PixieDusting
The Red-headed Pixie!
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
Cast:
Lauren (me-39)
Brett (DH just turned 46)
Colin (DS almost-11 the Disneyaholic kid)
Grace (DS's friend-11)
Friday!
We woke fairly early, in order to be in DCA for it's 8:00 am opening. Sure wish the parks had later opening times, or that the kids were too young to be able to read on the map what time the parks open
Every single one of us was moaning and groaning that the balls of our feet hurt. I found this rather strange that we all had the same ache, especially since we all had very comfortable shoes on. Maybe the pavement is just harder in CA than here in Seattle? <vbg>
First on our agenda was seeing the rest of the Sorcerer's Workshop. We bi-passed the first room since we had spent time in it the day before, and went to the room where they tell you which character is most like you. Colin was very pleased to be like Timon, Grace was thrilled to be like Dot (she really IS a Dot), Brett was like Jiminy, which is coincidental since that is his favorite character. BUT...he does act like Jiminy a lot. He thinks things through, is the voice of reason.....actually, he's our family's conscience! Now, can you beat this......I was most like TINK! Boy did that start my day out on the right foot! Especially since the guys tell me I'm more like the Evil Queen :-(
On to the last room. We spent a lot of time here and had a blast! In this room you can do a sort of video karaoke. You can chose to sing to one of 4 different song parts or to act to one of 4 different cuts of a film. We did some together, some as twosomes, etc. We were laughing our heads off! On a hot summer day this would be a great place to cool off and have some fun! We really enjoyed it!
We hadn't been to the Bountiful Farms area, so we decided to stop there next. Flik was outside the entrance, so we waited while the kids got a photo with him. That was the best part of this area. We all renamed Bountiful Farms to Pitiful Farms, and decided that the Imagineers that thought up this section of the park must no longer be working for Disney....LOL. Ok, I will admit there were some interesting tidbits of info as to how certain crops got started in CA, and why some types of crops failed, but that was the only thing that held even an iota of interest for us. I'd imagine this area won't be recognizable in a couple of years. They HAVE to redo it.
Off we went to Paradise Pier...again. Can you tell yet that the kids really like this area? We rode Screamin' twice (both times a walk on) we took turns sitting in the front. I highly recommend sitting in both the front and the back of this ride. In the front it is really fun to see where you are going. In the back it's faster on the downward side of the hills. A blast! The Sunwheel was open, so the 3 of them went on that. I have a real problem with heights and knew I wouldn't be able to handle it so I wandered a bit. They chose to go in one of the swinging cars. Scary! The kids got off and were completely and totally freaked. So much so that on the way home on the plane I asked them each what their best and worst memories of the trip were. Both the kids said the Sunwheel was their worst! DH on the other hand thought it was great. Then they all went on the Orange Stinger (twice) while I watched. They loved it. Golden Zephyr was still closed due to the "high winds." Hmmmmmm, it was barely breezy, and I do mean barely!
We decided to split up for a while, DH to take the kids to ITTBAB while I went to get FP's for Soaring. While I was heading down there, I saw that Chip and Dale (Colin's favorite characters) were in the Redwood Creek play area, so I called them on the walkie talkie and they all met me there. The kids got to hug C & D, then hit the trails to explore, run, jump and just be kids. This is a terrific play area...even for kids as old at 11 (MUCH better than the one at AK in WDW), they had a great time, and so did I for that matter. There's a fun tire swing type thing that all adults (and kids) need to try out. FUN! Off they headed for ITTBAB and I got FP's for Soaring. We rode that after they were done, then headed to Avalon Cove for lunch.
This was the best restaurant I have ever been to in DL or DCA, and ranks up there with the best of them in WDW IMHO. Excellent! The waiter was very attentive without being intrusive, and the food was outstanding! We sat outside ...it was still cloudy out so we were glad that the deck was heated! Great view of Paradise Pier. The waiter brought the kids their strawberry smoothies and lunch very quickly, so that they could head back to Paradise Pier to play while DH and I enjoyed a very leisurely lunch. We shared a Caesar Salad...very good! DH ordered an outstanding Scallops dish, I had the Monkfish. After our hour alone without the kids, they arrived back to have their sundaes (part of their kid's meals).
