family trip in May (done!)

[Daisybelle]

Oh REI. I hadn't even thought about that! I'll check that out when I visit my brother in Eugene next weekend.

I'm enjoying your report! I hope you survive your move though. It's never easy and especially so when youngins are still quite young. One time when I had to move when my daughter was 4, it was her job to decorate the boxes once I packed them. I had some very pretty crayola covered boxes when we moved. I couldn't quite read what my labels said, but she was happy!

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi TiggerandTink!


Just looked at my arm and the scrapes are still there. Healing, but there.

I have to figure out a way to get this computer charged...still not used to where all the outlets are!


So some of my pictures and descriptions might be kinda silly, but then, maybe it will help someone. This time we didn't use the "main" Harbor crossing across from Captain Kidd's, but we crossed at Manchester, and then made our turn towards security before that big intersection.

Leaving the esplanade, for an afternoon break as we did successfully that day, you see this.

Look to the right, and you see the hordes of people heading down the path to Captain Kidd's (hopefully not TO that restaurant, but just towards that crossing).

Since we were heading to HoJo's and had the option to cross Harbor later, we did not do that. We turned to the left instead, and when you do that you see:

Make your way over that way, to the left, but not SO far left that you end up in the Cast Member bus "aisle", and it's a nice little shortcut to the walk.



That last pic was taken at 2:15, and our next pictures was just after 6pm! Wow, big nap!



*****************************

Now, going backwards...

First pic taken at the crosswalk over Harbor, after crossing Manchester. The first pic was taken at 6:02 and 1 second, though that doesn't include the time to get from building 2, through the parking lot (one could argue that going through the building, past the garden pool, and out one of the walkways is faster, but then you're going past a pool with a kid who is excited to learn to swim! The trip was about the Boy-o, but I do have my limits ), and crossing Manchester.

So here's that crosswalk.

Walking down the "wrong" side of Harbor, across from the restaurants, hotels, and other pedestrians.

Cool van. Oh wait, I was taking a pic of the twinkle lights.

Turned around to snap a pic of the Caution tape strung from tree to fence. Not sure what that was all about, but then, every morning after the 26th there were hard-working gardners putting in new fertilizer and new plants and such, so maybe it was to let them know the quadrants?

Turned back around (nice hubby, didn't even wait for me!), and that's where the taxis come out and it has a gate to the right there for cast members.

Alrighty then! They make themselves rather clear, I believe.

That pic was taken at 6:05 and it was very close to the right turn to go towards the bag check and get into the parks. My next picture was taken at 7:10, and it was AFTER we went on.....


Tower of Terror!!!!!!!!


Oh boy, that was rough for the wee one! He wanted wanted WANTED to go on it, he'd been talking about it. He was very excited, but I think we spent a little too much time in the line inside the building, b/c the storyline started to get a little bit too real to him.

Nothing makes a kid look smaller than being on ToT, I tell you! He said afterwards that it was NOT the drops and rises that scared him (though he sure was holding onto Robert's arm and my hand during them!!!), but that he was worried we were going to disappear when we turned blue in the mirror thingie.

He did well though, and verbalized his fear after the fact very well, and definitely earned his ToT pressed penny.


Then he hopped into his stroller and we found that Monsters was already closed for some reason, so I took this:

And then we hopped back to DL!

 

[bumbershoot]

When last we saw our intrepid hoppers (you know, 5 minutes ago) they were heading towards the esplanade.

I'm glad to inform you that they made it, and got into Disneyland.

On the way in, we stopped to take some pictures.

HUGE light saber.

Then the travelers went further into the park, where they were suddenly overtaken by a massive need for fruit! Luckily this happened directly in front of the fruit cart.

I was going to say it happened *because of* the fruit cart, but then I remembered it didn't. We got into DL and E informed us that he was hungry and would like a snack (hmm, I'm forgetting what we had for dinner). Robert was thinking "ooh yummy, a gooey snack!" and I was thinking "yay, a latte and a cookie!"

But then the little stinker pointed to the cart as we came upon it, and demanded watermelon, bananas, and apples. Who the heck went and raised the kid right, I ask???!!!!!

HOW is the fruit at Disneyland Resort SO good? I mean, it's not like they can taste it before you do, so HOW is it so consistent????

After getting said fruit, and getting an empty bag from a store to carry it in (they are happy to do that for you, but they give you a CLEAR bag, which is very smart), we wandered towards Adventureland, and decided on the....

