Just the 3 of us almost. Nov '09 TR ~ Update 7/10

[Sunset Cliffs]

Ooooh, I see you have a new ticker! You're going back in a month? Awesome!

Yes, my nephew is graduating in San Diego, so we are going to stop at DL on the way down for a couple of days. We are trying to take advantage of our APs as much as we can. I am really looking forward to the whole trip.

Ooooh, I love your updates since I have never been to DL (and of course, Lily loves looking at Dylan ). Your pictures definitely make me want to visit Disney (Dl or WDW) once during the holidays so I can see the pretty decorations.

That is awesome about your impromptu visit backstage of the HM. I never knew you could skip the stretching room. I'll have to try that when I think Lily is finally ready to try it. She was freaked by PotC this time around so it kind of spoiled many rides for her. She was so scared of everything after that.

Those rice krispie treats are the best. For some reason, everything just seems to taste better at Disney! Particularly when it's mickey shaped and involves chocolate!

I wish that Lily & Dylan could meet. It would be so cute to see them play together. She is so adorable! The holidays are the best time of year to visit the parks, in my opinion. Especially after you have been there a few times, since it makes it feel so different.

I don't know why I thought to ask to skip the stretching room. Maybe I had heard that in the past....not sure. But I'm glad that there is that option, because that is the part that scares Dylan the most. He handles the ride part pretty well because we just keep moving.

Those rice krispie treats are AMAZING!

I didn't know they would let you skip the elevator on HM! Too bad you couldn't take pictures backstage.

I love that photo of Todd and Dylan before POTC. Dylan is making his "fake" smile or his "good boy" smile. Its cute that he has learned how to pose for photos so early. When Elijah was that age he would do a really weird fake smile that looked something like this LOL

I wanted to get my camera out so bad, but I didn't think they would let me. It was pretty cool to see it though. Especially all of the signs.

Yeah, Dylan has learned to say "cheese" as soon as the camrea is pointed in his direction. Most of the time he isn't even looking at the camera. It takes 10 tries to get 1 semi-decent picture. On our Easter trip, the poor kid had 2 cameras on him the whole time and he was sick of it.

 

[LilAnn]

I wish that Lily & Dylan could meet. It would be so cute to see them play together. She is so adorable! The holidays are the best time of year to visit the parks, in my opinion. Especially after you have been there a few times, since it makes it feel so different.

Those rice krispie treats are AMAZING!

So I finally did it. I started a TR! I think it was your advice about how it really helped document all the memories that really pushed me into it. Plus I am hoping it will help me get over my Disney post-trip depresison.

For some reason, the rice krispie treats don't taste the same when you're not at Disney? Lily loved them! She was in heaven when she saw that some of them had sprinkles on it.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

So I finally did it. I started a TR! I think it was your advice about how it really helped document all the memories that really pushed me into it. Plus I am hoping it will help me get over my Disney post-trip depresison.

For some reason, the rice krispie treats don't taste the same when you're not at Disney? Lily loved them! She was in heaven when she saw that some of them had sprinkles on it.

Sorry that I didn't respond to this right away. I don't check in on my own TR as often as I should (I'm terrible!!). I'm so glad that you started your TR. I'm really enjoying it!

I never eat rice crispy treats unless we are at Disney. While I am eating them I always say, "I should really make these at home more often" and then I never do.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

The baby in the room next door to us cried all night. I was just starting to fall asleep around 12:30 and it started. Then stopped. Every time I would almost be asleep, the baby would start crying again. At first, I felt really bad for the parents. I know how it feels to be in a hotel with a crying baby. I hate feeling like we are disturbing others! But after it kept going all night, I was totally irritated. We finally got up at 8:00 am and we all were tired!

Our original plans were to go to Newport Beach today to let Dylan play in the sand for a while & just explore a new area. I never took the time to do any research, so I had no idea how to even get there. We talked about it for a while & we decided that we would do it another time, since we didn’t know where we were going (or what we were going to do once we got there). I think the idea sounded nice, but I didn’t commit any time to it, so I guess I really didn’t want to go that bad.

We walked across the street and had breakfast at Mimi’s. This restaurant has the best breakfasts! I wish that we had this restaurant up where we live. Not sure if it is just a southern California thing, but we usually eat there when we go to visit Todd’s parents. This morning I ordered crepes with eggs, broccoli & bacon. It was pretty good. It had an interesting sauce on it that I didn’t love. The meal came with a choice of muffin, which was too big to eat so I took it and ate it as a snack later in the trip. Todd had pancakes & said they were good too. Dylan just ate off of both of our plates. It was nice to have a slow breakfast & not feel rushed since we had nowhere to be.

