The trip when Grandma stole somebody's scooter (3/9-3/12/2019)

After Toy Story, it was time to go on RSR. It was about 9:45 pm at this point. The standby line for RSR was pretty short and we could have ridden on it w/o a FP if we wanted to. Grandma really enjoyed Carsland at night and thought all of the neon lights were pretty neat.

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ODD was now frustrated w/me for taking so many pictures. She said, "STOP with all of the pictures! You have tons of pictures of this stuff already! Let's go on the ride! COME ON!" So yeah, this was her turn to put her grumpy pants on. :rotfl: Our FP window was 9:25 - 10:00 pm. Before we got in the FP line, we parked Rosita at the RSR end of Carsland and told her we'd be back in a few minutes.

She shouted, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

Good gravy, seriously?

ODD said, "GRANDMA, WE'RE GOING ON RADIATOR SPRINGS RACERS. WE'LL BE BACK IN A FEW MINUTES!"

I love that kid. :thumbsup2

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We got off the ride pretty much right at 10:00 pm. So we made our way to the exit, did the short 5 min walk to the Park Vue Inn, made sure that Rosita & her scooter (not the stolen one) got to her room ok, and then went to our hotel room and went to bed! DH & YDD were both fast asleep with all of the lights on. LOL! They weren't kidding when they'd earlier said that they were tired! :laughing:
 
Oh! I almost forgot! On our way out of DCA that night, I stopped by the Chamber of Commerce to put in a thank you for a couple of CMs...the 2 CMs from the Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes from earlier in the afternoon and a CM at the FP entrance to Toy Story. ODD was annoyed with me because she was tired and wanted to go to bed. I asked Grandma if she wanted to go in with me, but she declined. I had a bit of a bad attitude about that...I was frustrated with her. I told Grandma why we were stopping, what I was going in to do and the reason why. She could not wrap her head around me telling her the reasons why I always try to put in a thank you for a CM at least once on our Disney trips.

She said, "But why would you do that?"
me: BECAUSE, GRANDMA, THE CMs WORK REALLY HARD HERE FOR NOT MUCH MONEY SO WE CAN HAVE A REALLY NICE TIME HERE. AND THANK YOU'S LIKE THIS HELP THEM GET PROMOTED. WE DO THIS BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT AND BECAUSE I WANT MY KIDS TO RECOGNIZE THAT COMING HERE IS A PRIVILEGE TO BE APPRECIATED.
Grandma: Oh.

o_O

I should have figured that it would just never occur to Grandma to do something nice for somebody else. :mic: It was the Grandma Show 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All about her all of the time. She never bought the kids an ice cream. Didn't even chip in $0.50 for the prescription card from the Shrunken Ned machine. So so incredibly frustrating. When I think about it too much, I can get pretty mad about it. >:(

Not once on this trip did she ever say thank you. The amount of cluelessness was just more than I could handle, I think. It's one thing when Grandma lives at her own place and does her own thing and we see her regularly. It's something entirely different when you have to travel with the person. But this trip is finally over and done and I told DH that the kids & I are not doing a trip like that with Grandma ANYWHERE ever again. I'm totally content with traveling with other family members. Just not Grandma. Rosita is way WAY too high maintenance!
 
So now we are on to Day 3 of our very interesting trip! Monday 3/11/2019!

We opted to start the day out at DCA since we started at DL the day before. Plus, we weren't able to go on a whole lot of stuff at DCA on Saturday afternoon/evening. So if Grandma was going to experience those other attractions, this morning would be a prime opportunity for that.

We were up at our "normal" time. I got up at 6:15, showered, got dressed, got my park bag all organized for the day. Then got ODD up. She showered & got dressed. We really appreciated the hotel room having a hair dryer in it because it was too chilly for her to be going outside with a wet head. Normally at home, she never bothers to use a hair dryer. So that was a nice little luxury! Then got DH up. YDD was dragging that morning, so I let her sleep in the longest. We called down to Grandma's room ~ 6:30 am. We were surprised to learn that she'd already been up for awhile and was all ready to go. Really? I thought for sure after 1.5 days at Disneyland, she'd be ready to sleep in because she'd be so tired.