Tiki Room!!!


Here's where communication failed, b/c I forgot that Robert hadn't been in there. I mean, it wasn't drastic or anything, but just a bit of confusion. We went into the courtyard area, and the guys found seats. I said "I'm getting a juice, dangit!" and did just that. When I got back, Robert was insisting I sit down next to him, and I didn't know why. My legs were hurting from walking on them strangely due to the obnoxious blisters (I did do my plan of switching shoes mid-day, though!) and I didn't want to sit, only to get up in a few minutes.

Well of course it turned out that he thought the outside courtyard was where the show would be, b/c he hadn't been to it and didn't know that we would go inside. No big deal, but if you're going to the Tiki Room with a newbie to it, you might let them know that there's a building you'll go into.


They loved the Tiki Room. The only thing spooky to Eamon was the wooden statue faces (I'd call them totems but I don't know if that's the right word), b/c they looked quite a bit like the guy hiding "in" the tree, in Pirates 2, before the guy opens his eyes and scares Will Turner. They just loved it other than that (and once the totems start singing and whatnot it was fine, it was just while they were "at rest" that it creeped him out)


After that, we found a (really bad) spot for fireworks. Again miscommunication reared it's not-all-that-attractive head, b/c Robert didn't insist on moving (I'll take a bad spot over trying to find a better spot, b/c I figure the better spots are taken, and I just want to see what I can see), thinking that we could see them the next day. Now he KNEW that the fireworks were on Monday as a special, and wouldn't be there for the rest of our trip, but it had been a loooong day and he forgot. He was really bummed that he hadn't insisted on us moving, and I felt bad for not moving as well.

Don't stand behind a TREE, that's our lesson for the evening.

Since we were positioned so we could go back to Adventureland, we did so after the fireworks. Got in line for Jungle Cruise.

At the exact same spot where we got sidetracked before, but this time in a fast-moving line, Eamon suddenly had to use the bathroom. Well, you don't mess around with that stuff, so we went out the exit that's right there. If we were different people, one of us would have waited there and the other two would have come back, but that's not us and the lines were short. So we all got out of line, E had his break, and we went back to the line.

This time we went on it!

And of everything he had been on (or maybe it was a cumulative effect), the JC that night pretty much did him in. He kept diving off his seat to duck in the bottom of the boat, covering his head. Oh man, poor kid.

Turns out it's the spears going overhead that got to him, but we didn't find that out until a bit later.

We were willing to leave after that, but he wanted to ride Peter Pan (huge surprise!!!), so we waited in a semi-long line, and we all enjoyed that ride VERY much.


And with that, we closed out his birthday day!!!!

 

[daisy_77]

Wow, Molly! You are the update queen!

I woke this morning to find quite a few.

Is bringing your own stroller better than renting?

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, we've done both.

If you're only there for a day visit, we found renting to be quite nice. If you're staying very close, I imagine renting would be fine.

But staying further away (*cough* Anabella in December *cough*) and only renting makes for very long, slow walks (interspersed by mad dashes) in the morning, and carrying a heavy kid in the evening.

I like bringing my own, personally, though there's a nervous "will my stroller be taken" aspect of it that you don't get with the rentals.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Molly!! You're so good at updating! You're so awesome!!

I'm kind of creeped out by the totem poles too, just like your boys. But I think they're creepy when they're talking and making that oo hoo noise.. Eeek.

That's so neat you saw Jane and the monkey! I always love seeing pictures of characters I never seen before..

Molly, Eamon is absolutely adorable. He truly looks like a very happy little kid.. He's sooo cute!

EDIT: I just re-read that Eamon rode ToT! HOLY COW! What a brave little boy! I'm scared of that ride! What a trooper!

 

[Cinderlala]

It sounds like Eamon had a great birthday!!

Only one & a half weeks & we will be there, but am I doing anything productive to prepare for the trip? No, I am reading your fun trip report in eager anticipation! [I guess that's somewhat productive, since I'm sure to find some very helpful tips!]

 

[avalon451]

I this trip report! You write so well, Molly; I always enjoy your perspective on things.

Thank you for the pictures of the HoJo walk! I really needed that... so blasted visual and I just couldn't picture how it went till I saw those pictures. It's very different from looking from above on Google Earth. It looks much easier and much less crowded the shortcut way. I was amazed at the difference in the herd exiting the esplanade, left (deserted) vs right (mobbed).

