EAST, WEST, WHICH "HOME'S" BEST? A DL and WDW Trip--NEW 10/23/17--I'm back!! AK morning

[Imagineer5]

Hi there! I am slowly getting caught up after my week in training and all the other craziness. But love your report - so cool for the bunk bed room (I had requested the two queen room since there was no way I'd share a bed with my mother lol) Aria would LOVE that one!

And DCA sounds like it went amazingly well, with the lowish crowds that morning, and lunch at Carthay. I had to skim over your main dish as it's too Asian-y for me at the moment, but typically I'm sure it would sound good. Wish they kept the bacon out of that bread, as I basically love jalapenos in anything and everything

 

[mousehappync]

Hi there! I am slowly getting caught up after my week in training and all the other craziness. But love your report - so cool for the bunk bed room (I had requested the two queen room since there was no way I'd share a bed with my mother lol) Aria would LOVE that one!

And DCA sounds like it went amazingly well, with the lowish crowds that morning, and lunch at Carthay. I had to skim over your main dish as it's too Asian-y for me at the moment, but typically I'm sure it would sound good. Wish they kept the bacon out of that bread, as I basically love jalapenos in anything and everything

Thanks for checking in-- this is the season for craziness, indeed! I was afraid I'd finish this report ages before we left for WDW, but between holiday stuff, endless activities at the kids' school and new house headaches, I will be doing well to finish up before we leave (1 month tomorrow!!).

I love those bunk bed rooms. Either those or the rooms with an extra daybed make getting the boys to sleep SO much easier. Even exhausted from the parks, JH will never pass up an opportunity to annoy his brother at bedtime...

You really weren't missing anything with those biscuits... I didn't taste any jalapeño at all, definitely not what I was hoping for!

 

[mousehappync]

GOOD MORNING, DISBOARDS! Back to finish up our first full day at Disneyland. When we left off, we had just finished up a delicious lunch at Carthay Circle (highly recommend this, and they did a great job accommodating children, so don't be deterred by the "fancy" factor if you find yourself in the area!).

Having just enjoyed a pretty stiff mid-day drink, I decided we needed to go low-key for a little while! The crowds, even on this 2/10 day, were driving up the wait times, so we headed for something with almost no wait that I knew everyone would enjoy--Annimation Academy! I am NOT an artist in real life, but I really enjoy these classes, and miss them very much. DCA has a little bit of a different set-up than WDW; classes are scheduled on the half hour, and the schedule fir characters is set for the whole day. There is a chart in front of the building that shows which characters will be drawn at which time. Not quite as much fun as getting to vote for which character to draw, but still a fun activity. We entered the building about 5 minutes before the next class, and were the second group in line. The Annimation Building was VERY cool. Scenes from movies were playing on big screens around the ceiling line, and it was much darker than the building at Hollywood Studios. It reminded me a little bit of being in the aquariums at the Seas building at Epcot, if that makes any sense?

HUGE screens!




We appreciated the AC and the short rest while we waited for the next class, and in about 10 minutes we found ourselves in the Annimation studios, ready to draw Agent P! The animator claimed this was easy, and I guess it was, but none of our drawings looked much like P, partially because drawing a straight-lined face is harder than a circle. I saved them, but forgot to photograph them before I stuck them in the Disney Box, which is now hidden behind the Christmas boxes in our storeroom, and won't resurface until I pack for Florida after the holidays, so no picture!

After drawing Perry, it was time to use our FP for Soarin! I was looking forward to this more than probably anything at the park--the old ride is my favorite at WDW. Here I go letting my Disney dork flag fly, but one of the highlights of my week is putting on the soundtrack and going through the car wash... I spring fir the more expensive wash because it's timed almost perfectly to the soundtrack, and the soap smells like the orange groves. Don't judge!

