DopeyGirl goes to Disneyland!!! THREAD 2 --- COMPLETED 8/14 (2 updates) About This Page:

[DebiDebiDebi]

I love Snow White's Grotto...nice and tucked away in a quiet corner!

[clio]

Great update, Sarah. I've never been to Disneyland so I'm really enjoying all your wonerful pictures. I've never seen Tinklebelle in apaarade before.
Liz

[DrDolphin]

Great update Sarah!!! Fantastic pictures!!!

[Tink and co.]

Thanks for the great update and the terrific parade photos. I can't wait to see it! Sounds like you had a great day!

[DopeyGirl]

DAY 5 PART 3 --- Remember . . . Dreams Come True!!!

<font color="blue">As we were sitting on the curb, enjoying the churro and popcorn that I had just purchased from 2 nearby carts , I heard a familiar sound . . . it was the beginning of the soundtrack to “Wishes”!!! I popped right up from my seat, mom and dad got up and dad picked up Emilie. The lights all went out and I immediately started to get a bit teary eyed!!! Julie Andrews is the narrator for “Remember . . . Dreams Come True” . . . the soundtrack starts as Wishes and then morphs into something completely incredible!!! There’s fireworks segments from all of the classic rides . . . and Indiana Jones . . . and Star Tours . . . I just can not describe this show!!! (You should go to GeoffreyNease.com and go to the Downloads section!!! He’s got a GREAT video posted of the show from May 5th there!!! Except for the hooting and hollering people who talked the whole video!) I was just slightly teared-up until about 4 minutes and 15 second into the show when Tink came flying down off of the Matterhorn and all around the castle . . . it also didn’t help that at the time she did that, they started playing Walt Disney’s Welcome speech from opening day in 1955!!! I was flat out bawling like a little baby!!! Even thinking about it right now I am getting teary!!! HOLY COW!!! Seriously . . . go download that video and watch it!!!

By the end of the show, I was in HYSTERICS . . . my parents must have thought I was nuts, but there were many other people around us who were also a little “emotional” Let me tell you again . . . that show was out-freaking-standing . . . </font>

REMEMBER . . . DREAMS COME TRUE . . .
(I tried to put them into “segments” according to the music that was playing at the time of each photo . . . and I apologize for the blurry ones!!!)


Tink's flight!!!


This last one was the end of the part with Walt Disney’s speech . . . I was BAWLING by then!!!


“Maple Leaf Rag” ----- Main Street USA


“Main Street Electrical Parade”


“Enchanted Tiki Room” (“Ole, ole . . . it’s cho time . . .” )


“Indiana Jones Adventure”


“Haunted Mansion”


“Pirates of the Caribbean”


“Big Thunder Mountain Railroad” ----- (“Hang on to your hats and glasses, folks . . . cause this here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness!!!”)


“Splash Mountain”


“Peter Pan’s Flight”


“Pinocchio’s Daring Journey”


“Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin”


“The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”





“Star Tours”


The End.


<font color="blue">After the show had ended, the new Leann Rimes song “Remember When” started playing and the sea of people who were heading home, started coming our way!!! YIKES!!! There were quite a few people, so we just turned around and hightailed it out of the park . . . sadly, for the last time!!! I don’t know quite WHEN we will be back . . . but darn it, we WILL be back someday!!!

We got back to the room a little after 10pm and Emilie passed out almost before her head could hit the pillow. Dad watched the news while Mom and I packed up our stuff in preparation to leave after our yucky hotel breakfast the following morning . . .

I watched a little of the (depressing) Los Angeles news and passed out before 11:30. (I was very sad though!!!) </font>

COMING UP NEXT: Driving north through California . . . getting to Oregon . . . and my final thoughts!!!

[chezp]

Sarah, the fireworks look absolutely amazing - thank you for taking the trouble to group them for us as well. I can't wait to see them for myself!

[katspjs]

The show sounds amazing! Fantastic pictures.

[DrDolphin]

Sarah - WOW!! I downloaded the show - it is FABULOUS!!!

[DebiDebiDebi]

Wonderful report! The fireworks are terrific!

