Missouri to DLR - Take 2 - Oct 2013 - Updated: Trip Report Complete

[MarbleBob]

Day 6 - Thursday, October 17: Disneyland Early Entry

OK, so Thursday morning was early entry into Disneyland park at 8am. As with our other park day mornings, we ate cereal, granola bars, etc. in our room before we headed out. It was a pretty laid back morning, not much in the way of lines to get inside the park this time around. Once inside, we decided to grab a quick snapshot in front of the giant pumpkin as we headed down Main Street.



We didn't go in with a plan this time. Since we hit Fantasyland first on our previous early entry day, and also on the Halloween party, we didn't really feel the need to do the traditional Peter Pan/Dumbo/Whatever approach. The kids wanted to ride Star Tours again, so we headed that direction first. It wasn't quite open yet, but there wasn't a line for Astro Orbiter, so we hopped on it first.



This ride is cool, but not half as cool as it's WDW counterpart that's up so high in the sky. Anyway, after riding, we headed over to Star Tours. It was actually about a 20-30 minute wait. I was bummed to loose a good portion of our early entry hour to that one line, but oh well, such is life.

After that, we decided to head over towards Fantasyland and check out some of those rides. We stopped at the castle for photos.






At this point it was just about 9am, and we decided to skip Fantasyland and head over to Pixie Hollow to meet Tinker Bell.

Looking up at the Matterhorn as we headed into Pixie Hollow. (I sure love the Matterhorn!!!)



Even though the line wasn't too long, it took a while to get through. We had fun looking at all the little statues and taking a few photos.



Here's one of the few photos that you'll see of me on that darn scooter.





Looking back at the Astro Orbiter



We finally made it through the line! We met Iridessa first. (At least that's what I think her name was.)


(Ninja sporting her new Vans shoes and hoodie that she picked up at the skatepark the night before.)

After the first fairy, we had to wait another 10 or 15 minutes for Tinker Bell. No problem, we were all in good spirits and had fun looking at all the theming elements.





Yeah, we found Tinker Bell!!



As you would expect, Buddy didn't want to have anything to do with Tinker Bell. He didn't even want to be in the picture. Tinker Bell didn't miss the chance to tease him a little




That was fun!! (At least for the rest of us. Sorry Buddy!) What's next? How about the Autobahn? Sounded goo to the team, so we headed that way...




Buddy wanted to try riding on his own this time, so I rode with Ninja and Pickle rode with Stephanie.







We had a lot of fun driving around the track.




Here's something funny... The car in front of us kept on stopping and we'd have to stop and wait too. Ninja was like, "what's up with that car in front of us?". And I was like, "I don't know... It's probably some kid who's never driven one of these cars before. They should probably be riding with a grown up." A couple minutes later, we realized it was Buddy in that car. LOL. Oops! After a minute or so, he was going smoothly. And then towards the end of the track, our car started dying. You have to let it stop, then hold the pedal down for it to restart. That happened a couple times in a row. It turns out that Buddy wasn't having trouble driving, it was his car acting up too. Regardless, we all had fun!




After the Autobahn, we decided to head over to It's a Small World. Continued in next post....

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a great start to the morning.

Love the pictures of Tink literally poking fun at Buddy.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice morning at DL. All of your family pictures are very nice and excitement of being at DL. I am with PiO that the Tink picture with Buddy is f nice one.

Great morning.

 

[MarbleBob]

Thanks to both of you!! I love those pictures of Buddy too

 

[ksromack]

I love how some of the princess (and Tink) can get to those boys! I remember a trip to WDW when my son was about 5 or 6 years old and at that time the Wilderness Lodge had a character meal with the characters from Pocahontas. I have a picture somewhere of Pocahontas bending down for a picture with my son and he was red with embarrassment. He's 21 now. I need to go find that picture!