We decided by then that it was time to go back to the room for a while. On the way we stopped to ride Grizzly, knowing that we'd be able to change into dry clothes in our room within minutes We actually stayed pretty dry this time, and had a great bunch of folks on the ride with us. Colin and Grace wanted to ride again, so we let them and told them to meet us in the room when they were done. Well, second time around they weren't so lucky! They came back to the room shivering and drenched. Their clothes were sooooo wet, it was like they had decided to swim in them! They weren't as lucky with their raft mates either this time around. It was a group of teens that apparently spent the entire ride being extremely vulgar towards one of the girls with them. We're not talking simple sexual innuendo....according to the kids it was very crude. What a shame that they literally had to ruin the ride for Colin and Grace.
It was about 1:30 I think, and housekeeping was just getting to our room, so the kids quickly changed clothes, DH dropped them off in the dryer (2nd floor right below us) and we all headed to the arcade for a while. Still too cool out for swimming in the pool :-( We got back to the room and the kids were stir crazy. They weren't interested in watching TV, or reading. Since our room overlooked the park, they were itching to get back in there. If there is any downside to our room, it is that fact. We had planned to take it MUCH easier than we did on this trip, but because the parks are RIGHT THERE, it's just too easy to get sucked right back into them!
About 2:45 ish I agreed to take the kids over to Greetings since they hadn't been in there yet and I wanted to purchase a few little gifts before I forgot about them! Brett stayed in the room to relax. After about 30 minutes in Greetings, I was getting burned out (one thing I learned on this trip is that Grace is QUITE the little shopper) so I agreed to meet the kids in 20 more minutes on a bench near Soaring.
While I was waiting for the kids an a cappella group of 4 men showed up and started to sing. I later found out their name is "Jondo." They were dressed as a security guard, a pilot, a baggage handler and a mechanic. I found them quite good and very amusing, and enjoyed watching them! During a break from one of their songs, I quietly asked them if they do anything for birthdays. Of course they said yes. I explained that my son was going to be joining me in a few minutes, and that we were celebrating his birthday on this trip. They asked me his name and age, and told me they'd look for him. 10 LONG minutes later Colin and Grace joined me. The guy that was dressed like a security guard came over to Colin and asked him if he was Colin. He then pulled Colin over to where the rest of the guys were. Colin later told me that he was so afraid that he was in trouble, being as the guy was a security guard...LOL They embarrassed the heck out of him, and I loved it! He stood there looking SO annoyed while they sang to him. About 1/2 way through the song one of the guys had Colin start to dance (to mimic what he was doing) and Colin FINALLY loosened up and went along with it...and even smiled, thank goodness! I think he thought it would be "uncool" to actually enjoy the attention. Grace and I just laughed and enjoyed the whole thing. Another magical moment brough to you by Disney I didn't have my camera with me, but Grace loaned me her disposable one (sure hope the pics turn out). I wish we had brought the video camera on this trip. It would have been the icing on the cake! Needless to say I got grief from Colin about this for the rest of the trip, but secretly I think he enjoyed it!
Brett joined us after it was over, he missed it :-( and he took the kids to see Eureka while I went back to the room to get a handle on packing us up for checkout tomorrow. They met me in the room when the parade was over, and we changed into long pants for the evening. Our plan was to spend the evening in DL and see the Believe fireworks. Once we got there (about 5 or so) we quickly changed our minds! We waded through the throngs of people and waited about 30 minutes to ride BTMMR. Finished that off and realized that we had to get out of there, it was just WAY too crowded for us! We headed back to DCA, rode Screamin' (yes again), Soaring (yes again), and had a bite to eat at the pizza place way back in the corner of Paradise Pier. The evening performance of Eureka was just coming through there, so we sat outside and ate while watching it, again. I saw it on the last trip and frankly it didn't do much for me. Seeing it again didn't change my opinion of it. Colin likes it though.