As we learned on the way home, there was a reason for her being up so early! Stay tuned in order to find out more!

Kids had the usual...make your own waffles. I had a waffle, too. DH had eggs & sausage. Grandma carb loaded for breakfast.

I think we headed out around 7:30-7:40 am for DCA. Got to the Harbor Blvd-side of security and got screened as usual. Thank goodness that this time around, Grandma decided to leave her gigantic purse back at the hotel. But did she remember her reading glasses? Alas, no. So we all had to read menus to her instead. Good times! :rotfl2:We were pleasantly surprised to see that ALL of the security tables were open. I mean, the ENTIRE BANK/ROW of security screening tables were open. So no lines at all. That was kind of nice. I should have paid attention, though, because that was an omen of some really big crowds later in the day.

No, it couldn't possibly be, right? I mean, this was a Monday. Not a Saturday or Sunday! We'll see later!

Here's what security looked like:
Not too bad. Except we had to do our now "normal" watch and wait routine w/Grandma who, thanks to once again leaving her reading glasses at the hotel room, couldn't see the zipper on the ski jacket and was very insistent that she could do it herself. 5 minutes we waited there for Grandma to fumble with it. Hm, we're not even officially IN a Disney park yet and already the kids & I are getting SO frustrated!

So I made an executive decision...I handed DH his and his mother's park tickets and said, "Here. The kids & I are going over to DCA. Text me when you guys are in the park and come meet us."

So we left them there. Yes, I left my DH with Half Deaf & Half Blind Scooter-Driving Grandma while she took an entire century to zip up her jacket.
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Motivation is an amazing thing, though. Because you know what happened? Suddenly, both DH & Grandma were quite motivated to get moving a whole lot quicker without the rest of us there. We got in line at DCA 5 min before regular park opening, I think, or right at park opening. DH later said that he just zipped the stupid jacket for her. Thank you, honey, that's what should have happened like 10 minutes ago. Or here's a thought...have your mother NOT ZIP UP THE JACKET IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

The kids & I were all at the point where we had an attitude of "We no longer really care as much about Grandma having a good time. We're sick of the whole circus right now. We're just going to focus on our own enjoyment for the rest of today so we can endure the long car ride back home with her tomorrow." As we walked to Carsland, I got us Toy Story FPs...Neither DH or YDD had ridden this yet.
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But first, we went on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree...
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Big smiles all around with the exception of DH (who rode w/MIL). He looked like he wanted to be just about anywhere else but there. :rotfl:After Mater's, we tried Luigi's, but it was temporarily closed. It was closed for awhile that morning. Then when I checked repeatedly the rest of the day, the wait was 30-40 minutes. Forget it. Not waiting 40 minutes to ride Luigi's, no matter how adorable and fun that ride is. :mad:

So we walked back to Pixar Pier and rode on Toy Story using our FP. Same routine basically as the night before. Only this time, Grandma rode w/YDD, DH rode w/ODD, and I rode by myself.
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And you know what? No game is the same!
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I was in the same ride vehicle as DH & ODD. We were all amazed when I got the best in vehicle score! I beat DH! This never happens. He always beats me at video game stuff. LOL!
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Incredicoaster was not operational and it looked like they were inspecting the track at the loading area. No big deal, though, because none of us will ride any roller coasters that go upside down. We also avoided GotG. Went on that 2 summers ago when it first opened. Totally terrifying. I almost threw up on that ride. Never doing that one again!