[lauren-roxy]

Those fireworks look awesome Sarah!!! I am going to have to download them from the site. Can't wait for more!!

[mestitch]

Sarah the fireworks show looks amazing!! I will have to go download it so I can see for myself.

[SHEANA1226]

Great update! I love the pics, I am sorry to see your trip coming to an end.

[DopeyGirl]

DAYS 6 and 7 --- June 27 &amp; 28, 2005 --- Driving north through California . . . and getting to Oregon

<font color="blue">We got up and around about 8am . . . we weren’t doing anything EXCITING that day, so why get up any earlier? (Can you tell I was depressed?) We headed up to the breakfast terrace and I had 2 slices of toast and an apple . . . which was PLAIN, but good compared to what mom and dad had. I forget what they had, but the ended up throwing about half of it away, saying it wasn’t that great. I snagged 3 bananas for the road and we headed back to the room. Dad and I gathered up all of our stuff and loaded the car while mom and Emilie went and checked us out. We were leaving the parking lot and headed towards I-5 Northbound by 9am.

I took some photos along the way . . . </font>


Los Angeles skyline (through the fog and smog)


Six Flags California (Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor)


Hills as we headed over the “Grapevine” into California “farm country”


Is it Shark Boy . . . or Lava Girl? Emilie in the car with her reversible Shark Boy and Lava Girl 3D glasses that she got in her Happy Meal when we stopped for lunch in Santa Nella, CA


A whole lot of NOTHING in central California!!!


NEWMAN!!! (sorry . . . had to throw a Seinfeld reference in there somewhere!!! )


Emilie in the car . . . after asking one of many “Are we THERE yet?” questions!!!

<font color="blue">We drove until about 6:30pm . . . stopping in our “usual” northbound stopover, Redding, California. We found a really nice and VERY quiet Holiday Inn Express right off of I-5 and checked in for the night. We WERE going to have some Del Taco for dinner but Emilie has this fear of the unknown, especially with food, so she asked if we could “just go to Taco Bell?” So we did . . .

We got up the next morning and checked out . . . my dad cracked me up when he mentioned something about “this cool thing this place has called Express Checkout . . . they check you out and hang the thing on your door and you just leave. It’s so cool!!!” He was SO impressed with that idea and said “Every hotel should have that!” Um . . .where’ve ya been dad? I just giggled at him and said “Dad, I’ve done that a bunch of times at Disney hotels and Shades of Green! Where have you been?”

We drove onto Interstate 5 right at 9am. I took pics again most of the way . . . </font>


Shasta Lake


Castle Crags State Park


Mt. Shasta in the clouds


This pic is blurry, but you get the point!!!


The landscape about an 1 ½ hr. south of mom and dad’s house


Cows in the pasture at a farm 30 minutes south of mom and dad’s


Sporting Poppa’s Ducks cap . . .

<font color="blue">We arrived to mom and dad’s house right about 3:30pm. Being the way I am when I travel, I can’t get home and settle in without unpacking, so as soon as we had the car unloaded and I said hello to the dogs, I started to unpack and did a load of laundry.

THEN I was able to start relaxing . . . at least until July 6th when I got news about Hurricane Dennis bearing down on Pensacola!!! We lucked out and were on the west side of the storm . . . but some of those to our east didn’t fare AS well. It was certainly no Ivan, that’s for sure!!! Our neighbors told us that the worst that happened was there was a whole lot of rain, very high winds and we lost power for 8-9 hours. I was relieved, to say the least!!!

We stayed at my parents’ place until mid-July . . . then flew back to Pensacola. We were only home for 2 days before we jetted off on our next summer adventure . . . 10 days in St. Louis and a side trip to Branson, MO . . . but that’s another story!!!</font>


COMING UP NEXT: My final thoughts . . .

[DopeyGirl]

My final thoughts!!!

<font color="blue">I was worried, when mom called with just 45 days to spare, that this trip might not be planned as well as it could be . . . but to tell you the truth, with as little time as we really had in each place, it worked out better just to kind of fly by the seats of our pants.