At 8:45 it was time to head back to DL to stake out a spot for the 9:30 fireworks. I was NOT going to miss this, we missed it our last trip. Everyone was REALLY tired (remember we'd been going since 8 this morning), but I really wanted to see it! Brett decided to skip it and go back to the room and relax, and we both encouraged the completely fried kids to join him, but of course they wanted to go with me. The 3 of us ended up with a spot right in front of the castle, which became a VERY small spot as time wore on. It was annoying to see folks crowd in (and I do mean CROWD in), even as late as 1/2 way through the show. One father in front of us was getting very vocal about these folks. Very. He was big, heavy and mean looking, and I'm sure more than one person was a little intimidated!
The fireworks were awesome! Just terrific! I loved the music they used, and the narration. At first Colin was unimpressed, as the fireworks are much smaller than at WDW (because of the castle size), and they start out rather subdued. They build up, and within a few minutes he was ohing and ahing with the best of them. I think Grace was just too tired to enjoy them, poor thing! They lasted probably 15 minutes, and I smiled ear to ear the entire time I really liked the part at the beginning where the light representing Tink (looking like a firefly in the distance) is flying around, and the shooting stars. AWESOME! Of course watching Tink fly at the end is pretty neat too! Then it was time to attempt to leave the park. YIKES! It was wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder. We decided to stay put for a bit till the crowds thinned. Grace looked like she was going to fall sleep right then and there. Had visions of me trying to carry her out of the park....NOT a pretty sight! Then Colin decided he really needed to use the facilities, so we had no option but to go with the flow and head to the restrooms on Main Street. That done we decided to try and go through DCA to our room since it was the shorter path. We had to really hustle to get over there by 10 (the gal at the gate looked at us as though we were crazy until I explained why we were entering DCA so late, and as we walked into the park, the announcement was made that the park was closed. Great timing!
BTW, the horrible burnt bread smell at the entry that was so bad on our last trip was gone this trip. Thank heavens! That was really nasty stuff!
Off to bed to rest up for our last day :-( Thanks for reading!
Lauren (me-39)
Brett (DH just turned 46)
Colin (DS almost-11 the Disneyaholic kid)
Grace (DS's friend-11)
Friday!
We woke fairly early, in order to be in DCA for it's 8:00 am opening. Sure wish the parks had later opening times, or that the kids were too young to be able to read on the map what time the parks open
Every single one of us was moaning and groaning that the balls of our feet hurt. I found this rather strange that we all had the same ache, especially since we all had very comfortable shoes on. Maybe the pavement is just harder in CA than here in Seattle? <vbg>First on our agenda was seeing the rest of the Sorcerer's Workshop. We bi-passed the first room since we had spent time in it the day before, and went to the room where they tell you which character is most like you. Colin was very pleased to be like Timon, Grace was thrilled to be like Dot (she really IS a Dot), Brett was like Jiminy, which is coincidental since that is his favorite character. BUT...he does act like Jiminy a lot. He thinks things through, is the voice of reason.....actually, he's our family's conscience! Now, can you beat this......I was most like TINK! Boy did that start my day out on the right foot! Especially since the guys tell me I'm more like the Evil Queen :-(
On to the last room. We spent a lot of time here and had a blast! In this room you can do a sort of video karaoke. You can chose to sing to one of 4 different song parts or to act to one of 4 different cuts of a film. We did some together, some as twosomes, etc. We were laughing our heads off! On a hot summer day this would be a great place to cool off and have some fun! We really enjoyed it!
We hadn't been to the Bountiful Farms area, so we decided to stop there next. Flik was outside the entrance, so we waited while the kids got a photo with him. That was the best part of this area. We all renamed Bountiful Farms to Pitiful Farms, and decided that the Imagineers that thought up this section of the park must no longer be working for Disney....LOL. Ok, I will admit there were some interesting tidbits of info as to how certain crops got started in CA, and why some types of crops failed, but that was the only thing that held even an iota of interest for us. I'd imagine this area won't be recognizable in a couple of years. They HAVE to redo it.