We decided to just go to the parks & not have a plan….go wherever we drifted to. Sounds like a wonderful, relaxing day, right? We left the restaurant at 10 am and it is just a short walk to the parks. It was much more crowded today at DL than it had been yesterday at DCA. We checked the “times boards” at the end of Main Street & it said that Small World was only a 5 minute wait & Roger Rabbit was only 10 minutes. We decided to do Roger Rabbit first and then work our way forward into the park.

We walked to Toontown & got to Roger Rabbit. There was no line outside, but it started just inside the door. This was no 10 minute line… it ended up being 45 minutes. I was ticked by the end of it because we probably wouldn’t have waited so long had we known the actual time. We just decided to wait because there is no easy way to tell how long the line is (if you have ever ridden this ride, you know what I’m talking about. Most of the line is not easily seen). I wondered out loud if Disney sometimes lies about the times on that board, just to drive traffic to different areas of the park. When we walked by IASW, the line was definitely not 5 minutes either.

We took pictures while standing in line, since there was nothing else to do & the theming is actually pretty cool. Here are a few :

Almost there!!

This was Dylan’s first time ever riding this ride, so I had him ride with Todd so I could take pictures & video.

The ride spins around, & you have the ability to make your car spin more if you want it to. Todd does not do well on “spin” type rides, so he tries to keep the car as still as possible. This picture caught him in a spin that he could not control. It makes me laugh because his eyes look a little crazy. LOL

Dylan does not look too sure about the spinning part….

Overall, Dylan had fun & he sounded very happy when we got off the ride. It is a very fun ride, but I would never normally wait 45 minutes for it (unless I had never ridden it before).

We stayed to play in Toontown for a while. The theming here is amazing. It is SO much better than the Toontown in WDW. They really got it right here. I love letting Dylan just run around & play in all of the buildings.

Outside of Roger Rabbit, decorated in Christmas stuff.

Watching the fireworks going off at the Firework Factory.

I LOVED this Christmas tree.

Dylan waited so patiently for his turn in this car. All of these other kids were playing and would not get out. He was such a good boy.

He finally got his turn & a little girl climbed in with him. At first he looked a little rattled, but then he started playing with her, showing her how the steering wheel turned, etc. He was talking to her & she just jumped out of the car & ran away all of a sudden. Todd said, “That’s how my first date went too, buddy.” LOL. Dylan finally got a minute alone in the car & this was the only picture I got of him. Oh well.

We headed over to Mickey’s house to see how long the line was to meet him. Mickey’s house is so cool because all of the little rooms have a lot for the kids to play with or climb on.

The house seemed empty, but the line for Mickey was huge. We decided to skip it since we hadn’t told Dylan that Mickey was there. We went outside & it was getting warm so we decided to move on to IASW. As we were leaving Toontown, Dylan took off running & climbed up on a bench. He was super excited about something & I couldn’t figure out what it was. I finally saw that Goofy & Donald were greeting kids, but they were in this little area that I had not even noticed. It was funny that Dylan spotted them, even though he is a few feet shorter than either Todd or I.

I love this picture.

We got over by IASW & we took a little break to give Dylan a snack. The line for IASW was huge because they had done the Christmas overlay to the ride. I really wanted to ride it but I didn’t want to wait in that line. It was starting to feel really crowded, so we had another change of plans.

Where did we go next??

 

[LilAnn]

oh my gosh - I just loved that update! You make me want to visit DL and DCA!

Sorry about the crying baby next door. I am always so worried that Lily is going to be "that baby" when we travel since she has a tendency to get night terrors if she is over tired or hasn't had enough sleep. Of course, we had one night at WDW where she was crying on and off at night for about 30 minutes. I felt so anxious that we were disturbing our neighbors. But what can you do?

I love all the pics of Dylan! I know I've said it before, but he is getting so big! Like a little boy, not a toddler anymore. I love that look on Dylan's face in the Roger Rabbit ride - Lily had that same face on almost every ride we took her on.

Isn't it crazy how little kids have such great eyesight? Lily would spot things so much earlier than us too! It was crazy!

 

[tinkgurl]

Aw, sorry to hear about the not so restful night!

Ugh, I hate it when the wait time is longer than it says. I know they can't always be exactly right. But c'mon...if it says 10 minutes and you ended up waiting 45 minutes...they need to change it to longer! Something like that happened to us last June, only the opposite of your situation. The wait time said longer than we actually waited. It was towards park closing, so we were guessing that they were trying to steer people away from getting on.