We also skipped Goofy's Sky School. My kids & DH hate this ride. DH hates it because it's too cramped. The kids hate it because it feels like you're going to fly off the track. I never bother going on it because none of the rest of them enjoy it and the thing I love most about Disneyland is being able to be there with loved ones. We also skipped the entire rest of Pixar Pier. Our family has never been on the Terror Swings (Silly Symphony Swings), the Mickey Fun Wheel of Death, or the Flying Golden Bullet In The Sky. :rotfl2:On our very first family DL trip 6 years ago, we took the kids on Jumpin' Jellyfish and haven't bothered with that ever since...that ride is a big let down. Slow loader and the ride doesn't last very long. At ages 4 and 6 years old, my kids were totally bored with it and hated it.

So we went on Ariel's. Wait time posted was 5 min, but it was basically a walk on. On Saturday afternoon & evening, the wait time was 30-45 minutes for this.
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Everybody enjoyed Ariel's. Now it was time to use our FP for Soarin'. This was a Grandma request because she enjoyed it so much on Saturday evening.

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This time around, instead of having Rosita park her scooter and walk in, we told her to just ride the scooter in the whole way. That worked out great...except when it was time to EXIT the ride. ROSITA TOOK, LIKE, FOREVER to get back on the scooter and out of Soarin'. I mean, it was several minutes. There were probably a hundred other park guests waiting for her to get out of the ride area so they could go in and sit down. She was totally oblivious. We should have just had her walk in like we'd done on Saturday evening.

Before we left the Grizzly Peak area, we pointed out some of the cool theme'ing to Grandma. She had to stop the scooter in order to look at it...because, you know, when she drove the scooter, she only looked at the ground directly in front of her. I know what you're thinking...."What?!" Yes, that's what we thought, too.o_O

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While we were loading on Soarin, though, I got us a FP for the 4 of us (no Rosita) to go on Indiana Jones. After Soarin,' almost everybody needed a bathroom break, so we stopped at the bathrooms that are right there near the Soarin' exit. We learned on this trip that in addition to taking forever to get going on the scooter, Grandma also takes forever to use the ladies room and takes 30 min in the morning to take a shower and get dressed.

It started to become a bit of a joke...people taking forever in the bathroom. YDD started the joke when on Sunday at lunch time, DH & Grandma couldn't be seated yet at the Blue Bayou because DH was in the bathroom for so long. YDD asked him, "Hey Daddy! What took so long? Was it a pool party or something?" :rotfl:

Then when Grandma would take forever in the bathroom, YDD would ask her, "Hey Grandma, what took so long? Did you get lost or were you having a pool party in there?" :rotfl:

Sadly, Half Deaf Death On Wheels Grandma didn't fully hear and didn't understand the joke. It made the rest of us chuckle, though. YDD even repeated the joke and yelled it out to her. It still didn't register.

So with everybody's bathroom needs fulfilled, we hopped over to Disneyland and said goodbye to DCA. We never tried any of the Food & Wine stuff on this trip. Having to deal with Grandma & going to multiple food booths, there really was no way that DH or I would have been able to try any Food & Wine food anyway. Could you just imagine the logistics of that with Death On Wheels Grandma? DH having to shout out to Grandma every menu item and description, along with the price. Grandma shouting back that it was all too expensive. Then Grandma having to park the scooter at every booth, get out of the scooter, order, pay, eat standing up (Grandma eat standing up? Forget it), then back on the scooter and drive a few feet down the row to do it all over again.

No thank you. DH & I both decided that we'd rather have a root canal.:rotfl2:
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So we (DH, me, kids) got in the FP return line for Indiana Jones at 11:06 am, as you can see from the photo above. The IJ queue is SO well done. We never get tired of it. Feast your eyes on this...
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I mean, doesn't it feel like you've been enveloped by the jungle?

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All 4 of us just love this ride to death. I always have a big stupid grin on my face the entire time we're riding on it. We definitely prefer this over Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom in Florida.
 