 

[MarbleBob]

I love how some of the princess (and Tink) can get to those boys! I remember a trip to WDW when my son was about 5 or 6 years old and at that time the Wilderness Lodge had a character meal with the characters from Pocahontas. I have a picture somewhere of Pocahontas bending down for a picture with my son and he was red with embarrassment. He's 21 now. I need to go find that picture!

That's great!

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 6 - Thursday, October 17: Continued...

So, we decided to head over to the It's a Small World ride after the Autopia. I don't mind getting the song stuck in my head for the rest of the day, and I'm a big fan of Mary Blair and the Sherman Brothers, so this is one of my all time favorite rides!!!

Me and my trusty camera




Stephanie/Ninja and the other camera



"Hello World"



We had fun as always. Heading back to the stroller and scooter, we noticed the parade (or whatever it's called) going again, so we stopped for a photo...



We hadn't visited Toontown yet, so we headed that way next. First stop was the Roger Rabbit ride. It had some cool theming, but we mostly thought the ride was dumb. If it hadn't taken about 30 minutes to get through the line, we may have liked it better. Anyway, the fountain outside the ride is awesome!



I was taking a photo of the family in the gazebo and a cast member stopped and asked if I wanted to get in the picture too. That was nice of her!



It was fairly crowded in Toontown, so we didn't spend a lot of time exploring. But Pickle and Buddy really wanted to ride Gadget's Go Coaster, so we waited in another 30 minute line for that one... Fun, but it seemed like it was over as soon as it started. In the meantime, Stephanie went to look for some popcorn for a snack. She couldn't find any, but came back with a few churros for everyone to share. Mmm.... churros.



At this point, it was probably about 11:45 or so and time to start thinking about lunch plans. (I guess the churro was just an appetizer.) We were thinking that maybe riding the monorail to DTD and eating at Earl of Sandwich sounded like a good idea. But then Stephanie and I remembered that we wanted to visit the collectible and art shop back at the DL entrance. So, we decided to give Ninja and Buddy a little freedom. They rode the monorail and were to wait for the rest of us at the Lego store.


Pickle, Stephanie, and I headed over to the art gallery. We had fun looking at all the prints, and especially the Tiki Room anniversary collectibles. I really wanted to get a couple of the Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily pieces, but talked myself out of it. (I already had some tiki mugs from Trader Sam's after all.) After browsing for a while, we headed out of the park and towards Earl of Sandwich. We met Ninja and Buddy, they had only been waiting a few minutes, and headed over for lunch.

This was a first for us. We've walked by the one in DTD Orlando countless times, but we've always opted for Wolf Gang Puck's Express. Buddy ate here back in May with his grandparents and refused to order anything this time. The rest of us were all in.... well, except for Pickle decided that she just wanted some fruit.



Stephanie went with with the Holiday Turkey sandwich. She said that this was, without a doubt, the best sandwich that she'd ever eaten. I wish I had ordered that one too.



I went with the roast beef. It was pretty darn good. Not the best sandwich ever, but the bread was amazing!!!



Ninja Potato got the Italian sandwich. She really enjoyed hers too.




We'll definitely be coming back here in the future! Sorry Buddy

Time to head back to the room for a break. Stephanie took pity on Buddy and opted to take him to Tangaroa Terrace for a burger on the way back.



Stephanie dropped off Buddy and then decided to go shopping for a little while. She's had her eye on the Disneyland print Dooney and Bourke bags for a long time and decided that she was finally ready to pull the trigger and buy one. She found the one she liked at Disney Vault 28, but they wouldn't let her use Buddy's annual pass (for 10% off) without him being present, so she decided to wait.

In the meantime, Ninja, Pickle, and I went down to the pool to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather. Buddy opted to stay back and watch TV in the room and then Stephanie caught up to us a little later. The girls did the water slides and I relaxed for a while and watched. And then we all decided to go hang out in the Minnie Mouse hot tub for a while. It was nice!!! It's cold and rainy here in St. Louis right now. The thought of relaxing in a hot tub at the DLH right now sounds heavenly!!