I love that pic of Dylan in the window. He looks like he was having a good time playing around.

Aw..what a good boy for waiting his turn!! That is such a cute pic of him waiting too.

I'd love to guess where you went next, but I don't know anything about Disneyland, haha!

 

[*dreamit*doit*]

Dylan is such a good boy waiting for his turn in the car.

Toontown looks so different! The picture you posted reminds me a little of the Muppets area in DHS.

Hmmm, where did you go next? Somewhere for lunch maybe??

 

[sharonW]

ooooh, just lovin it....HURRY BACK!!!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

oh my gosh - I just loved that update! You make me want to visit DL and DCA!

Sorry about the crying baby next door. I am always so worried that Lily is going to be "that baby" when we travel since she has a tendency to get night terrors if she is over tired or hasn't had enough sleep. Of course, we had one night at WDW where she was crying on and off at night for about 30 minutes. I felt so anxious that we were disturbing our neighbors. But what can you do?

I love all the pics of Dylan! I know I've said it before, but he is getting so big! Like a little boy, not a toddler anymore. I love that look on Dylan's face in the Roger Rabbit ride - Lily had that same face on almost every ride we took her on.

Isn't it crazy how little kids have such great eyesight? Lily would spot things so much earlier than us too! It was crazy!

I felt bad for the people with the baby at first. I had Dylan cry in a hotel before too & it is not fun. I know that they were probably trying to console the baby, but after 5-6 hours, it's time to take them for a drive in the car or something!!

I will have to post some current pictures of Dylan. This trip was about 6 months ago, so he is definitely bigger now. It's so hard to watch him grow up some days, and it's so joyful on other days. Wow, it is hard to be a mom!

Aw, sorry to hear about the not so restful night!

Ugh, I hate it when the wait time is longer than it says. I know they can't always be exactly right. But c'mon...if it says 10 minutes and you ended up waiting 45 minutes...they need to change it to longer! Something like that happened to us last June, only the opposite of your situation. The wait time said longer than we actually waited. It was towards park closing, so we were guessing that they were trying to steer people away from getting on.

I love that pic of Dylan in the window. He looks like he was having a good time playing around.

Aw..what a good boy for waiting his turn!! That is such a cute pic of him waiting too.

I'd love to guess where you went next, but I don't know anything about Disneyland, haha!

I definitely think that they post long wait times at the end of the night. They want everyone to go home! Doesn't it make you wonder if they do that intentionally during the day? If the area by BTMRR is really congested, they could post that Space Mountain had a 20 minute wait, & I bet a ton of people would head in that direction.

I like the picture of him waiting for the car too. I actually have video of the same moment and it is very sweet. He is just twisting back & forth, watching the other kids playing. He didn't say a word. Good boy!

Dylan is such a good boy waiting for his turn in the car.

Toontown looks so different! The picture you posted reminds me a little of the Muppets area in DHS.

Hmmm, where did you go next? Somewhere for lunch maybe??

We are always working on sharing & taking turns, so it was so nice to see it paying off. I had no idea how hard it is for little kids to share.

Toontown is so cool because it is all real buildings, no false fronts. It feels like a little town. There are lots of areas for the kids to play. It's a little scary though, because a couple of the buildings connect (& we didn't know it) and Dylan was gone for a long time. He had walked out a different door and came up behind us. I thought there was only 1 entrance and exit. Now I am much wiser.

ooooh, just lovin it....HURRY BACK!!!

Thank you!

 

[Dugette]

Neat update. I don't remember the Roger Rabbit ride from when we were there in 2006...is it new? I do remember how cool Toontown was there, though. They did do a good job. Can't wait to hear your next change in plans!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Neat update. I don't remember the Roger Rabbit ride from when we were there in 2006...is it new? I do remember how cool Toontown was there, though. They did do a good job. Can't wait to hear your next change in plans!

I think that Roger Rabbit has always been there. It is the first building when you walk into Toontown. It is straight in front of you. All the little buildings where Dylan was playing are to the left of that ride (if you were facing the building). It is fun to watch Dylan play in Toontown. He sees things that I don't!