After IJ, we went to collect Grandma. Everybody was starting to get hungry for lunch, so we left Adventureland, walked through New Orleans Square, and ended up at Critter Country for this!
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The kids know the drill by now. ODD said, "Mama, YDD & I will go get a table by the water." Awesome! Thanks, kiddo! The kids found a good water-side table on the 2nd "floor." I prefer sitting on the 2nd floor instead of the lower level because you have a better view of the Rivers of America. The kids lucked out and even had found a table with a spot right next to it for Grandma to park her scooter.

DH & I ordered. ODD had the honey-spiced chicken sandwich. I had the same & gave my fries to YDD. YDD had the chicken nuggets off of the kids' menu. We swapped...she had my fries and I ate her fruit. The great thing about the quick service locations is they don't care if you're not age 3-9 and ordering a kids' menu item. DH had the BBQ double cheeseburger. Our original plan was for DH and I to try and stick to keto on this trip. But temptation got the better of us and we through that all out the window on the first day. No worries, though, because we're back in the saddle again now that we're back home. :-)

DH enjoyed his cheeseburger. The kids liked their meals. I thought that the chicken sandwich was just ok. I added some mayo to mine because it seemed a bit dry. The funnel cakes looked tempting, but I passed because if I was going to carb up today like I already was, I wanted GOOD desserts and didn't want a churro-flavored funnel cake.

The weather was pretty decent. It was a mix of clouds with some sun peeking through here and there. But not too cold and not too hot. Overall, lunch was very enjoyable. Where we were sitting, you could see the top part of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. That was pretty exciting. I kept talking about it every time we saw it. Drove my kids crazy. LOL! During our meal, the Columbia sailing ship floated by. And then the Mark Twain went past us, too. We waved to everybody on the boats. You could hear the sounds of the train in the background. It's just so wonderful and relaxing. Next to the French Market, Hungry Bear is one of my favorite spots in all of Disneyland.

Almost all of us were having a lovely time at lunch. Except for Grandma. We got to the Hungry Bear just at the right time. I've figured out that around 11:30 am is the sweet spot. Around 11:45 am is when people start to show up in droves and then it's harder to get a table by the water. Grandma parked her scooter next to the table and we had plenty of room for the 5 of us to sit around one table. Grandma picked a chair right next to her scooter.

Previously, while ordering, it was a bit comical. The whole entire trip, she had a hard time grasping how the quick service restaurant drill works at DL. You know...order, pay, they give you a receipt, you walk up to the "pick up your food counter," hand them the receipt, the CM gathers your food, hands it to you, you walk away w/your tray to go sit down and eat.

Like with EVERY other meal experience so far, DH read the menu out loud to her because, once again, Grandma left her reading glasses at the hotel room. Since DH was helping Grandma, the CM at the cash register thought that DH was paying. Thankfully, DH said, "Oh, no, she's got it," then turned to his mom and shouted, "MOM, YOU NEED TO PAY FOR YOUR MEAL NOW." Grandma said really loud, "I have to pay?"

Yes, Grandma, there's no such thing as a free lunch. :rotfl:

Then the fun of Grandma picking up her food began. DH told her to take the receipt and go up to the counter & hand them the receipt. She looked at him with this blank expression and said, "Ok," but didn't do as instructed. She just stood there blocking the way of the other family behind her, thus preventing them from ordering. So DH took the bull by the horns and said REALLY loud, "MOM! YOU HAVE TO GO UP TO THE COUNTER AND HAND THEM THE RECEIPT OR YOU WON'T GET ANY FOOD!"

"I have to go up to the window?"

DH said, "YES! GO UP TO THE COUNTER AND HAND THEM THAT PIECE OF PAPER IN YOUR HAND!"

She said, "But this is my receipt."

DH said, "AND THEY NEED TO SEE IT BEFORE THEY GIVE YOU ANYTHING. JUST DO IT MOM, OK? NEVER MIND, JUST GIVE IT TO ME." And he took it out of her hand and gave it to the CM for her. This was all too complicated for Grandma.