I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might be trying to avoid reading anything about the new rise (like me!) but I will just say that sitting in the middle section is pretty important if you want to avoid some pretty major distortion. I left kinda sad that I will never again see the old version or smell the old smells... But at least I still have the car wash

At this point, it was getting close to 3, when we knew our room should be ready, and the boys were very interested in the Grizzly Peak area of the park, so we decided to stay in that area (The GC lobby opens into the Grizzly Peak area, FYI, so we were close to "home."). We headed for the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which was a cute play area with a variety of "challenges" for my little explorers.

Here they are reading about "Big Sir" the redwood tree-- they did not get the joke!

I decided to follow them into the rope net area, and kept loosing my shoes(Toms) on the nets! I was very happy to be back on land. They enjoyed the "bouldering" wall
and the zip line swing things the most


They then talked me into something that would have been a HARD no at WDW, Grizzly River Run. I only said yes because I had just gotten a text that our room was ready, and I knew we could go up to change if we got soaked....which, of course, we did. SOAKED! I was extra grateful at that moment that we were staying so close, and we headed back up to check out our room and have our luggage brought up.

We stopped on the way to check out the gingerbread house in the lobby. I've never seen these at WDW, and it was really neat to watch them decorating.




We headed up to our room, and the boys watched cartoons while I had the luggage sent up and did a little unpacking. Around 5 we were ready to head out for adventure!

I forgot to mention that we'd pulled World of Color FP earlier, but because it slipped my mind first thing, we were in the yellow section. I decided when we headed out that we would hit up DL tonight, instead, and try to catch Believe, and aim for WOC the next night. Best laid plans...

We headed out to DL via Downtown Disney. I have to say, I found the signage really inadequate... There was no "DL this way" sign, and we actually headed in the opposite direction without realizing it. We stopped at the Lego store, where the boys made their best case for the Ghostbuster's Firehouse (sorry, guys, but no!) and then we stumbled onto a monorail platform. We went through security/bag check before entering the platform, and then boarded THE COOLEST monorail ever. I totally failed at taking a picture, but it was very new and Tony Stark-esque on the inside. The boys loved it!

We looped all through Disneyland (cool!!!) and disembarked at the Tomorrowland station. At this point, it was pretty dark, and the lines everywhere were fairly long-- and I had NO idea where anything was! We quickly realized Tomorrowland was out for tonight, and headed into Fantasyland. Snow White had a short line, so we hopped in.
The boys enjoyed playing in the queue, and we all enjoyed our intro ride at DL. At this point, I decided to just take my little OCD planner self and lock her up, and just enjoy being here. We headed over towards the other side of the park, and stopped in New Orleans Square for Haunted Mansion! I was excited to see the holiday overlay, mostly because I've never seen an overlay on any Disney ride in person. The exterior of the building was very cool, with such detailed touches. The line was about 20 minutes, but moved quickly.

Continued in next post, because I can't figure out how to load more than 10 files a post!

 

[mousehappync]

Continuing our Haunted Mansion experience...

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This exterior was amazing!! We all agreed that the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay wasn't our favorite, but I'm so glad we got tourism this at night. Spooktacular!

From there, we headed over towards Indiana Jones, which had about a 30 minute wait. I debated waiting on this, because we were getting hungry, but I'm really glad we went on then, as the wait jumped up to over an hour after our ride. And despite not loving waiting in line, I am SO glad we waited in this queue once. Just unreal-- Disney theming at its finest, and so, so many amazing interactive experiences. LOVED this ride. No pictures-- I was getting a little loopy at this point, and didn't really document the rest of our night well. After IJ, we decided to take a spin on Pirates, as it was close by and had a short-ish 15 minute wait. This was DEFINITELY better than the WDW version. I sort-of regretted not booking a Blue Bayou reservation as we floated by all the families eating dinner....

By then, WE were a family in desperate need of dinner, and after a quick perusal of a map and the allears menus, I decided our best and quickest option would be the Stage Door Cafe. This wasn't great planning on my part-- I didn't anticipate how difficult maneuvering a totally unfamiliar park in the dark would be, and we ended up,going for convenience over anything else. JH and Grady were happy with the corn dogs, and I suffered through a kids chicken nugget meal (not really my thing) I was happy not to loose park time at a sit-down, and we weren't hungry anymore, so win-win, I guess?