 

[bumbershoot]

Thank you for the pictures of the HoJo walk! I really needed that... so blasted visual and I just couldn't picture how it went till I saw those pictures. It's very different from looking from above on Google Earth. It looks much easier and much less crowded the shortcut way. I was amazed at the difference in the herd exiting the esplanade, left (deserted) vs right (mobbed).

When we were there, we would see the occasional person or couple look down the turn that matches that lesser traveled path (coming from Harbor), and then move on, going to the main intersection. They just weren't sure it was going to go anywhere helpful!

And in fact I almost did the same, on our first morning, but I decided to be brave and it was lovely.




I just have to interject that this move, which is continuing even right now, is turning me into a horrible wife and mother. Evil evil woman. When you're single, you can forget to eat and it's OK. When you're a couple you can forget to eat, and as long as you don't get angry b/c of low blood sugar it's OK. When you have a kid, YOU can forget to eat, but if you forget to feed your kid, you're horrible.

And if you decide that cleaning the fridge will take 5 minutes, and make everyone wait who even knows how long to do it, and if you forget the mac and cheese box (Annie's, so borderline healthy, but still not great, LOL) and your husband takes an HOUR to go back and get it....and if you decide to start cooking normal pasta in hopes the box will be there OR you'll just throw butter in it and call it good, and if your son falls asleep on the kitchen floor before eating more than some crackers....you win the prize of awful parent.*

And I'm not even going to get into the fight I may or may not have actually picked with the hubby.

It's OK for hubby and I to lose weight** b/c of all the walking from Disneyland and from forgetting to eat during this move, but it is NOT OK for my son to do so!!!



*within the bounds of normal bad parenting days, not crazy illegal awful nasty bad parenting, just to be clear.




**just to get this back on Disneyland, Robert lost 3.8 lbs after the trip, and he said today my neck looks thinner and so do my ankles, so that's good!

 

[bumbershoot]

We've had to take another day. Hubby worked until 2am over there and still couldn't get everything out. Our car (boat of a Grand Marquis) is stuffed to the gills (in a locked parking garage).

I have my mom's china there, and some random stuff. And I have to finish cleaning the kitchen and do a swift re-vacuum, and then we're done.


Updates will not be here until I'm done over there.

But if anyone wants a preview of something that happened on the last day, check out my post in the Single Rider question thread in the regular forum.

 

[bumbershoot]

We're done with the move. Not the moving IN begins.

I'm trying to resurrect the events from our last two days at the parks...will have to ask hubby and check out the pictures and their times and dates!

More later.

 

[bumbershoot]

Okey dokey! When we got back to the hotel, I wrote out what we had done, and wrote a "plan" for the next day.

Tuesday was a MM day so we knew we were avoiding FL and Nemo, and since we were tired, we just got up later and went to DCA first. Didn't want to deal with DL on a MM morning.

Oops I forgot that I need to upload pix first.

Got that going...


OK so our plan for the 26th had been to spend part of the day at DL and part in DCA. Because of our slowness (blister girl checking in here...by the way, they STILL hurt) that didn't really work out. So since he didn't get to spend his b'day at DCA except for Tower of Terror, we decided that he could wear his birthday button that day as well. I wouldn't have minded him wearing it the entire trip, but he suddenly started saying "my birthday is May 26" whenever someone would say "happy birthday", and that just felt funny to me. So once he figures out that he can say "it's my b'day trip", I'm not sure about him wearing them more than one day (or one day at each park). Ah, when philosophy (it's your b'day trip, wear it!) meets reality (funny looks when people say HB on the 27th and he tells them his b'day was the 26th).


Well, we started off with a breakfast of champions. No, not little chocolate donuts like John Belushi's skit, but with cookies as big as E's head!

I had a cookie too (though to be honest, neither of us could finish our cookies at all, so we put them away for later) and hubby had a croissant, and the adults had coffees, yay.

We sat outside the Zephyr.

Working off some of the sugar.