 

[BippityBoo]

HI!!!! I am so happy that I found your TR I use to read your old TR when you went to WDW! Dylan looks so grown up...adorable! DL looks amazing. I really want to go there one day. Toontown looks really cool. Can't wait to read more

 

[tinkgurl]

Hey! There is a new update on both my TR AND PTR!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

HI!!!! I am so happy that I found your TR I use to read your old TR when you went to WDW! Dylan looks so grown up...adorable! DL looks amazing. I really want to go there one day. Toontown looks really cool. Can't wait to read more

Hi there! Thanks for tracking me down. I can't believe that our trip to WDW was almost a year ago! He has definitely grown a lot since then. He is a total toddler right now, and it is SO much fun. It would be nice if he could have stayed small just a little while longer though.

Hey! There is a new update on both my TR AND PTR!

I just posted on your TR, but I will have to go look up your PTR. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Apparently, on this trip after the last update, I decided to stop writing down notes. I’m not sure why I stopped but from here on out, I am going to have to go by memory, pictures & video. Sorry if there are some holes to the story. I’m more than a little ticked off at myself for bailing out on my notes.

When I last left you, we had finished with Toontown and we were taking a break to decide what to do. The park was getting more crowded by the second, and we just weren’t feeling like standing in line for IASW. We decided to take a break from the parks & head to DTD. The monorail entrance was not too far away in Tomorrowland, so we walked to the platform & waited for a monorail to show up. While up on the platform, I had to appreciate the view that we had. The Matterhorn is so striking, and the Nemo submarines are right below. You can see the monorail pulling into the station. This is another thing about DL that I like more than WDW. The monorail drops you off inside the park rather than at the front gate.

Here is a picture of the inside of the monorail. Look at the way the seating is now. There is a bench on either end of the car with a long bench riding down the middle. Interesting (yet not very functional if you are on the side opposite the doors, & people don’t want to get out of your way!).

Dylan saying, “Choo, choo” since he kept calling the monorail a “train”.

After the short ride to DTD, we wandered for a while before I found a couple of shops to browse in. The first being Sephora, which I LOVE! Todd is always so patient while I look at makeup. He tries to give his opinion, but ends up sitting on a bench outside and people watching. LOL

I found a new store (to me) called Something Silver, and it is all types of silver jewelry. I love necklaces & earrings, so I took a quick look in there. I also hit the Disney Vault place next door. It is fun, but not my style so I didn’t spend long in there.

Another of my favorites. Basin, sigh…..

A beautiful day in DTD!

While I was shopping, Todd was trying to keep Dylan busy outside. They found a fountain that had been drained and it had some change in the bottom. Todd gave Dylan some coins to throw in. That lasted about 2 seconds before he wanted more coins. Todd just reached in & gave him back the coins he had just thrown in & showed Dylan how to slide them down the side of the fountain. Dylan thought this was a great game & kept doing it over & over again.

Eventually Todd realized that people were looking at him funny & he wondered if they thought he was taking the money out of the fountain. He told Dylan it was time to stop, which Dylan was not happy about. Todd said he could do it one more time and then they were all done. Dylan agreed & did it one more time, then proceeded to start bawling because he wanted to keep doing it. Todd tried to get him to walk away but it wasn’t happening, he just kept crying. So he did what any other dad would do…. He took a picture of Dylan crying & throwing a fit.

Wait for it…..






……..





……..

Oh yeah. That is the money shot, right there. LOL I was in the store and missed this whole thing, so I got to hear about it later & see the pictures. I could not stop laughing at this picture. Is it terrible that I think it is so funny? I guess it took him about a minute to stop crying and then he found a bench to climb on. Such is the life of a 2 year old. You can bet that the picture will be filed away for a blackmail situation later on in his life!

We got a snack from Wetzel’s Pretzels & sat on a bench to eat it. There is something about their pretzels that are so good! As we were sitting there, a few birds were inching towards us, so I threw them some crumbs. Out of nowhere, a bunch more birds swooped down right in front of us. Of course, Dylan was thrilled. We spent the next 20 minutes or so feeding the birds. It is one of my favorite memories from this trip. He was so excited because it was a new experience for him and the birds were right near his feet the whole time. Todd got one of them to eat out of his hand! We have a lot of video of this, but no pictures I guess.

We decided to go back to the hotel for a break and we walked towards the hotel. This meant that we had to go through bag check again, just to walk across the big patio between the parks & get out the other side to where our hotel was. As we were crossing, a lot of people started leaving DL. I think a parade had just ended. So….we headed back into the park to see if the lines were any shorter.

We didn’t want to fight the traffic up Main Street so we got in line to take the train. The Christmas decorations are so pretty during the day, but I really prefer them at night more.