After this we headed over to Splash, which I love riding in the dark. I had to put my inner mom away-- we rode with a group of young teenage boys, who kept sticking their hands out/into the water/trying to grab the sides of the ride. I resisted the urge to yell "YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!" and we made it through. WDW sure does win for Splash, though... I much prefer that version.


That little stinker in the front was the one who just couldn't keep his hands to himself. I hope my children have more sense in a few years...

We then headed over to Pooh, which had no wait, probably because it's ALSO not nearly as wonderful as the WDW version, which we all really love. As we were leaving, we stopped to watch them evacuating Splash ON FOOT from the outside of the mountain! Boy, was I glad we hadn't gotten stuck there!

At this point, it was around 8:15, with Believe scheduled for 8:45. The boys were DONE. They kept insisting they wanted to see the fireworks, but their behavior said otherwise. I made a deal-- we would stop for a treat on the way out, but we were done for the night. One $7.99 bag of jelly beans later, and we were headed back tomthevroom, which was a 5 minute walk, at most, from the exit. I sort of regretted skipping the show, and would definitely have pushed through if I'd had another adult with me, but it was the best decision at the time. We settled into bed, and everyone was asleep within minutes. Great first day in the books!

 

[Imagineer5]

Isn't that Redwood Creek area the best??? Aria was tall enough for the rope swing thing this time and LOVED it, too! It's a blast (though my shoes did want to fall through a few times, and doing that while carrying Maya at 9 months old wasn't that easy lol, def tired out faster than I would have liked).

I am loving your report. Your drive through car wash with Soarin music is awesome!! I do like the new Soarin movie a lot - it would be neat if they still had the old one somewhere though to watch. Too bad about missing Believe, though I hope you got to see WoC!

Totally agree on Pirates and Splash - what about Pooh makes you like the WDW version more?? For some reason I love entering the honey pots outside. Maybe my love for it stems from riding it like 1000 times when I went with my friend Lynda and Aria when she was 2 and we switched off riding Splash and Pooh a gazillion times. Plus it seems to never have a wait.

The HM overlay is cool, but I have to admit I am not a fan of the nightmare before Christmas stuff. Anything like that, actually.

 

[mousehappync]

(though my shoes did want to fall through a few times, and doing that while carrying Maya at 9 months old wasn't that easy lol, def tired out faster than I would have liked).

I can't imagine! I needed both hands just to not fall. I'm getting old!

On the rides--I felt like Pooh had less storyline, I guess? I'm also just attached to the WDW version and very set in my ways

We ended up missing WOC the next night due to an unforeseen emergency--nobody got sick, but it was about the next worst thing to a throw-up bug while traveling alone with kids....dun-dun-dun. It just means I have to go back, I guess! I was very bummed by our plan derailment...

 

[mousehappync]

Good morning! I hope everyone is surviving this holiday season--I feel like I'm barely above water at the moment, but it's nice to have so many fun things going on. We leave for WDW just 24 days, and between then have Christmas, JH's birthday AND the 4th grade science fair to make it through. The last one might be the thing that does me in.... Anyway, please say hi if you are reading along-- always fun to "meet" some folks who spend as much of their free time thinking about Disney as I do!

So-- we are back to our first morning at DISNEYLAND!!! My original plan was to pop into DCA for a few minutes-- they were having magic hours with a 9 am opening, and DL was opening at 9, as well. I wanted to grab a WOC FP to use tonight, and assumed we would just dash into the DCA entrance off the Grand Californian lobby, swipe a FP, then dash over to DL, missing just a few minutes of park time.

Weeellllll.... Anyone who has actually been to Disneyland before knows that the line for the DCA entrance snakes around for what seems like city blocks, and that we should have been waiting in it at more like 8:45 for the 9 am opening to be near the front. So, in what was to become our standard on this trip, when we arrived down to grab a quick breakfast and coffee around 8 am, I decided to abort mission on that plan and just quickly eat and head over to the DL entrance off the esplanade. We ended up doing a lot of plan-changing this trip, FYI. The first couple of times I wanted to FREAK-- we DO NOT go off script at WDW, and I was having some trouble adjusting. But, I have to say, deciding just to go with the flow turned out to be SO much fun, and mostly always worked out well.