We made a beeline to the hat place across from the Golden Zephyr, to get Eamon sunglasses (why we didn't go to the sunglass dinosaur place I do not know), and got him a Mickey hat with sunglasses, and I got the one souvenir I really wanted...Winnie the Pooh ears that are on barrettes! I first saw them in trip reports from Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, and fell in love with them. I'm NOT an ear girl, I don't think I've ever owned a pair of ears or even wanted one. Headbands don't work for me b/c I get headaches. But barrettes are good, and the ears are just adorable. I do not have a picture of myself taken with them. Thought I did, but hubby zoomed in too close and they were cut off. Maybe I'll take a pic later.

Anyway, while picking things out, the males saw the Golden Zephyr and desperately wanted to go on it. Me? No. Not so much. So I stood and tried to get the ears off the cardboard while they went and went around and around and had a blast.

Saying hi to me.

I was getting dizzy trying to get shots of them going around and around.

 

[Hedy]

I love the picture of Eamon waving.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi Hedy! They waved each time, it was really cute.

Our next ride was the never-before-done Jumpin' Jellyfish. The line is cute and sweet, and E showed me how he was like papa by putting his sunglasses in a moustache place, and then a beard place. OK, that's odd, b/c it takes months for Robert to grow a moustache, and his beard never really grows in more than some whiskers. And when it does grow in to the extent it can, it looks awful. (when DS turned 1 Robert had a moustache and beard, and we both thought it looked good at the time, but when we looked at pictures, it was just awful and we're both embarrassed that we thought it looked good, LOL) So I don't know where he got the idea that Robert has a moustache or beard! But it distracted him.

OK so JJ goes soooooo much higher than I ever thought it did. I was so freaked out! Eamon loved it, but I was almost shaking with fear. I didn't expect it at all.

But I did take some pictures of the view.

By the way, that Orange is a ride I don't want them to knock down b/c I think it looks cool, but I'm never going to get on it, either. I get sick just thinking about it!


I don't know what the playground's name is, but Robert and Eamon found it as I went to the restroom. It's not Donald's boat play area, it's something like a little fireboat and squirting giant clams on a springy ground. Very cute. As anyone who saw our Sept trip report knows, Eamon will go and stand in a spray of water, so it's obvious he got soaked. The pictures I took weren't that great, and a bit repetitive, but here are a couple, along with the shirt change b/c he was sopping.

The face of thirst.

Also the face of a kid who is a complete combo of relatives. Ears by grandpa (though grandpa's ears stuck out almost perpendicular from his head), nose by Robert, pale skin from me but ability to tan from hubby, mouth shape by me, but lip poofiness by Robert (lucky kid). And missing teeth thanks to a highchair accident at 6 months old, and having two teeth extracted thanks to Robert's and grandpa's crumbly teeth. Even though he was miserable in that picture, I love looking at it b/c he's such a mixture of genes!

Ah, water.

Walked by the face-painting booth, and Robert insisted we do it for Eamon. E wasn't asking for it, and I tried to encourage Robert to have HIS face painted b/c he was doing it "because I never got to have my face painted", but he wanted E to have it done. R's schedule just changed so he'll be able to go to the Ren Faire this August, and I'm going to insist that HE get his face painted, so he can have that experience!!!

Anyway, this is what 7 bucks'll get ya.

 

[bumbershoot]

Then we get to Robert's bummer for the trip. He still can't ride Maliboomer. He is significantly smaller than he was in September, but there's still about an inch in the tether that goes between the shoulder harness and the seat, so he couldn't ride. That would be a ride where having a test seat would be really nice! I was SO disappointed for him. But it gives him something to shoot for...well, that and wearing his Utilikilt for the Renaissance Faire.


But then they went on King Triton's Carousel, and the spinning made Robert feel better.

Screamin' was down! Augh!

This is not good to see.

This, however, is pretty.

By the way, the area under that cupola (or whatever ya wanna call it) and the area with folded down umbrellas just to the left of it is the famed Cove Bar. You can get in there by just walking past the Ariel's check-in people and going straight through (Ariel's is downstairs), or by going in the gate just to the left of the middle of the picture...there is one step up, so if you can't do the step then just go through the Ariel's check-in, but if you can it's a nice way to get in. They aren't open all hours, but if you see CMs in there just ask when they are open. Oh, and kids are allowed, just not right up at the bar.

 

[bumbershoot]

(taking a break from unpacking and general stuff-placement)

By this time it was after 11am, and those half-cookies were wearing off! What to have for lunch? Hubby wanted Mexican at the Cucina, and I wanted the veg chili in a breadbowl. What to do? Changed Robert over to my side, of course. So we got a kid's meal at Cucamonga, and chili from Pacific Wharf Cafe; Robert and Eamon stood in line for the kid's meal, and I went for chili. Surprisingly, I was out of line first!