Mom and dad bought my plane tickets the same day that they told me we were coming out there . . . THEN they started making other plans. They made the hotel reservations in San Diego at short notice, but with no problems. They weren’t able to get reservations at the hotel near Disneyland that they always stay at, but they were able to get a room at another nearby hotel for a little less . . . plus, they purchased all of the DL tickets when they made the reservations.

Here’s some short reviews of the hotels and other things . . .</font>

US Airways = Wider seats means a more comfortable ride . . . especially on cross-country flights!

Holiday Inn Express – San Diego/Sea World Area = The rooms were extremely clean, very spacious and the beds very comfortable. The breakfast area was quite small and, therefore,VERY crowded at breakfast times. Also, they never had ONE ripe banana, which didn't sit well with DD the banana freak!!! That said, the selection of items was good and the pastries they offered were very tasty!!! We could watch the fireworks from Sea World just by watching out our window in our room, which made it even better!

San Diego Zoo = A childhood favorite of mine . . . and it still is!!! This zoo is WELL worth the $21-32 admission price, honestly!!! There is such an amazing selection of animals!!! And then there’s the PANDAS!!! You also get a GREAT workout in if you walk the whole zoo . . . the hills (which are EVERYWHERE) are GREAT for your legs!!! My very favorite part of the zoo is just walking around, taking everything in, then hearing the chime from the California Tower (atop the Museum of Man in Balboa Park) on the hour every hour!!!

Cabrillo National Monument = I highly recommend driving out to Cabrillo if you are ever in San Diego . . . FANTASTIC views of the city on one side, and on the other, you can see migrating whales!!! It is a $5 per car entrance fee, but that fee is good for 7 days . . . and the views, on a clear day, are SO worth it!!!

Park Vue Inn – Anaheim = The brochure said “Spacious Rooms” . . . not so much!!! There were 3 ½ of us in that room and it would have been hard enough to walk around that room with just 2!!! The beds were also ROCK hard, there was NO ventilation in the bathroom except a small window over the shower and the continental breakfast was lacking in choices (plus they charged for such basic items as milk and cereal!). THAT SAID . . . for the amount of time we actually spent in the room, it served its purpose!!! And we watched the fireworks from the breakfast terrace the first night, which made it a little better!

DOWNTOWN DISNEY DISTRICT = There are some places at DTD that you will find at WDW, and there are some places that are only at DL . . . such as Build-A-Bear Workshop and Department 56 . . . it was fun to check out the differences and comforting to see some of the old WDW favorites (such as World of Disney and the LEGO store! )

DISNEYLAND = I can not say enough about the original Happiest Place on Earth!!! It is so much smaller, and there are so many differences to WDW but that is what makes it so unique!!! It will always hold a special place in my heart and I hope I get back to see it again real soon!!!

DISNEY’S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE = DCA was really different!!! A tribute to all things California, and being a Californian by birth, I could really appreciate it!!! There weren’t a whole lot of choices in rides and attractions for smaller kids or adults who are ride weenies but it was really fun to watch the big rides! CA Screamin’ and Maliboomer are 2 I will NEVER get on!!!

Holiday Inn Express – Redding, CA = The place was quite nice, the rooms very clean, comfortable and spacious and the location, even though it was right along Interstate 5, was VERY quiet!!! The breakfast area at this HI Express was VERY large and the selection was GREAT . . . and the fruit was ripe!!! I recommend the place if you are ever in need of a stopover along I-5 in Northern California!!!

<font color="blue">I have this grand plan for a return trip to California, with DH accompanying us this time . . . but we have to wait and see where we are moving to next year. I am really hoping we can make another trip to San Diego and to Disneyland someday soon . . . but even if we don’t make it for a while, I will look back on this trip fondly!!! Thanks mom and dad for a WONDERFUL trip for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary!!! </font>

Thanks for reading my report you guys!!! I hope you enjoyed reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed telling them!!!

Stay tuned in the Globetrotting forum for my short report on St. Louis and Branson, MO, which should be underway real soon!!!

<font color="red">”To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here, age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”</font> ------- Walt Disney

And was he ever right . . .

And with that, I bid you adieu!

[KrisLuvsDisney]

I love your pics from the parade and the fireworks! I am so sad to see your trip come to an end! Can't wait to hear your final thoughts and begin reading about your next summer adventure!