Off we went to Paradise Pier...again. Can you tell yet that the kids really like this area? We rode Screamin' twice (both times a walk on) we took turns sitting in the front. I highly recommend sitting in both the front and the back of this ride. In the front it is really fun to see where you are going. In the back it's faster on the downward side of the hills. A blast! The Sunwheel was open, so the 3 of them went on that. I have a real problem with heights and knew I wouldn't be able to handle it so I wandered a bit. They chose to go in one of the swinging cars. Scary! The kids got off and were completely and totally freaked. So much so that on the way home on the plane I asked them each what their best and worst memories of the trip were. Both the kids said the Sunwheel was their worst! DH on the other hand thought it was great. Then they all went on the Orange Stinger (twice) while I watched. They loved it. Golden Zephyr was still closed due to the "high winds." Hmmmmmm, it was barely breezy, and I do mean barely!
We decided to split up for a while, DH to take the kids to ITTBAB while I went to get FP's for Soaring. While I was heading down there, I saw that Chip and Dale (Colin's favorite characters) were in the Redwood Creek play area, so I called them on the walkie talkie and they all met me there. The kids got to hug C & D, then hit the trails to explore, run, jump and just be kids. This is a terrific play area...even for kids as old at 11 (MUCH better than the one at AK in WDW), they had a great time, and so did I for that matter. There's a fun tire swing type thing that all adults (and kids) need to try out. FUN! Off they headed for ITTBAB and I got FP's for Soaring. We rode that after they were done, then headed to Avalon Cove for lunch.
This was the best restaurant I have ever been to in DL or DCA, and ranks up there with the best of them in WDW IMHO. Excellent! The waiter was very attentive without being intrusive, and the food was outstanding! We sat outside ...it was still cloudy out so we were glad that the deck was heated! Great view of Paradise Pier. The waiter brought the kids their strawberry smoothies and lunch very quickly, so that they could head back to Paradise Pier to play while DH and I enjoyed a very leisurely lunch. We shared a Caesar Salad...very good! DH ordered an outstanding Scallops dish, I had the Monkfish. After our hour alone without the kids, they arrived back to have their sundaes (part of their kid's meals).
We decided by then that it was time to go back to the room for a while. On the way we stopped to ride Grizzly, knowing that we'd be able to change into dry clothes in our room within minutes
We actually stayed pretty dry this time, and had a great bunch of folks on the ride with us. Colin and Grace wanted to ride again, so we let them and told them to meet us in the room when they were done. Well, second time around they weren't so lucky! They came back to the room shivering and drenched. Their clothes were sooooo wet, it was like they had decided to swim in them! They weren't as lucky with their raft mates either this time around. It was a group of teens that apparently spent the entire ride being extremely vulgar towards one of the girls with them. We're not talking simple sexual innuendo....according to the kids it was very crude. What a shame that they literally had to ruin the ride for Colin and Grace.It was about 1:30 I think, and housekeeping was just getting to our room, so the kids quickly changed clothes, DH dropped them off in the dryer (2nd floor right below us) and we all headed to the arcade for a while. Still too cool out for swimming in the pool :-( We got back to the room and the kids were stir crazy. They weren't interested in watching TV, or reading. Since our room overlooked the park, they were itching to get back in there. If there is any downside to our room, it is that fact. We had planned to take it MUCH easier than we did on this trip, but because the parks are RIGHT THERE, it's just too easy to get sucked right back into them!
About 2:45 ish I agreed to take the kids over to Greetings since they hadn't been in there yet and I wanted to purchase a few little gifts before I forgot about them! Brett stayed in the room to relax. After about 30 minutes in Greetings, I was getting burned out (one thing I learned on this trip is that Grace is QUITE the little shopper) so I agreed to meet the kids in 20 more minutes on a bench near Soaring.