We started asking for waters everywhere we went, and while PWC gave me a small cup, Robert got a BIG cup of ice water. Harumph. And the kid's meal comes with a little water bottle, so that was good.

Breadbowl chili....

A certain child approved (then again, he loves sourdough).

I think we all helped out with his rice and burrito, and I know that at some point we changed tables and then there was some running around on E's part. Robert ate the fruit cup that came with E's meal...can you imagine a worse combination than burrito, mexican rice, and fruit cup? Well yeah, when you throw chili into the mix! I can't imagine how Robert's stomach felt, but I know it would have made me ill.


Well, after that filling meal we had to go on the tortilla factory tour! Short and sweet, that's the tour! They gave each of us a tortilla, and we were happy, but then someone else noticed E's button and we were even happier when they handed over the big packet of fresh tortillas. They are SO good.

We decided that Monsters Inc was next on our list, so we started wandering over. E was looking at the water wave thing, when we noticed a certain two chipmunks.

We were about to move on when I noticed a commotion. Mickey! I think you guys have figured out by now that I really don't care about characters, but gol, Eamon had wished on a dandelion to meet Mickey during this trip, so I knew he'd be excited. He went on over there.

Just as he got up to Mickey the line got, well, non-existent, and there were a few kids around Mickey. I was trying to pull E away b/c he had butted in a bit, but Mickey grabbed him firmly by the hand, along with another child, and started walking over to where he usually has a line in the Sun plaza.

When they got to his spot, I realized that Mickey thought Eamon was part of another family. He had some kids and Eamon pose for a picture! I was embarrassed and said that E should come out of the other family's picture. Mickey heard and put his hand over his mouth like "oops!", and E started out. The "handler" CM told us to go to the end of the line, which had gotten VERY long. I was going to do so, b/c I don't want to argue (but y'all would have HEARD about it when I got back), but Mickey was having none of that. He came away from the family, got me and Eamon, and put us at the front of the line. Then somehow E was asked to be in the picture with the other family, b/c they thought the whole thing was cute and wanted his picture. Then they had their own shots, and finally it was E's actual turn. Whew!

It was very nice, how much attention Mickey was paying to the whole situation (though it was his goof that sort of caused it).

At last we were off to Monsters! We rode it three times. Three seems to be a pretty big magic number for E and the number of times he'll ride something in a row.

After that we went to the Muppets 3D show, which was E's first 3D experience! He was a bit nervous at first, but I showed him that he could take the glasses off when he wanted, and put them on when he wanted (or when I said "this is a good part, put them on!"), and he got used to the visual effect. There weren't many people in the theater and we were alone in the back, which I was glad for, b/c it allowed me to talk to him about the glasses without worrying that I was bothering anyone.

On the way out of Hollywood, on to bug's land, we were hot and wanted something refreshing. I stopped at an ice cream cart when I noticed Haagen Dasz...but it's the toffee almond crunch bars they sell, and those have corn syrup! Ugh. She was SO sweet (the CM) and empathized that there's not much "fun" food at the parks that E can eat, and she pulled out one of each of her inventory so I could read the ingredients. Lo and behold, the chocolate covered bananas were safe for him! There was MUCH enjoyment of the chocolate covered banana.

Then it was on to.....

 

[50sjayne]

More more !

 

[bumbershoot]

Eamon let me sleep in this morning (which means he was roaming around the bedroom, putting bandaids on his fingers, putting little offerings near or under me, you know, total fun for him and a little disconcerting for me to wake up with a light saber nearly up my nose) and I'm still a little woozy from sleep. Gotta wake up a bit and then go for a walk to Starbucks (got a gift card) for some brain-awake juice, then I'll come back and continue with the 27th.

In the meantime I have to figure out why my wrist hurts so bad! I know Eamon yanked on it hard the other day, and I remember yelping that he almost broke it...ouch! I also emptied at least 20 boxes yesterday afternoon. Quite thrilling!

 

[bumbershoot]

The next part of the day I'm kind of forgetting, so I have to get pictures and receipts to piece it all together. So this might take awhile, sorry!

 

[mommyof2boys1girl]

over E being adopted at DL! How adorable is that story???