*FinalUpdate, 3/11/11*Back to the 'Land after so many years...my first TR (June 2010)

[jforever52]

Welcome to those joining in. I hope I can do trip report veteran's proud!

Blue Bayou and California Adventure

After taking a short break we headed back to the parks for our reservations at Blue Bayou. Blue Bayou is the wonderful restaraunt located inside Pirates fo the Caribean. I have always wanted to eat there and was super excited to find out that we could use our $15 meal vouchers towards the lunch. We arrived about 1/2 hour early so my in-laws and DH went off to look in shops while I stayed with DS at the restaurant. While waiting DS fell asleep on the stairs to the restaurant! Good thing I was able to round everyone up quickly by cell phone when they called our name.

The restaraunt is extremely dark when you first go in. Once your eyes adjust it is fabulous! I was surprised to learn that we would be seated water-side. I had heard that if you had a party larger than 4 you would not be able to sit close to the water...so this was a pleasant plus!

I had the gumbo for a starter and the jambalaya for my entre. I LOVED the gumbo; it was by far the best gumbo I have had. The jambalaya was excellent too. The jambalaya has sausage, chicken, shrimp and mahi mahi. I loved the mahi mahi, it was incredibly tender. There was too much food. DH and I could have easily split the dish with plenty of food for both of us. Sorry, but I can't remember what my in-laws ate. DS had....macaroni and cheese, which he loved.

At dinner we celebrated father's day and gave the dad's their gifts. It was a wonderful experience and I am glad we added the restaraunt to our itenary.

After lunch, we headed over to California Adventure. We checked the times for Alladin and then went straight to Tower of Terror. Only a 13 minute wait! We rode this ride twice and then went to Soarin' to get fast passes. We hung out by the water feature around Soarin' for awhile and then stopped for an icecream at BURRRbank Creamery. I had the Mocha Sundae which was SOOOO good. DH had a cone and my in-laws had strawberry sundaes. The icecream was a great way to cool off...but it did take almost 15 minutes to get our food even though there wasn't even a line.

DH still was not feeling well but decided to push through to go see Alladin. We had preferred seating coupons so we went to the preferred area. Right before seating poor DH had to find a bathroom IMMEDIATELY so we went to get seats and he met us inside. I will tell you, there is something secretly gratifying in getting to walk past a group of people waiting for the same attraction to get seats before you....

Alladin was great. The genie was SO funny. I loved that he inserted current events into his jokes. Plus getting to just sit for an hour and be entertained was a good break in the day.

After Alladin, DH and DF in law headed back to the hotel room and the rest of us went back to Disneyland to ride more rides. We hit up Space, Splash, Matterhorn and Big Thunder. Before going home we went to Pooh's Corner to try out Tigger Tails. These are marshmallows covered in orangecycle flavored nugget goodness. We fell in love with these treats! DM-in-law bought 6 the next night to take home with and they didn't last the drive home!

Day 2 was great for everyone excet DH who went out for the count ewith digestive issues. Up next, California Adventure, crowds and World of Color!

 

[yupikgal]

What happened to the rest of your TR? I was so into it, and then I couldn't find it! It probably doesn't help that I'm reading this almost a year later! I'd love to read the rest...

 

[jforever52]

Yupikgal this update is for you! I have been woefully neglectful of this poor update, which is really sad since I only have 1 day left to tell everyone about. Since its a slow day at work I thought, "Its now or never, let's finish this puppy up!"

So, when I last left we had just finished watching Alladin and my DH decided to head back to the hotel because he was just not feeling well at all. His dad went with him. I stayed in the park with the kids and my DM-in-law. Let's just say we went to fast to take pictures! We went from ride to ride to ride....tower of terror to big thunder, to the mattehorn to splash, then to space mountain, then back to big thunder...We were on a mission to go on as many coasters as we could before my DS fell asleep. We did a good job too...DS lasted until 11pm. He was literally forcing his eyes open by the end of the night; I wish I had a picture of this because it was hilarious.

When I got back to the hotel my hubby was not doing great at all. His father had gone to Target to get him some medicine for his stomach, but he was hating life! We all went to bed exhausted.

Day 3-California Adventure and World of Color

The next morning started off with my hubby walking with us to the bus stop and then immediately changing his mind about going to the park. His stomach was torn up, so he decided to take the morning off. The rest of us headed to California Adventure. We immediately headed over to Toy Story Mania...stopping first for a character meet and greet with Woody and Jessie (who were too cute by the way). After waiting in line for 90 minutes for Toy Story we decided to get out of California Adventure. It was too crowded for our blood.

DH called and we meet up at the Mad Hatter at Disneyland. Here are some pictures of us in our hats:

After purchasing some mouse ears we headed to Toon Town to ride Roger Rabbit
and see the sights:

After Toon Town DH needed to head back to the hotel. Bless his heart for holding on as long as he did! We decided to take a break as well...So we all headed back to the Hotel for a dip in the pool and some rest before World of Color.

Continued in Next Post

 

[jforever52]

Day Three Continued-World of Color

So after our break at the Hotel everybody but DH went back to California Adventure to eat our picnic dinners and wait for World of Color. We had preordered the picnic dinners. They were fried chicken with slaw and some kind of desert I don't remember at all. The dinners were fine...nothing to write home about...but they did come with a reusable shopping bag and most importantly, FP's for World of Color. Since I preordered DH a dinner, we picked it up for him and carried it around for the next couple of hours. Noone ended up eating it and I think we threw it away at the hotel that night. Here's a picture of DS hanging out while we finished dinner.

After eating we went to go wait for Wait for World of Color. We were off to the left side of the viewing area. In retrospect (after seeing the show again last October) we did not have a great spot to view the show, but I still LOVED it.

We went to the first showing of the night and got to be entertained with these cute guys:

When we saw the show in October and again in February these puppets weren't there. I don't know what happened to them but they were very cool.

Then it happened! DS fell asleep! He was too worn out from our weekend festivities and he crashed hard. When the show started I shook him, I picked him up and tried to get him to stand, I pleaded for him to wake up....Nothing worked that boy was out!

Here he is while we were waiting:

And again when the show was starting:

My DD on the other hand was wide awake and loving the action:

Overall I loved the World of Color experience. I have read a lot of critism on the boards that there is no storyline...my thoughts on this is that the show is ment to showcase color and how it is used to enhance the emotions you feel when watching Disney movies. I loved the show...and even got a little teary eyed when they showed Dumbo and his mom! I wish that DH and DS could have experienced it with me...but since then we have been to Disney twice and they have seen it twice so it has all worked out fine.

In October my DH videotaped the show. He is 6'5" and when I watched the show from his perspective I saw the whole thing in a different light. Seeing the panaramic view of the show is awesome. I told him, "finally an attraction ment for tall people!!!"

After World of Color we met up with DH who had come back to the parks simply to pick the kids up from me. He and my father in law went back to the hotels so that I could go shopping with my mother in law. What a sweetheart! Sick to the bones and still he decided to do something so sweet.

DM-in-law and I spent the evening shopping. I found a sweatshirt and some vinylmations for DH for his birthday. We also snuck in a ride on Dumbo, Big Thunder and the Haunted Mansion.

When I got back to the Hotel that night DS was mighty upset about missing the show. We had been talking about it for months!!! To this day he is peeved that I have seen the show more than he has. I think when we visit Disneyland again in May I am going to send him and DH to World of Color by themselves to even up the score!!!

We'll that about does it. The next morning we drove home...back to normality I guess. Our family had a great time despite DH and his stomach issues. Thanks for reading!