Tuesday, February 21st. Another beautiful day. DD is dressed as Minnie Mouse today. The plan is to have a leisurely day at Disneyland, mainly shopping, taking pictures and hitting Main Street before heading home.
Disneyland opens at 9am. We are in the park at 9:30. We take some pictures in front of the castle. We wander around aimlessly, then head to Critter Country for the Winnie the Pooh ride. We've never been on it. Walk on to that ride, and then head to the train station. We want to take the train all the way around to Main Street. We did that and shopped a little bit. DD bought a Minnie Mouse in a wedding dress plush doll with her Disney Dollars. We went to the photo pickup place for photos from the previous day. None of them were great, but we did get one set.
It was time to head over to Blue Bayou for our lunch reservation. We had made the reservation the day before. They actually ushered us in early, since we checked in super early, and we were finished with our lunch within a half hour. We had plenty of time to head to princess storytime at the princess toy shop.
The princess toy shop had Belle signing autographs, but we were informed that Sleeping Beauty would be our storyteller. The little shop was fairly packed with parents and little girls waiting for the next story. There was a CM there who was good at keep us all calm and entertained during the long wait. I did have to tell him to re-organize the kids on the rug because things were getting tense with all the shoving. Then when the story facilitator guy got there, he reorganized the kids all over again in the opposite direction! Sleeping Beauty showed up late, which just didn't help an already bad situation. On top of it all, this little girl next to my daughter kept yelping the entire time. I think maybe she was "special needs" or something. Anyway, it was next to impossible for me to hear anything, and I imagine my dd had a tough time too. I had hoped that they could come up with a variation on a classic princess story, but basically SB just told her own classic tale. Let's just say I'm not planning on going back to the princess storytelling next time! At least we already had Sleeping Beauty's autograph and photo thanks to the character lunch so we didn't attempt the mosh pit that was the line to see her.
We grabbed a Dole Whip, but didn't have time to go through the Tiki Room.
We did finally manage to get to the wishing well, although we had to sneak past Sleeping Beauty to do it. She was getting ready for an appearance by the well. It was also a lovely setting for photos.
There was an announcement over the loudspeakers that Disneyland would stay open until 9pm that night. Normally it would close at 8pm on a Tuesday.
I tried to do some shopping for myself but ran out of time. We had to rush over to meet the SuperShuttle and get back to the airport.
Things we did not get to do:
-Libby Lu's, due to long lines. I think if we got there when they opened at 10am, we could have had success.
-Silhouette on Main St. No time.
-Something from the Bengal BBQ, since I heard it was being closed. They were mobbed or closed whenever we went by.
-Haunted Mansion, which was closed for refurbishment.
-More shopping for me! I wish we had gone to World of Disney on day 1.
-At DCA: Monsters Inc. ride, and also Soarin'. I was especially disappointed to miss Soarin'. Next time.
-The movie about the 50 years of Disney that is shown on Main St.
-I collect pressed pennied, but I didn't get a single one this trip. I didn't have time to properly evaluate them.
Lessons:
-In the 4 days we were there, we never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride. This was because we got there EARLY. If you arrive when the park opens, or (even better) early entry, you will not wait. We did this on a holiday and we still did not wait to go on rides. Most rides we just walked right on with no wait.
-By careful use of Fast Passes, we were able to go on the most popular rides with very short waits.
-Don't think that those people who take photos in front of the castle or on Main Street actually have an eye for photographic composition. I was surprised by the poor quality of the photos we got back.
-As a multi-day trip goes on, you may get more scattered. I found shopping on the last day to actually be quite difficult.
-Excessive planning was helpful! We crammed a lot into our days, which have limited schedules. We knew our plan of attack for each day.
-We had chronic problems getting food that we wanted without waiting in huge lines. I don't know the answer to this one.
Disneyland opens at 9am. We are in the park at 9:30. We take some pictures in front of the castle. We wander around aimlessly, then head to Critter Country for the Winnie the Pooh ride. We've never been on it. Walk on to that ride, and then head to the train station. We want to take the train all the way around to Main Street. We did that and shopped a little bit. DD bought a Minnie Mouse in a wedding dress plush doll with her Disney Dollars. We went to the photo pickup place for photos from the previous day. None of them were great, but we did get one set.
It was time to head over to Blue Bayou for our lunch reservation. We had made the reservation the day before. They actually ushered us in early, since we checked in super early, and we were finished with our lunch within a half hour. We had plenty of time to head to princess storytime at the princess toy shop.
The princess toy shop had Belle signing autographs, but we were informed that Sleeping Beauty would be our storyteller. The little shop was fairly packed with parents and little girls waiting for the next story. There was a CM there who was good at keep us all calm and entertained during the long wait. I did have to tell him to re-organize the kids on the rug because things were getting tense with all the shoving. Then when the story facilitator guy got there, he reorganized the kids all over again in the opposite direction! Sleeping Beauty showed up late, which just didn't help an already bad situation. On top of it all, this little girl next to my daughter kept yelping the entire time. I think maybe she was "special needs" or something. Anyway, it was next to impossible for me to hear anything, and I imagine my dd had a tough time too. I had hoped that they could come up with a variation on a classic princess story, but basically SB just told her own classic tale. Let's just say I'm not planning on going back to the princess storytelling next time! At least we already had Sleeping Beauty's autograph and photo thanks to the character lunch so we didn't attempt the mosh pit that was the line to see her.
We grabbed a Dole Whip, but didn't have time to go through the Tiki Room.
We did finally manage to get to the wishing well, although we had to sneak past Sleeping Beauty to do it. She was getting ready for an appearance by the well. It was also a lovely setting for photos.
There was an announcement over the loudspeakers that Disneyland would stay open until 9pm that night. Normally it would close at 8pm on a Tuesday.
I tried to do some shopping for myself but ran out of time. We had to rush over to meet the SuperShuttle and get back to the airport.
Things we did not get to do:
-Libby Lu's, due to long lines. I think if we got there when they opened at 10am, we could have had success.
-Silhouette on Main St. No time.
-Something from the Bengal BBQ, since I heard it was being closed. They were mobbed or closed whenever we went by.
-Haunted Mansion, which was closed for refurbishment.
-More shopping for me! I wish we had gone to World of Disney on day 1.
-At DCA: Monsters Inc. ride, and also Soarin'. I was especially disappointed to miss Soarin'. Next time.
-The movie about the 50 years of Disney that is shown on Main St.
-I collect pressed pennied, but I didn't get a single one this trip. I didn't have time to properly evaluate them.
Lessons:
-In the 4 days we were there, we never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride. This was because we got there EARLY. If you arrive when the park opens, or (even better) early entry, you will not wait. We did this on a holiday and we still did not wait to go on rides. Most rides we just walked right on with no wait.
-By careful use of Fast Passes, we were able to go on the most popular rides with very short waits.
-Don't think that those people who take photos in front of the castle or on Main Street actually have an eye for photographic composition. I was surprised by the poor quality of the photos we got back.
-As a multi-day trip goes on, you may get more scattered. I found shopping on the last day to actually be quite difficult.
-Excessive planning was helpful! We crammed a lot into our days, which have limited schedules. We knew our plan of attack for each day.
-We had chronic problems getting food that we wanted without waiting in huge lines. I don't know the answer to this one.