We grabbed a Mickey waffle plate to share, and the kids ate yougert and fruit, and we were on our way to DL around 8:30. Today, in the daylight, I realized how close we were to DL via Downtown Disney, and we skipped the monorail and just headed towards the Esplanande. Bag check happens before you enter this area, and everyone goes through a metal detector. We arrived at the park JUST as they were letting people in, and I Had the kids to stop for a picture. I'm houser why we chose this location-- I guess somebody liked the cannon?



We stopped to check out some of the AMAZING window displays on Main Street-- the Toy Story window was my favorite. My sad little picture does not do it justice. The scene is constantly moving and changing, with all the characters doing something different. Very neat.




There were already SO many people crowding into the park, so we decided to be lame Disney-goers and skip castle pics for today, and we made a beeline for...

Hyperspace Mountain!!!

I have to admit, I was not really looking forward to this-- I don't love Space Mountain, and I didn't really understand that "Star Wars overlay" meant "OMG YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE ACTUALLY FLYING A SPACESHIP" (My children could tell you what ship we were flying...I kept saying tie fighter, and they were like 'Mooooom, no!' So--all I know is you are not flying a tie fighter)


Y'all. OMG. I don't even really LIKE Star Wars, and I certainly don't like the WDW Space (ouch, my almost-40-neck!) but just WOW. This was the most awesome ride ever.

Obviously, you do not ride single-file, and it was so smooth. And the interior of the ride is EXACTLY like you are a pilot on (insert a Star Wars ship that is not a tie fighter here) ... A spacecraft. Going REALLY fast. And battling the forces of evil. Just-- wow. (Did I say that already?!W.O.W.)



World's most unflattering photo-- on the inside I FELT like JH looks, I promise!

After this, our mission was clear-- sign up for Jedi Training! This was around 9:30, and we had our pick of shows that day. I chose one after lunch--2:30 I think? Easy peasy. From there the boys were intent on two things-- Nemo subs and Matterhorn.

We headed to Nemo first---we arrived to no wait at all, although the line was huge behind us by the time we boarded our sub. I actually thought this ride was great-- the boys really thought we had gone deep into the ocean, and enjoyed looking at all the things out the window (portal?).




I bet this was much cooler with the 20,000 Leagues theming, but overall a cute experience. From there we headed to the Materhorn, which I didn't document at all. The wait was around 15 minutes, and the ride....it was kinda painful. Oy, my neck! Once was definitely enough for me!

We then headed towards something I was excited about, and the boys--specifically JH--were not.


I am a total dork, and I LOVE It's A Small World. And I was very excited to see the holiday overlay, and to spot the Disney characters in the scenes. This is how JH felt about things...

Grady was a better sport...


Continued next post...

 

[mousehappync]

I love this ride! I tried to catch as many of the Disney characters as I could-- that is such a cute touch! Wish they were also at WDW! And now I give you IASW, DL edition, in pictures:

Drunk hippos, DL style...


Another WDW favorite in his West Coast version...


What a fun ride! Of course, despite his protests, JH loved this (he always does!) and we all left with big smiles on our faces.

Up next-- more classic Fantasyland fun, and LUNCH. Yum.

 

[Imagineer5]

Obviously, you do not ride single-file, and it was so smooth. And the interior of the ride is EXACTLY like you are a pilot on (insert a Star Wars ship that is not a tie fighter here) ... A spacecraft. Going REALLY fast. And battling the forces of evil. Just-- wow. (Did I say that already?!W.O.W.)

I don't remember much about this ride, as Aria was sort of in shock riding it lol! But it was good!

We then headed towards something I was excited about, and the boys--specifically JH--were not.

Hahahahahha your boys are so cute. Aria LOVED the characters in IaSW at DL - in fact she was a bit disappointed riding it at WDW when she didn't find the characters and realized it was different there. Nice photos!!