Ok, so now we're situated at the table with our food and Grandma's scooter is parked and she's getting settled in her chosen chair next to her scooter. The 4 of us thought that everything was just fine and then Grandma gets up, takes her tray and goes to sit at the table behind us, mumbling something about how she can't get comfortable because there's not enough room. Well, all she had to do was speak up and ASK one of us if we could switch places. The kids even offered to switch places with her.

Then the martyr stuff started, "Oh no, I'm just fine over here by myself." I'd love to say that this is a 1-time occurrence w/Grandma, but she is known for her Scarlet O'Hara moments. DH chose to just ignore it because he was just as fed up with her by this point as the rest of us were. So we took her at her word that she was "just fine" and went on with our meal. We ooh'd and ah'd over the Columbia and the Mark Twain floating by. I turned around and pointed it out to Grandma, told her that she's missing a wonderful moment so TURN AROUND AND PLEASE LOOK! She looked up for a couple of seconds, said in a monotone voice, "Oh that's nice" and then went back to focusing on her food. :mic: Whatever.

The rest of us still enjoyed lunch anyway despite Ms. Drama Queen's pouting.

With our meals all finished, everybody took turns going to the bathroom on the lower level of the Hungry Bear. Earlier, I had snagged FP for HM, so we went on that next.
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According to my phone, it looks like we went on it at 12:22!

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There was some minor bickering between the kids, DH & I about who was going to ride w/Deaf Deathmobile Grandma. both of the kids wanted to ride with me, but there isn't enough room in a Doom Buggy for the 3 of us. So that meant that either 1 of them would have to ride with Grandma or 1 of them would have to ride alone...and those were a big flat out "NO!" from both kids. Thankfully, Grandma couldn't hear any of this bickering, so she was completely oblivious. We settled with DH & Grandma riding together once again, the kids riding together, and me riding by myself.

I don't think I rode anything with DH this whole entire trip. The kids wished that they would have been able to take turns more riding with DH and I. I missed that, too. They love their grandmother a lot and they really enjoyed this Disneyland trip, but they did not enjoy having Grandma with us for the trip.

And as we'd done before, I had Grandma get off the scooter at the HM entrance then I parked the scooter by the exit. As you can see from the background in this photo, the crowds by now were REALLY getting a little crazy. After HM, DH, Grandma, & YDD wanted to take a break at the hotel. Grandma was getting frustrated & grumpy as were the rest of us. And the crowds were SO much more than on Saturday and Sunday. ODD & I wanted to go on Matterhorn in the single rider line, so ODD was my ride buddy. Plus, I have a friend whose aunt is special friends with Pluto and she really wanted me to take a photo with Pluto before we went home. I wanted to try finding him in Toon Town before ODD & I went back to the hotel. According to the Disneyland app, he was supposed to be in Toon Town starting at 1:00.

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To give you a little peek into how crowded it was that afternoon at DL, I took some screen shots of it that Monday while we were all resting back at the hotel. Check out how long the lines were!
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Can that be right? 50 minutes for It's A Small World? That's insane, right? And look at these...
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30 minutes for the train? You know it's crowded when it's 40 minutes for POTC! So I looked over at DCA to see what those lines looked like. Just as bad...
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90 minutes on Toy Story and AN HOUR FOR MICKEY'S DEATH WHEEL!

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I am SO GLAD that we took a break at the hotel that day!
 


As you all just saw, we had a little window into some grumpiness and Theme Park Fatigue that was bubbling up within Grandma. It was VERY understandable. Even though she was on a scooter, she did more walking over those 3 days than she did normally at home. She lives a pretty sedentary lifestyle and is NOT used to much physical activity. Plus, driving a scooter requires you to have all of your wits about you. And even if you're not driving a scooter, walking through a theme park requires you to be on your toes. I totally expected some fatigue on her part.

