Parkers visit California - Day 2 Disneyland, Goofy's Kitchen

Rita1965

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 1, 1999
The Cast
Me - Rita, 34 single mom
DS - Ryan, 10 year old son
DD - Ashley 2 ?? year old daughter
Frank - my 19 year old nephew
Cassie - 26, my best friends daughter

Disneyland Sunday 6/11

Sunday arrived and we got up at 8am. We ate breakfast by the pool at the Candy Cane. They had toast, muffins, fruit, cereal and bagels. To drink they had milk, orange juice, apple juice etc. It was a good breakfast, I especially liked the poppy seed bagels. The best part was that it was free. I grabbed some extra bananas for a snack later.

We took the 9:00 am shuttle to Disneyland. Today was not an early entry day, so the park opened at 9 am. I know I should have followed all DIS advice and been at the gate at 8:30 ready to run, but we were feeling lazy. Since we already had tickets in to the park we did not have to stand in the line for the ticket window. DS and I were directed to go to the Bank on mainstreet to get our season passes. There was only a few people waiting at the bank, so we had our passes in no time, and went up Main street.

At this time DD started to complain she needed a diaper change. She is actually potty trained, but I put a diaper on her at WDW and Disneyland, so I don't have to take her to the bathroom at the most inconvenient times. DS, Cassie and Ryan took off, and I decided to try out the baby station. The others had the 2 way radios, so I knew we could catch up with them later.

Big tip: If you have a toddler or a child in diapers, use the baby stations.

I absolutely loved the baby station. I did not know what to expect, so I parked my stroller and got ready for anything. I opened the door and was immediately met by a nice lady who asked if we needed the diaper room. She requested I turn off all cell phones, pagers and radios because of nursing mothers. She then opened the rope that was in front of the entrance and let us in. The foyer was nice and air conditioned and beautifully furnished. She led up past a bunch of doors that led in to private nursing rooms. The baby changing room had 4 changing tables, all covered with disposable paper, several sinks and 2 small toilets for toddlers to use. It was clean and cheerful. I changed DD and after I had cleaned her off she also wanted to use one of the little toilets. DD was having a ball. There was a diaper genie to put the soiled diaper in to . Immediately after I was done, the assistant came back in and removed the paper from the changing table. She then sprayed the changing table and the toilet DD had used with disinfectant spray. The place was sparkling clean. She escorted us out and hoped we had a pleasant day. What a nice, quiet, little oasis in the park. If you have a baby or toddler, don't use the public bathrooms for them, use the baby stations.

Outside the baby station I was ready to put DD back into the stroller when Chip came by. He was walking with the handler heading for the employee only entrance. Before I could stop her, DD ran up to him and shouted Chip. Even though he was obviously headed for a break, he stopped, hugged her, and played with her for a moment. Another magic moment.

Now came the time for serious touring. Even though it was 9:45 by now, the line for Dumbo was short, so I headed for that. Cassie met up with me and we were all in our elephants within 10 minutes. Cassie got in the elephant in front of us and videotaped DD and I. We had a great time. DD figured how to make Dumbo go up and down.

After Dumbo we went on Peter Pan with a 3 minute wait. Peter Pan is one of my favorites. I especially like the end where Capt'n Hook is standing on the crocodiles jaw trying to avoid beeing eaten.

Cass loves the carousel, so we went on that next. No wait at all for this ride. After securing DD on her horse I was ready to climb on to the one next to her. Being 5'2 and the horse being at the tallest point, this was some task. Luckily I managed to get on and we had our 2 minutes of riding around the kingdom. I was such a beautiful day, and everybody were in such a good mood, this is what Disney is all about.

We finished off Fantasyland by going on Pinochio, Snow White, Mr. Toads Ride and Alice in Wonderland before heading for It's a Small World. It's a Small World became DD favorite. She called it The House were all the Dollies live. We rode it several times before heading for Toontown. In Toontown we did Roger Rabbits Cartoon Spin, again with no wait.

By 3 pm it was getting hot and DD was getting cranky so we went back to the hotel. We were missing my nephew, but that's ok. He knew we were going to Goofy's Kitchen at 6pm and would probably meet up with us there. At the Candy Cane I closed the blinds, turned up the AC and laid down with DD for a nap. While we were napping, DS and Cassie were swimming in the pool, and that way we were undisturbed for over an hour.

After the nap we headed over to Disneyland, and from there we took the monorail to the Disneyland Hotel. At the monorail platform I got paged and went to a cm to identify myself. They told me that my nephew would meet us at the restaurante. Duh, why couldn't he just go there instead of having us paged? Anyway, we got down from the monorail and walked through the construction area of the California Adventure. They have windows in the walls so you can look in on the work and see part of the park. It looks great. Some of the coasters look very fast. Can't wait to try them. It only took 2-3 minutes to get to the hotel, and I realized that Goofy's Kitchen had moved. It used to be behind the Sierra Tower, now it is between Bonita and the main tower. I also loved the pool area with the Pirate ship and the slides. The Disneyland hotel has really improved.