Sounds like a great morning so far!! and awesome you got them Jedi Training too!

 

[mousehappync]

EIGHTEEN DAYS!!! I realized this morning that the small rectangular box that I thought contained a Lego motor I ordered for Christmas and promptly stuffed under my bed might, in fact, be our MAGIC BANDS-- and it was! I was hoping we would get the cool new bands with the round face, but, unfortunately, we ended up with just the regular kind. It's always a good day when you get Magic Band mail, though!



We left off as we were finishing up IASW, and we're ready to head into Fantasyland. While we were waiting for IASW (which is outside at DL) the Christmas parade went by, and we actually had great views. As we left the ride and headed over to Pinochio, we were able to keep watching the parade.



It helped the lines pass more quickly, for sure! I tried to take a few pictures on both Alice and Pinochio, but this was the best I got....so, not great.

We also rode Storybook Land Canal Boats; that's an odd little ride. I think the kids liked it, though.

And then, since it's us, we stopped for this...


No dice!

We had plans to eat lunch in Adventureland, so headed that way. We stopped along the way to ride Big Thunder. This was fantastic, and something we all enjoyed (even Grady, who seems to be trying out his "resting grouchy tween face" in pictures. Thankfully it's just an act... For now. He was super cheerful this morning.)

The wait for IJ was long, so we decided to pull a Fastpass and come back later. Our return time was 1:15, which worked out perfectly with our 2:00 arrival for the Jedi show! But while we were there,mint was time to try out another ride with a holiday overlay-- something I was very excited for-- the WORLD FAMOUS JINGLE CRUISE! This was corny and adorable, and we enjoyed seeing the differences in the ride. Our skipper was great, and I thought it was easier to hear them than it sometimes is at WDW.

CONTINUES IN NEXT POST....

 

[mousehappync]

We decided to make one more stop before lunch--Tarzan's Treehouse. This was fantastic! I really like the treehouse at WDW-- I enjoy all the little details throughout the attraction, and this was even better! There were some interactive elements, and a super-cute play area at the end. The boys gave it two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

This was a super-neat area, and we spent a good 20 minutes in there playing. I had to drag the boys away in order to grab lunch and make our IJ FP before Jedi Training. Bravo, Disney!

For lunch, we headed over to a quick service place I'd read about that got great reviews--Rancho Del Zocalo. This was another great example of how the DL food beats food at WDW HANDS DOWN. I knew from studying the menu on Allears that we would all find something we liked here. JH got the bean burrito from the children's menu, which was served with Mexican rice, applesauce and milk. His favorite food is beans, so he was very happy! Grady and I split the enchillada platter--Carne Asada and Red Chile Enchillada Platter. This was a TON of food for $14.99-- it came with two cheese enchiladas, rice, beans, a large serving of steak (cooked fresh when we ordered, and served a little pink,) plus two tortillas on the side.

(Picture borrowed from the Internet!). This was more than enough for two moderate eaters to share, and it was GOOD. Not theme park good-- just GOOD. We also got a bag of lime tortilla chips and salsa to share, and our entire meal was around $20. I wish we had this option in Florida!

After our lunch, we decided to split some churros from the churro cart for dessert, then use our FP for Indiana Jones. Our timing was so good-- we got in line for IJ just before 1:30, and were zipping through the FP line. We were going to be right on time for Jedi Training--perfect! Our plans for the afternoon were to grab another FP for Hyoerspace Mountain, ride Buzz, Autopia, hit up Splash again and then head over to Trader Sam's, which I was REALLY looking forward to, for libations, tiki punch and apps. It was shaping up to be a perfect day!

And.....this is when the wheels feel off. In a pretty spectacular way. I thought about just glossing over this, but it happened, and it majorly impacted our trip. So.....deep breath....

While we were in line for IJ, I noticed Grady scratching his head. A lot. And then I remembered that he had been scratching it in the car on the way up the day before. He's my "twitchy" kid, and I didn't think much of it. But, just to be sure, I decided to rifle through his hair real quick while we stood in the (dimly lit) line.