After we were recharged, we decided to head over to California Adventure for the rest of the day. We started off by heading to the Tower of Terror. Of course, Pickle absolutely did NOT want to ride this, so I stayed back with her while the others gave it a go.

She did get to meet Princess Sophia while we waited...



Stephanie and Buddy waiting in line for TOT



And here's the ride photo. So awesome. I love the guy pulling his hair in the front row, and the guys in the back reading the park map. So funny!!



Stephanie and I stopped for a photopass photo before moving on...



We decided to watch the Aladdin show, since we were right there, and it started in like 15 minutes. My foot was still a bit sore and I didn't want to deal with standing in line, so this was one of the few times that I opted to stay on the scooter. The good thing is that, once we were at the entrance, they let me park it right outside the door and I was able to sit in a regular seat. We all loved the show, even Buddy. If you haven't seen this before, you should on your next visit, it's really top notch. Stephanie and I saw it last time, but most of the gags and jokes were different, which made it fun. Lots of laughing

After Aladdin, it was nearly 6pm. We decided to head over and ride the Monsters Inc. ride. Not too bad of a line, and we were off by about 6:10 or so. We decided that we were hungry enough to eat. We figured that eating dinner over at the Wharf area would be good. I decided to preempt a dinner issue with our favorite picky eater and get Buddy a hot dog at Award Weiners on the way. And guess what? He didn't like it. I made him eat it anyway. No additional trip to Tangaroa Terrace this time!!! I wasn't on my A game at this point and I forgot to grab photos at dinner. Oh well... We ate at the Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill. I had the Carne Asada and Chickent Tamale. It was pretty good, but not great. Stephanie and Ninja both had the Soft Tacos Monterrey. They liked them, but they were very spicy. And Pickle had the kids Chicken Quesadilla, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

We decided to go visit Carlsand for a few minutes by entering the area from the Wharf instead of the main street. Very cool! Especially at night!!!!

After that we headed over to California Screamin'. It was only about a 15 minute wait, so no worries here!

Ninja throwing the middle school gangsta signs...



Stephanie decided to take Pickle for some cotton candy while they waited for us. Turns out they had to walk all the way back to the Little Mermaid ride area to find some. We decided to meet up at the Mickey Fun Wheel, thinking it would be fun to ride it at night. Except for we just missed it. They closed the line at 7:20 in preparation for Word of Color Oh well, let's just ride Toy Story instead!







Fun ride as always. I don't remember the scores, but Ninja killed us all with a super high score!

By then, it was 8pm and everything was closing. We decided to exit through the Grand Californian, so Stephanie could look at the Dooney purses in their gift shop. Cool! They had the purse that she was looking for and it had even better placement of the park icons on the bag. Stephanie was happy that she didn't buy the one at Vault 28 earlier.

Also, Ninja Potato had been wanting to pick up a gift for her cousin. We decided to look at D-Street on the way back to the room. She had a couple ideas, but the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit ear hat stood out. Let's see if they have that in the parks tomorrow!!! And then we headed back up to the room and arrived around 8:30pm. The kids watched some TV for a few minutes and Stephanie and I admired her new purse



She had been eyeing this purse since it was released a year or two ago, and was she excited. So cool. Congrats Stephanie!!!!

Next up will be our last full day. Wow, can't believe the trip is almost over. That went super fast!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice D&B bag!

I like Earl of Sandwich. In fact, I think I've even had a turkey sandwich or two from them......just not the holiday special version.

Nice pics of the family. And I never cease to be amazed at how that Roger Rabbit ride has such long'ish wait times!

Last full day? That went fast.

 

[ksromack]

I'm Jonesing for that purse! We thought we'd try EOS also, for our first night as we land at LAX at 7:45pm...not much time for anything else (although is WILL be 9:45 StL time). Funny thing about EOS is we too opt for WGP express while in Orlando. Who can pass up their vanilla bean cheesecake?