However, we didn't learn until we were home that Grandma was dealing with some neck pain. How come she never said anything? That's what she does. So here's what happened:

On Tuesday, we checked out of the hotel around 9:30 am-ish and hit the road to drive back home. Stopped in Palm Springs for an early lunch. Gassed up on the AZ side of Blythe & were grateful again for much cheaper gas prices. :thumbsup2 Eventually got home to AZ. Grandma spent the night at our house & the following morning, DH drove her home to her house (she doesn't live close to us in AZ...it's a fairly decent drive to get to her). Right after we got home, DH bounded out the door to run an errand. And that's when Grandma's Scarlet O'Hara came out again. She had been, overall, pretty quiet during the entire drive home to our house. We just figured that she, like the rest of us, were tired from a very busy 3 days.

The moment after DH left to run an errand, Scarlet started moaning & groaning. It was obvious that she was in a lot of pain from something. Over several decades now, every once in awhile, she gets a kink in her neck or something and has a lot of intense muscle pain in her neck. It lasts several days and she basically has to lay in bed the entire time.

I asked her if she was ok. More histrionics with "Oh I'm fine. It's just a little neck pain." Sorry, but with that much noise making, it's very clear that it's not just a little pain. She admitted then that she'd been in agony all day long.

I asked her if she needed an urgent care or an emergency room. She said, "No. I've done that before. All they'll do is tell me to go home and rest and take some ibuprofen. What I really need is my neck brace thing but that's at home."

I told her that I wish she had said something earlier because DH had some ibuprofen in his bag & there was no need for her to suffer in silence for hours. She could have had some earlier. She said, "I had ibuprofen in my bag, too." Ok that's great, but she never actually took any until right then.

So what caused this? MIL said that the pillows at the hotel were too fluffy and weren't flat like her pillow on her bed at home. So every successive night, she got less and less sleep because her neck was starting to hurt so much. And that morning (Tuesday morning), it was so bad that she had been awake since 4:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep because of the pain.

Yet there we were more than 12 hours later and she was just then taking ibuprofen or Tylenol for it. She'd been in pain for basically 3 days and didn't do anything about it until the neck pain was so bad that she could hardly move. She decided to put a towel around her neck for....I don't know...maybe a make shift neck brace? Oh brother.

I asked her why didn't she say something to the front desk at the hotel. "I didn't think to do that" Seriously?
I asked her why did she wait until we were home and DH was gone to say something. "I didn't want to bother him." But it's ok to bother the rest of us?
I told her again that I wished she had said something much earlier because had we known she was in so much discomfort, we would have tried to help her so she could be more comfortable. Told her that we can't help her if she doesn't tell us that something is wrong. Scarlet sighed and said, "I know."

And was her neck hurting on Monday at Disneyland? YES! All day, in fact.
How come she didn't say something then? "I don't know." :mic:>:(:scared1:

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Never again am I doing a trip like that with Scooter Stealer. I'm still glad that we did the trip with her so she could fulfill a life long dream. And you know what the weird thing was? On the drive home, DH blurted out to Grandma, "Do you want to go again next year?" Of course, Scarlet O'Hara the Scooter Stealer said, "YES!" ODD said, "But we're going with Friend 1 and Friend 2 to Star Wars Land next year." DH said, "That's ok. Grandma can come too." When DH returned home from his errand that evening when we were all home, I talked to DH in private and told him that the kids & I would not be going to DL again with his mom...AND that Friend 1 & Friend 2 have stated that while they like Grandma, they do not want to go to DL with her...so if DH wants Grandma to go again, he can take her himself or convince his sister to join him.

And we all know that will never happen for all of the reasons mentioned above!

In the next post...more fun & adventures on Monday at Disneyland!
 
So now we are on to Day 3 of our very interesting trip!

OMG it's only day three??

As we learned on the way home, there was a reason for her being up so early! Stay tuned in order to find out more!