It was then, to quote Angelica Schulyer, that "I realized three fundamental truths at the exact same time..."
Number One) I'm a Mom in Disneyland and my oldest child has a case of headlice.
Number Two) given the state of his scalp, this was not a recent development.
Number Three) I'M ALONE AT DISNEYLAND WITH TWO CHILDREN AND MY CHILD HAS #%*#! HEADLICE.

OMG. I just about died right there in the Happiest Place on Earth. SERIOUSLY, Universe?! At that point, we were at the ride loading area, so we got on. Its safe to say that I didn't enjoy this ride ONE BIT today. I spent all of it trying to come up with a plan. By the end, though, I knew what I wanted to do.

As much as I knew we should abort mission on Jedi Training, I also knew I couldn't do that to JH, especially. He was beside himself about the chance to fight Kylo Ren, and if I just couldn't bring myself to break his little heart. Feel free to judge me--I was judging me! I'm the mom who keeps her kids home for an extra day just to recover from a fever. I took the kids to the bathroom and explained to G what was going on-- this was our first experience with this particular scenario, and he was VERY freaked out. And he was also SOBBING about not doing the training... I suck, I know....but I just couldn't tell him no. So we headed off to check in, with dire threats about not putting up his hood or standing near anyone. JH, thankfully, seemed clear.

We headed over to check in, and Grady really was trying to stand away from the other kids. I felt horrible-- both for him, and about the fact that I was letting him do this. Soon enough, it was time for me to join the other parents in the viewing area, and my little Jedis were marched out.
I wanted to yell ---"get that hood off your head!"

Continued next post...

 

[Imagineer5]

We also rode Storybook Land Canal Boats; that's an odd little ride. I think the kids liked it, though.

one of my all time favorites!!!

Not theme park good-- just GOOD. We also got a bag of lime tortilla chips and salsa to share, and our entire meal was around $20. I wish we had this option in Florida!

looks great and so reasonable!

It was then, to quote Angelica Schulyer, that "I realized three fundamental truths at the exact same time..."
Number One) I'm a Mom in Disneyland and my oldest child has a case of headlice.
Number Two) given the state of his scalp, this was not a recent development.
Number Three) I'M ALONE AT DISNEYLAND WITH TWO CHILDREN AND MY CHILD HAS #%*#! HEADLICE.

OMG! I haven't dealt with this, but can only imagine figuring out what to do w/o ruining vacation!

We headed over to check in, and Grady really was trying to stand away from the other kids. I felt horrible-- both for him, and about the fact that I was letting him do this. Soon enough, it was time for me to join the other parents in the viewing area, and my little Jedis were marched out.

Oh wow, I don't know what I would have done but don't blame you - what timing!! Did they perhaps wash the cloaks afterwards? I have no idea. What a mess!

 

[mousehappync]

They both had the best time. I was glad we'd done it-- and SO sad we were about to leave the park. But leave we must...we walked back through DTD and to the car, drove a couple of blocks into Anaheim, and got what we needed from a CVS. I was so grateful that we did have a car, and that we were able to,deal,with this much more easily than we would have at WDW. We headed back to the room, where I spent the next several hours treating both boys and dealing with Grady. Thank God for cartoons and jelly beans is all I have to say about that. Also, Thank God for bunk bed rooms and the fact that housekeeping came to change everyone's sheets. I have to say, dealing with this on vacation, other than the sadness of missing out on fun experiences, was actually much easier. No crazy washing/vacuuming, and the fact we were actually changing hotel rooms for each of the next several nights, combined with my OCD over-combing, meant this problem was nipped in the bud, and thankfully didn't follow us home. But, oh, my, was I ever sad about missing out on Trader Sam's!

Up next-- the kids talk me into another ride on an upside down roller coaster and we experience Cars Land at night!

 

[mousehappync]

one of my all time favorites!!!



looks great and so reasonable!



OMG! I haven't dealt with this, but can only imagine figuring out what to do w/o ruining vacation!