 

[MarbleBob]

Nice D&B bag!

I like Earl of Sandwich. In fact, I think I've even had a turkey sandwich or two from them......just not the holiday special version.

Nice pics of the family. And I never cease to be amazed at how that Roger Rabbit ride has such long'ish wait times!

Last full day? That went fast.

Yeah, that was a fast trip. Not to worry too much though. I uploaded the last of the photos to Flickr last night and there were about 150 photos. I guess I was trigger happy on that last day. It'll take a few posts to get through them all

Funny thing about EOS is we too opt for WGP express while in Orlando. Who can pass up their vanilla bean cheesecake?

LOL. I hate cheese cake, so that would be me But, I can't pass up their wood fired pizza. Soooo good!!

 

[disnemimi]

Another great day in your trip report. I absolutely love, love that picture of Buddy with Tinkerbell. It reminds me of the picture I took of him with the Iron Man suits at Disneyland last March. Can't believe you guys never had Earl of Sandwich at WDW. Lots of memories and so proud of Mrs. Marble Bob for finally getting her purse. She scored!! Really hate to have your trip report end as I am sure you all hated to see your vacation end!
Disnemimi

 

[luulu1999]

you guys have done a ton of stuff that is on our list, EOS being one and Im at work starving so those sandwiches look SOO good

 

[tksbaskets]

Congrats on the purse Stephanie!! So great that she was able to get one with the icon placement just right

I saw a chick with that very bag this summer and immediately had the jealous. I hadn't been willing to lay out that much $ on the other D&B bags but I think this one is great (not that I didn't moon over the other designs). I purchased it on-line and am very happy with the placement. If able to choose I'd probably still be torturing some castmember asking to bring out other bags to look at

So the DH wants to know what's on the Turkey Dinner sandwich besides what looks like the obvious turkey and it appears cranberries? YUM.

Love your ride pics!

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice update. You covered a lot on just that one post.

I got to stop at EoS one day which I have never ate yet.

Very nice pictures of your whole family.

 

[MarbleBob]

Really hate to have your trip report end as I am sure you all hated to see your vacation end!
Disnemimi

True, on the bright side, we are that much more closer to the big family trip to WDW in June. I know that you are the "lead planner" on that trip, but I'll probably start a PTR on it after this one is finished Maybe we can team up on it!!!

you guys have done a ton of stuff that is on our list, EOS being one and Im at work starving so those sandwiches look SOO good

It's just about lunch time for me right now, and I'd much rather be eating one of those sandwiches too!! (I dilly dallied too much this morning and didn't take time to prepare a proper lunch. )

Congrats on the purse Stephanie!! So great that she was able to get one with the icon placement just right

I saw a chick with that very bag this summer and immediately had the jealous. I hadn't been willing to lay out that much $ on the other D&B bags but I think this one is great (not that I didn't moon over the other designs). I purchased it on-line and am very happy with the placement. If able to choose I'd probably still be torturing some castmember asking to bring out other bags to look at

So the DH wants to know what's on the Turkey Dinner sandwich besides what looks like the obvious turkey and it appears cranberries? YUM.

Love your ride pics!

TK

Thanks! Stephanie can relate to looking at a lot of bags in order to get the best placement. She's happy with the end result though It's funny, since we've been married, she's only purchased two or three purses that I can remember. But... This past year, she's become addicted to the Disney LeSportsac bags (finding some outstanding deals online), and now that she has a Dooney, I wouldn't be surprised if she picks up another one. I need to take bets with someone on whether or not she'll end up with one of those Disney Vera Bradley bags after all too I'm not complaining though, she's one of the most financially conservative people I know, usually sharing her fun money with the kids or donating it to a worthy cause. It's been fun too see her splurge on herself some too

I checked the website, and that Turkey sandwich was listed as having "Turkey, stuffing, gravy & cranberry". I took a bite and wished that I had ordered one too. I'm not big on cranberries, so I passed... Big mistake

http://www.earlofsandwichusa.com/our-food/signature-hot-sandwiches/

Very nice update. You covered a lot on just that one post.