While I was waiting for the kids an a cappella group of 4 men showed up and started to sing. I later found out their name is "Jondo." They were dressed as a security guard, a pilot, a baggage handler and a mechanic. I found them quite good and very amusing, and enjoyed watching them! During a break from one of their songs, I quietly asked them if they do anything for birthdays. Of course they said yes. I explained that my son was going to be joining me in a few minutes, and that we were celebrating his birthday on this trip. They asked me his name and age, and told me they'd look for him. 10 LONG minutes later Colin and Grace joined me. The guy that was dressed like a security guard came over to Colin and asked him if he was Colin. He then pulled Colin over to where the rest of the guys were. Colin later told me that he was so afraid that he was in trouble, being as the guy was a security guard...LOL They embarrassed the heck out of him, and I loved it! He stood there looking SO annoyed while they sang to him. About 1/2 way through the song one of the guys had Colin start to dance (to mimic what he was doing) and Colin FINALLY loosened up and went along with it...and even smiled, thank goodness! I think he thought it would be "uncool" to actually enjoy the attention. Grace and I just laughed and enjoyed the whole thing. Another magical moment brough to you by Disney
I didn't have my camera with me, but Grace loaned me her disposable one (sure hope the pics turn out). I wish we had brought the video camera on this trip. It would have been the icing on the cake! Needless to say I got grief from Colin about this for the rest of the trip, but secretly I think he enjoyed it!Brett joined us after it was over, he missed it :-( and he took the kids to see Eureka while I went back to the room to get a handle on packing us up for checkout tomorrow. They met me in the room when the parade was over, and we changed into long pants for the evening. Our plan was to spend the evening in DL and see the Believe fireworks. Once we got there (about 5 or so) we quickly changed our minds! We waded through the throngs of people and waited about 30 minutes to ride BTMMR. Finished that off and realized that we had to get out of there, it was just WAY too crowded for us! We headed back to DCA, rode Screamin' (yes again), Soaring (yes again), and had a bite to eat at the pizza place way back in the corner of Paradise Pier. The evening performance of Eureka was just coming through there, so we sat outside and ate while watching it, again. I saw it on the last trip and frankly it didn't do much for me. Seeing it again didn't change my opinion of it. Colin likes it though.
At 8:45 it was time to head back to DL to stake out a spot for the 9:30 fireworks. I was NOT going to miss this, we missed it our last trip. Everyone was REALLY tired (remember we'd been going since 8 this morning), but I really wanted to see it! Brett decided to skip it and go back to the room and relax, and we both encouraged the completely fried kids to join him, but of course they wanted to go with me. The 3 of us ended up with a spot right in front of the castle, which became a VERY small spot as time wore on. It was annoying to see folks crowd in (and I do mean CROWD in), even as late as 1/2 way through the show. One father in front of us was getting very vocal about these folks. Very. He was big, heavy and mean looking, and I'm sure more than one person was a little intimidated!
The fireworks were awesome! Just terrific! I loved the music they used, and the narration. At first Colin was unimpressed, as the fireworks are much smaller than at WDW (because of the castle size), and they start out rather subdued. They build up, and within a few minutes he was ohing and ahing with the best of them. I think Grace was just too tired to enjoy them, poor thing! They lasted probably 15 minutes, and I smiled ear to ear the entire time
I really liked the part at the beginning where the light representing Tink (looking like a firefly in the distance) is flying around, and the shooting stars. AWESOME! Of course watching Tink fly at the end is pretty neat too! Then it was time to attempt to leave the park. YIKES! It was wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder. We decided to stay put for a bit till the crowds thinned. Grace looked like she was going to fall sleep right then and there. Had visions of me trying to carry her out of the park....NOT a pretty sight! Then Colin decided he really needed to use the facilities, so we had no option but to go with the flow and head to the restrooms on Main Street. That done we decided to try and go through DCA to our room since it was the shorter path. We had to really hustle to get over there by 10 (the gal at the gate looked at us as though we were crazy until I explained why we were entering DCA so late, and as we walked into the park, the announcement was made that the park was closed. Great timing!BTW, the horrible burnt bread smell at the entry that was so bad on our last trip was gone this trip. Thank heavens! That was really nasty stuff!
Off to bed to rest up for our last day :-( Thanks for reading!