Oh wow, I don't know what I would have done but don't blame you - what timing!! Did they perhaps wash the cloaks afterwards? I have no idea. What a mess!

I nearly died. Truly. We've made it nearly ten years without this coming up, and I was FREAKED out. It didn't ruin the trip, but it certainly made it a little more subdued than I'd hoped for. He handled it so well, but I still cringe about letting him do the training. Ugh. Glad that chapter is closed!

 

[mdsouth]

Hi! I just found your TR and have enjoyed reading about your adventures in Disneyland. I would love to visit it myself to try out the different versions of my favorite rides and try new ones too.

I am sorry you had to deal with the lice problem on your trip. Ugg!

 

[mousehappync]

Hi! I just found your TR and have enjoyed reading about your adventures in Disneyland. I would love to visit it myself to try out the different versions of my favorite rides and try new ones too.

I am sorry you had to deal with the lice problem on your trip. Ugg!

Welcome! So glad you found me! I think I'll do a compare/contrast at the end of the DL part, just to hash out for myself what I really think about everything. Overall I definitely prefer WDW, but I am so happy we got to do both.

Stick around--the fun's just gettin started--we leave for WDW in 2.5 weeks!!!

 

[mousehappync]

Hi everyone! I'm back to try and finish up this report before we leave for Disney in FOUR DAYS!!!! This holiday season has been a whirlwind, and Adam has been at work for all but one day of it (we did a long up-and-back to my in-laws on 12/26.). We are all very ready for a little down time and sunshine in Florida soon.

So... We left off after our own little Critter Country adventure. The original plan had been leave the park, head to Trader Sam's for drinks and appetizers, then head back to see World of Color. Given that my poor kid had just been bent over for three hours while I mutilated his little scalp with the comb, I decided I would be better off asking him what HE wanted to do. And his plans did NOT include Trader Sam's.

The boys decided they wanted to head back into DCA, with the plan to ride California Screamin, and try to ride RSR at night. They had NO interest in World of Color, and so I decided, yet again, to go it's the flow in a way we never do at WDW. In a way, it was kind of liberating to just let go of park expectations-- but it also gives me a reason to want to go back!

I forgot to mention that on our way out of DL earlier, we had actually walked through DCA and used the lobby entrance for the Grand Californian. This took us right by the FP distribution for Soarin, and we had pulled a FP with a return around 6 pm. We decided to grab dinner at Smokejumpers, since it was right there, then ride Soarin before heading into the park. I think we all got burgers-- it was fine, nothing exciting but not bad. I do remember that we waited for the front middle row this time, and I really enjoyed the ride so much more.

Then off to keep a promise to the kids--California Screamin at night! I actually really enjoyed this-- not nearly as terrifying as I was expecting! A funny single rider was next to Grady-- I love this ride pic!

From there, we headed over to Cars land at nearly a run-- the park was closing in about five minutes. I decided to try single rider for RSR. Both kids are old enough, they know my cell phone number and how to get help from a cast member, and I was very comfortable with it. The poor cast member who was helping us load was freaking out. I don't know-- maybe I should have been more worried? I figure Disney is a great place to get to test independence in small, manageable ways. I remember a couple of siblings we met on an early trip who were about the same age as my kids. Their parents let them ride Test Track alone, and they were going to meet up with their parents after the ride. They were SO cute and obviously felt so proud of being big. And I was RIGHT there. All went well, and they were SO excited to have done it.

The park was now officially closed, but we decided to slowly make our way back, enjoying everything all lit up and decorated. It was magical!

This land really is so adorable, with such great theming. And the holiday decorations were perfect.
(Which child is an extrovert and which child is an introvert? Bet you can't guess)



This looked so real-- and so empty compared to earlier in the day!



