humiliating! He scored over 92,000 and I think my score was 7,600 (by the way, I stink at this at WDW as well -- at least I'm consistent)! Jacob felt better that he at least scored more points than I did.
The boys wanted another spin on Star Tours since it was getting close to the official park opening time of 8:00, so we headed back across the walkway and walked right on to the ride again. After we safely delivered the rebel spy, the CM said that the park was about to open and that if we wanted, we could stay in our seats and ride one more time before the park opened to non-resort guests. Heck yeah, we're staying!! Only one or two families left. Then a couple more shifted to rows closer to the front and then C3P0 took us on another space adventure!
So, we basically covered all of Tomorrowland in the first hour. Awesome!
Next, we moved on to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. We knew that the line would build later in the day and the kids didn't get to ride this on their previous trip, so we jumped in line. We had just a very short wait before we boarded a sub. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
After returning to solid ground, we went over to Autopia. For some reason, the CMs here seem to be the worst we've found at DLR in terms of maintaining an efficient queue, so we had to wait probably close to 10 minutes, which isn't bad, but it was just odd that they didn't have people already waiting to get into the cars when drivers started pulling back into the pits.
Peter was tall enough to drive his own car, so he had a car, I was behind him, and Jacob and David were in the car behind us (Jacob drove). I love the course for Autopia and find it more fun than the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway at WDW. Peter had some trouble keeping his gas pedal pressed all the way down, so he kept stalling out, which meant that I had to stop, which meant that Jacob kept bumping me from behind.
When we got out of the cars, Peter was pretty upset. He was upset because he felt like we were yelling at him; we weren't angry, but we were telling him to keep the gas pedal pressed down and we had to yell to be heard over the noise of the engines.
We thought that breakfast seemed like a good idea right about then. The kids are like their mama -- empty stomachs lead to general, all-around grumpiness! I was thinking of heading back to Main Street, but we saw some folks lined up at Tomorrowland Terrace, which clued us in that breakfast must be available there. I got a breakfast burrito, David had the breakfast platter of scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes, and Jacob ordered the kids' French toast. Peter was still too ticked off to eat. My burrito was a compact little thing, but it packed quite a punch! It seriously must have weighed a pound, but wasn't more than 6 inches long. I wish I had remembered to take a photo! It was filled with chorizo, black beans, queso fresco, potatoes and probably some other yummy stuff. It was so filling! Once Peter calmed down, he was hungry, so Jacob kindly shared his French toast and chocolate milk.
I grabbed my big ol' cup of coffee and we headed toward Fantasyland. The Mad Hatter's Tea Party didn't have a long wait, so David went in that direction. I was like, "Really? 'Cause we just ate. And that burrito was heavy." He was undeterred. The 4 of us crammed into a tea cup. The kids love riding these spinning rides with David because he is determined to get us spinning as fast as humanly possible. I knew I wouldn't need to help spin the teacup, so I spent the whole ride trying to take photos of the kids.
Jacob is cracking up about how fast we're spinning!
As you can see, Peter is a little disoriented!
I didn't realize what a big mistake the whole thing was until the ride started to slow down. I put down the camera and got my bearings and then realized that I REALLY did not feel good!
Up next: Would the breakfast burrito pay me another visit?
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So, we had those burning a hole in our pocket as we headed for the parks.
So, we ended up eating at Wine Country Trattoria that night. We were excited to eat there and so were the boys. I didn't realize, however, that the famous Monte Cristo sandwich is only on the menu at lunch!
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Jacob felt better that he at least scored more points than I did. 
Only one or two families left. Then a couple more shifted to rows closer to the front and then C3P0 took us on another space adventure!
I was thinking of heading back to Main Street, but we saw some folks lined up at Tomorrowland Terrace, which clued us in that breakfast must be available there. I got a breakfast burrito, David had the breakfast platter of scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes, and Jacob ordered the kids' French toast. Peter was still too ticked off to eat. My burrito was a compact little thing, but it packed quite a punch! It seriously must have weighed a pound, but wasn't more than 6 inches long. I wish I had remembered to take a photo! It was filled with chorizo, black beans, queso fresco, potatoes and probably some other yummy stuff. It was so filling! Once Peter calmed down, he was hungry, so Jacob kindly shared his French toast and chocolate milk. 
My goodness though, you've certainly managed to achieve a lot already! 
Love the pictures! 
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