Uh oh...I'm nervous!

So we went on Ariel's. Wait time posted was 5 min, but it was basically a walk on. On Saturday afternoon & evening, the wait time was 30-45 minutes for this.

When we went in 2016, the first few days were cool (June Gloom), but by the end it was record breaking heat wave temps over 100. There was one day we rode Ariel three or four times in a row solely for the a/c and it was a walk on, thankfully:rotfl::rotfl:

So what caused this? MIL said that the pillows at the hotel were too fluffy and weren't flat like her pillow on her bed at home. So every successive night, she got less and less sleep because her neck was starting to hurt so much. And that morning (Tuesday morning), it was so bad that she had been awake since 4:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep because of the pain.

Told her that we can't help her if she doesn't tell us that something is wrong.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

That's so frustrating. My great grandma was this way, part of it was the way she'd been raised - there was no point in complaining, b/c nothing could have been done about it anyway. She was never doing it to play the martyr or be dramatic though, she was just toughing it out (I do the same thing, but at least I'm self aware, LOL!!) and trying to avoid causing problems.

My grandma on the other hand (her daughter) would do it just to be dramatic.

It's like dealing with a little kid, "use your words! We can't help you if we don't know why you're crying!"
 
Wow, you are on the ball! I can't believe how much you've already gotten documented! I've been trying to catch up. :) Did you ever figure out why Monday was so crowdd? That's crazy! I'm sorry you had such a complicated time with Grandma, and yes, it does sound like having an extra (small) child. I'm still glad though, that she got to go and experience those things with you, and I hope you get blessings or good karma from the difficulties you put up with while giving her the opportunities! It sounds like your kids were mostly good sports dealing with her, and I hope everyone had some good fun anyway! I am considering inviting my MIL to come with the kids and I sometime in the future, though she would stay in a room with us, and DH would -not- be coming on that trip. He can't deal with his mother in close quarters for very long without losing it! But she isn't that old (62?) and I don't have any issues with her, so it would probably be a fun trip. I don't think she could afford it on her own very well, but she could probably save up enough for her tickets and most of her food. We'll have to see if that ever happens! I can't believe your DH was willing to invite her on the next trip again right away though. Aw, bless his crazy little heart. :) <3
I loved your description of lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. I'm going to have to look into their menu (DH has some food allergies) and see if we might do a meal there Tuesday (Apr 30th), since we'll have MM at 8 am, and probably ready for a sit down break by 11:30. It sounds relaxing! We're not planning to eat many meals in the park, but that sounds like a nice option.
 
Wow, you are on the ball! I can't believe how much you've already gotten documented! I've been trying to catch up. :) Did you ever figure out why Monday was so crowdd? That's crazy! I'm sorry you had such a complicated time with Grandma, and yes, it does sound like having an extra (small) child. I'm still glad though, that she got to go and experience those things with you, and I hope you get blessings or good karma from the difficulties you put up with while giving her the opportunities! It sounds like your kids were mostly good sports dealing with her, and I hope everyone had some good fun anyway! I am considering inviting my MIL to come with the kids and I sometime in the future, though she would stay in a room with us, and DH would -not- be coming on that trip. He can't deal with his mother in close quarters for very long without losing it! But she isn't that old (62?) and I don't have any issues with her, so it would probably be a fun trip. I don't think she could afford it on her own very well, but she could probably save up enough for her tickets and most of her food. We'll have to see if that ever happens! I can't believe your DH was willing to invite her on the next trip again right away though. Aw, bless his crazy little heart. :) <3
I loved your description of lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. I'm going to have to look into their menu (DH has some food allergies) and see if we might do a meal there Tuesday (Apr 30th), since we'll have MM at 8 am, and probably ready for a sit down break by 11:30. It sounds relaxing! We're not planning to eat many meals in the park, but that sounds like a nice option.