We took pictures for some strangers, and they took this one for us. JH was SO wiggly on that fence-- I was sure he was going to topple backwards into the bed of cactus behind us! Luckily he didn't


This car was so neat-- it had a tailgate that opened during the day, with a picnic basket, fishing gear, etc. in the back, and then it folded in at night. We actually had the exact red plaid picnic setbtheynused when I was growing up-- it's those little touches of perfect nostalgia that I love most about Disney. And with that, we said goodnight to DCA, headed back up yo our room and got ready for bed. The kids passed OUT, and then I turned on a light and quickly packed us up for our departure the next morning.

We still had so much to do, though-- stay tuned for our visit to both parks on our departure day!

 

[Imagineer5]

What a fun evening and so awesome you got on RSR via the single rider line!! It seems like someone over 7 can ride alone, right? So the CM shouldn't have been so crazy about it. Soarin from the middle is def WAY better, I need to always remember to ask for that vs just going with what they give me.

Have an amazing trip, SO jealous although I am back at work after 10-days home which was AMAZING btw. Ugh I feel like I miss SO much with Maya with me working full time She was SO much fun the whole time home, I just wish I could do that every day.

 

[mousehappync]

What a fun evening and so awesome you got on RSR via the single rider line!! It seems like someone over 7 can ride alone, right? So the CM shouldn't have been so crazy about it. Soarin from the middle is def WAY better, I need to always remember to ask for that vs just going with what they give me.

Have an amazing trip, SO jealous although I am back at work after 10-days home which was AMAZING btw. Ugh I feel like I miss SO much with Maya with me working full time She was SO much fun the whole time home, I just wish I could do that every day.

Maybe it's naive, but it really seems like Disney is a good place to test out independence. When I was 7, I was flying cross-country as an unaccompanied minor, and it was such a huge part of giving me a lot of confidence as an adult. She insisted on loading them together, which I didn't expect but did appreciate. Apparently so one buckled their seatbelt wrong, and they had to reload the car, which meant they finished about 2 minutes after me. The same cast member came to stand with me and reassure me they were fine. Maybe it's bc JH is such a peanut and she didn't really think he's old enough? Idk. Either way, they LOVED doing it.

I'm so bummed for you about your return to work. I did stay home with my boys until JH was 2 (so a total of 4 years) and then/still do work part time, and it has it's ups and downs. I found it reaaaaally hard when they were both young-- mostly because I was a little bored and Adam worked such long hours. But-- it's also time I'm very grateful for. I'm not sure if you have any options once baby #3 arrives, but if part-time is a choice, I hope you can do it! If not, I will send lottery ticket pixie dust your way

 

[mousehappync]

I was hoping to finish up our DL part of the trip today (and I'm still going to try!) but we've had an unexpected monkey wrench in our plans, and are now going to be DRIVING TO DISNEY TOMORROW! We live in central North Carolina, where snow is enough of a novelty (even though it snows here a few times a month each winter) that the entire state loses its ever-loving mind every single time it snows. Those jokes about all the bread and milk being gone from the grocery stores are not at all an exaggeration.... And of COURSE there is a storm predicted for Fri night/Saturday. We are supposed to fly out of Raleigh mid-morning Saturday, but I don't trust the airlines to be on time (or even operating) if there are three flakes of snow on the ground. We are thankfully able to cancel our tickets with southwest as late as 10 minutes prior to departure, so I'm going to go ahead and check in as usual tomorrow, but the current plan is to leave home around 5 pm Friday when Adam gets off, and head to Savannah, GA. This should put us well south of any bad weather, and if we leave Savannah as late as 10 am Sat we would still be at the Poly before our Magical Express bus could have gotten us there. (And you know I will have us on the road waaaaay before 10!!) if we leave at a very reasonable 8:30 (we should arrive at the hotel around 10) we will be having lunch at Disney World Saturday. I'm actually happy about this--flying is easier, for sure, but we have done this drive often, and it will be really nice to have a car with us. We weren't planning to rent one, and this will make all the back and forth from the parks to the conference hotel (Orlando Marriott World Center) much easier.

And for all you Northern friends who are laughing about 2-4 inches of snow shutting down a city, might I present an actual, un-doctored photo of Raleigh, NC with 2" on snow on the ground....

And this, just because it's funny...


See you on the flip side, Disboards friends!