We got to Goofy's Kitchen and they had our reservation. Snow White was posing for pictures and signing autographs. I took a picture of DD and Snow White with my camera, but declined their professional photographer. Snow White was more than willing to pose for my camera and I thought I would save a few bucks. Little did I know.

We were seated and almost immediately Goofy came and signed autographs and posed for pictures. I went and got a plate for DD, and then I got tons of fried shrimp with cocktail sauce for me. Yum. The food was wonderful, the service was great, and the characters were lots of fun. After a few minutes my nephew arrived to.

Pluto came over, and he played with the boys, but I don't think he noticed DD. I did not get a photo of him with DD. When he walked away I complained and the server went and got him to come back. She was wagging her finger at him and told him that DD needed a big kiss. Pluto kissed DD and life was good again.

Max (Goofy's son) came over and spent time with us all. Then Gepetto came, and he kissed my hand. DD saw that, and held up her hand for him to kiss it, and the gentleman complied. Gepetto was really sweet.

Suddenly the waitress came over and told us to get in the middle of the restaurant to dance. Everybody went there and all the characters came and we all danced the Mackarena. Watching the Geenie dance the Mackarena was a hoot.

Finally the Geenie came over and spent time at our table. The same thing happened with the Geenie as happened in WDW with Eeyore, he would not leave. He flirted with DD. He played with her, he kissed her and tickled her. He played with DS and the rest of us. I almost got embarrased about monopolizing his time. He was a treat. He definitely took a shining to DD, and she absolutely loved it.

Goofy's Kitchen is the best character meal we have had. We have eaten at Chef Mickeys, and Crystal Palace in WDW, and Goofy's Kitchen is way better. The food was wonderful, and none of the characters were rushed. We will definitely come back to Goofy's Kitchen.

When we left Goofy's Kitchen DD took off and while I was not looking she went and sat down on the photographers backdrop. Snow White was signing autograph and was not next to the backdrop, and DD decided she wanted a picture. She was sitting there all by herself posing. The photographer saw and laughingly asked her if she wanted her picture taken, which of course DD nodded yes to. The photographer took her picture and told Snow White about her. Snow White saw DD, and went over to her. DD would not move, so Snow White laid down behind her, and they took another picture. I had to buy this picture of DD reclining and posing and Snow White laying down behind her. It turned out so cute. I paid $20 for it.

After our wonderful meal, we took the monorail back to Disneyland. We should have taken the tram, because it took almost an hour to travel with the monorail. At the park we all split up. DS, Frank and Cassie took off, while DD and I headed for Fantasyland. First DD wanted to go to the House where all the Dollies live, so we did It's a Small World for the 10thtime today. Then we rode the rest of the rides in Fantasyland. It was getting very late abt 10pm, so the lines were very short. We rode most of the rides without waiting. Cassie and DS caught up with me and while Fantasmic was going on, we went on Splash Mountain. 30 minutes before the park closed I told Cassie and DS to head for the Rocket Rods. The Rocket Rods had long lines the entire day, so they had not been able to ride it. Both of them wanted to wait until tomorrow, and I told them tomorrow the lines would be long again, so I made them go on it. While they went on the Rocket Rods, DD and I did the Story book boats. This was the first time I had done it at night, and it was magical. Afterwards we did Small World one more time before we headed for the exit, and we had the boat all to ourselves. DS and Cassie met us at the shuttle, and they had gotten to ride Rocket Rods. I am glad they did, because it closed down for a week, so if I had not made them go on it, they would not have had the opportunity to ride it this week.

Tomorrow: Crowds, crowds, and I can't believe the crowds
 
Rita, I'm LOVING your report! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif I'm so glad you enjoyed Goofy's Kitchen as much as we did; I agree that it is the BEST character meal we've ever done, including those at WDW.

And now I know how you got that adorable picture of your little one with Snow White -- what a hoot! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Michelle
Cruise & Inspiration Board Co-Host
Disneyland Board Co-Host
 
What a great day. The one time we were to eat at Goofy's my dad got sick before we were seated and ended up going back to where we were staying. Thanks for posting!
 
Hi Rita, what a wonderful report! I enjoyed both sections...very well written and informative. I read every word and wished it was longer. You really gave us a lot of info and it was concise and interesting.

Isn't the Baby Station wonderful? My "babies" are teens now, but I remember how I enjoyed it when they were toddlers. So peaceful and restful! :)

That Tony Roma's was slow both times I've dined there in the past, and it doesn't sound like its improved at all.

Thank you for sharing your trip with us Disneyland Fans!
:) Disneyland Fanatics!
 



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