We rode the train around to New Orlean’s Square, got off and walked over to Critter Country. We got in a very short line for Winnie the Pooh and were on the ride in no time! I videotaped a lot of this ride so that we can show it to Dylan again before our next trip. He loves watching video of the rides!

After the ride, we went into the store that is at the exit to shop for a little bit. It is a much bigger store than I thought & I realized that it has Goofy’s Candy Company attached to it! It is a smaller version of the one in WDW, but it still has a lot of yummy treats. We were checking out all of the candy when Dylan wandered up with a Mickey Mouse plush doll. He was hugging it & would not let it go. We almost bought it for him but at the last minute he set it down & moved onto something else. Thank goodness because I really didn’t want to buy it!

We realized that it was way past Dylan’s nap time, so we headed out of the park & back to the hotel. Dylan was barely awake during the walk home & as soon as we changed him into his pajamas, he fell asleep on the bed. We moved him in between us on the bed & we watched TV while he slept.

Back to the parks for the evening….coming up next!

 

[LilAnn]

I totally appreciate the picture of Dylan screaming! I don't think it's awful that you were laughing when you saw it. We've done the same thing, in fact, I think I may have a pic of Lily crying that I was planning on posting later on in the TR, too! They still look so cute throwing their tantrums (in hindsight).

I have to tell you that I was reading this update with Lily next to me and do you know what she did when she saw the pic of Dylan sleeping? she started singing the ABCs because she wanted to sing him a song before he went to sleep. It was too cute.

That is certainly interesting seating on the monorail, but it must be nice to watch the scenary as you go by.

 

[tinkgurl]

Oh cool! The monorails look neat over there. And they drop you off in the park? How much easier!

Don't feel bad about thinking that pic is hilarious...because I do too. This will be a great pic for his graduation!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I totally appreciate the picture of Dylan screaming! I don't think it's awful that you were laughing when you saw it. We've done the same thing, in fact, I think I may have a pic of Lily crying that I was planning on posting later on in the TR, too! They still look so cute throwing their tantrums (in hindsight).

I have to tell you that I was reading this update with Lily next to me and do you know what she did when she saw the pic of Dylan sleeping? she started singing the ABCs because she wanted to sing him a song before he went to sleep. It was too cute.

That is certainly interesting seating on the monorail, but it must be nice to watch the scenary as you go by.

You know, it is easier to accept that your kid is not going to be perfect, than to stress about it. Dylan is a GREAT kid, but he has his moments that make me think, "oh, he really is a toddler now!". Thank goodness that he is not like that every day. And like I said, it took him about a minute and then he was on to being happy again.

That story about Lily singing to him is so sweet! We have got to figure out a way to get the two of them to meet some day. They would be pals for sure.

I think the point of the seating in the monorail is for just that...the scenery. You drive right over the top of DCA (through the Golden Gate bridge), through the Grand Californian hotel and through DTD.

Oh cool! The monorails look neat over there. And they drop you off in the park? How much easier!

Don't feel bad about thinking that pic is hilarious...because I do too. This will be a great pic for his graduation!

There are only 2 stops on the monorail, one in DTD and one in Tomorrowland. Originally it stopped at the Disneyland Hotel, but when they remodeled a while ago, they changed it to DTD. So even if you are staying at the hotel, you have a short walk to get to the monorail. I love that it drops you off in the park. They check your tickets & do bag check at the monorail entrance. Then you just walk right off once you get into the park.

I agree about the graduation picture. Our school does "Baby Ads" in the back of the yearbook each year. He better be a good kid as he grows up or this one is going in his Baby ad!

 

[casiland]

We have a picture of my nieces at 3 and 5 sitting on one of the benches on main street crying their eyes out. It was late and they had a bit of a melt down. They are now 21 and 18 and think it is hilarious.

 

[tinkgurl]

There are only 2 stops on the monorail, one in DTD and one in Tomorrowland. Originally it stopped at the Disneyland Hotel, but when they remodeled a while ago, they changed it to DTD. So even if you are staying at the hotel, you have a short walk to get to the monorail. I love that it drops you off in the park. They check your tickets & do bag check at the monorail entrance. Then you just walk right off once you get into the park.

I agree about the graduation picture. Our school does "Baby Ads" in the back of the yearbook each year. He better be a good kid as he grows up or this one is going in his Baby ad!

I was just going to ask you how they did the tickets/bag check! Thanks for answering. Oh man, I would think they would've kept the stop at the Disneyland Hotel?

Haha, that HAS to be his Baby Ad!