I got to stop at EoS one day which I have never ate yet.

Very nice pictures of your whole family.

Thanks! I'm sure you'll like EoS!

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 7 - Friday, October 18: Last day in the parks....

So we arrive at our last full day in the parks and we were singing "The Last Day Blues." Oh well, let's just make the most of it and go out with a bang!!!

It was early entry for California Adventure, but we wanted to make sure that we had some Disneyland time in there too (still needed to knock a few things off the list), so we park hopped back and forth. I have lots of photos from this last day, so stay tuned for several posts!!!

Extra Magic Hour started at 7:00am, so we got up bright and early and made it to the esplanade area around 6:40am.

It was still fairly dark!



But, we were able to get another great spot in line!





And first in our turnstiles again!



Just as our previous early entry into California Adventure, we went for the "wide right" straight to Radiator Springs Racers. We knew what we were doing this time, so we were able to get closer to the front of the line (even with the stroller and scooter). But, the ride wasn't quite as ready as the first day, so it still took about 25 minutes (from the CA turnstiles) before we were able to get in our car.





This ride really is amazing. Worth every minute of wrangling for a position and waiting in line!



Exiting the ride, we swapped photo ops with a family in order to get a group shot...



Similar to our last early entry, we exited RSR and went straight to Luigi's...










I think this ride was cooler the second time around!!

Same as before, we header over to Mater's next!!! We had to stop at the petting zoo of course!



And watch out for those tractors crossing the road!!!



We made it... Yahoo!!



This ride is so much fun!!!!



At this point, the early entry hour was just about finished. We decided to head over to pier/boardwalk area before the crowds poured in. Except, for we saw Lightning McQueen and Mater hanging out, so we had to get a photo first!!! (Man, I just love Disneyland Resort!!!!)



We decided to hit Mickey's Fun Wheel first. Hopped right on with absolutely no line. The door was open and waiting for us!








The views from up here are amazing!!!!!!







Nothing like a family selfie on the fun wheel!!!



Just hit my 25 photo limit for this post. Stay tuned for more of our morning at California Adventure!

 

[KCmike]

Awesome shots from the Fun Wheel! What kind of camera did you say you have?

 

[MarbleBob]

The vast majority of the photos in this TR are from an Olympus E-P3. It's a smaller mirrorless camera that finds itself somewhere between a point and shoot and a DSLR.

However, the lens I had attached was too big to really get a shot trough the cage/mesh on the Fun Wheel. So.... The first shot is from an iPhone 5s. The other two where from a 6+ year old canon point and shoot SD800 (which my wife always carries in her purse). And the last one is from the front-facing camera on the iPhone. I guess the moral of the story is that if you have decent lighting and an interesting subject, you can get a pretty good shot from a less than impressive camera

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great pictures Bob. I think it's more about the photographer. If the photographer knows what they are doing and knows how to get the best out of his equipment, the shots are going to be good irrespective of what type of camera is used.

 

[KCmike]

The vast majority of the photos in this TR are from an Olympus E-P3. It's a smaller mirrorless camera that finds itself somewhere between a point and shoot and a DSLR.

However, the lens I had attached was too big to really get a shot trough the cage/mesh on the Fun Wheel. So.... The first shot is from an iPhone 5s. The other two where from a 6+ year old canon point and shoot SD800 (which my wife always carries in her purse). And the last one is from the front-facing camera on the iPhone. I guess the moral of the story is that if you have decent lighting and an interesting subject, you can get a pretty good shot from a less than impressive camera

Nice. The reason I ask was in reference to your Fun Wheel shots. My SLR's are too large to get past those tricky bars of the fun wheel cars. I need to bring a point and shoot and my iphone like you suggested.

And Princess in OZ your right...the photographer is the most important part of taking photographs...but it doesn't hurt to have nice equipment!