I have a friend who has celiac disease and we've eaten there with her. They had a gluten-free menu and she was able to eat at Hungry Bear with no problems.

My kids were pretty good sports about the whole trip. They complained in private or out of Grandma's ear shot.
 
... Did you ever figure out why Monday was so crowdd?..
I loved your description of lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. I'm going to have to look into their menu (DH has some food allergies) and see if we might do a meal there...
Mondays are just crowded now (as you already know from reading the other board), but that week was AZ school break, so that made for a crowded week in general. As for your DH's food allergies, depending on what they are, you can look at the menus ahead of time to see if there are any major problems to avoid. If you dine during off peak hours, you can always ask to speak with someone from the kitchen about hidden ingredients or about having something customized. Just be aware that customizing food can take a while sometimes, so plan for that. DLR's always been really good about working with my allergies, so I would think that your DH should be fine.
 
Thank goodness it was basically only a three day trip! Well, 3 days not including the day we spent driving back home. I don't think I could have handled much more. DH & I chatted about us going out to southern CA some time this summer to visit relatives and he's already talking now about bringing Grandma with us. Nope, then I am staying home if I have to be in a car with her for that long!
 
... DH & I chatted about us going out to southern CA some time this summer to visit relatives and he's already talking now about bringing Grandma with us...
Sounds like maybe you did too good a job with this trip! Perhaps DH needs to take his mom on a weekend by himself to get an idea of just how much you really did on this trip and how he won't be able to travel without you! When he realizes that he can't plug in his earbuds and tune out because you're taking care of things, he might rethink his idea of taking his mom on more trips...
 
Sounds like maybe you did too good a job with this trip! Perhaps DH needs to take his mom on a weekend by himself to get an idea of just how much you really did on this trip and how he won't be able to travel without you! When he realizes that he can't plug in his earbuds and tune out because you're taking care of things, he might rethink his idea of taking his mom on more trips...
Right?!?
 
After HM, DH, YDD, and Grandma went back to the hotel room. It was almost 12:45, I think, on Monday 3/11. YDD changed her mind with Matterhorn and wanted to lay down and watch TV instead, so ODD & I said our good-byes to the rest of our group and we headed off toward Fantasyland. At 12:23 pm, this is what our next FPs looked like:

I got FP for Soarin' for DH & Grandma and the original plan was YDD was going to go on DL rides w/ODD & I.

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So ODD & I went over to Matterhorn with the intent to go in the Single Rider line. We got to Matterhorn and learned that the Single Rider lines were temporarily closed because they were all full! They told us to try back in 15-20 min. Ok, no problem...it's almost 1:00 pm anyway and according to the Disneyland app, Pluto is supposed to be in Toon Town from 1:00 - 3:30 pm. We got to Toon Town...which was MOBBED with families and small children. And just walking to Toon Town from the Matterhorn was seriously insane that afternoon. It was like wall to wall people.

We sat down next to Goofy's camper while we waited for Pluto. This is a quick service restaurant. I think they sell slushees here and other snacks.
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So 1:00 pm came and went and there was no Pluto. We searched all over Toon Town and still no Pluto. Waited around another 10-15 min and even asked a CM, but he didn't know where Pluto had run off to. So we decided to give up and head back to Matterhorn. In just those 20 minutes, the crowds got even worse! But we finally got in the Matterhorn single rider line. ODD & I really enjoyed it.
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After Matterhorn, ODD & I were both sick and tired of all the people, so we decided to leave. And we had the brilliant idea of taking the train from Fantasyland/Toon Town station to Main Street station. Well, there was a bit of a problem because the app said that it was a 30 min wait for the train. And some people had clearly been waiting there for a very long time. ODD and I waited 5 min and decided, "Forget it, let's just walk back." So we trudged through from the very back to the very front of the park and then walked 5 min to our room at the hotel.

And we were VERY grateful to no longer be in either theme park by that point!
 
We all had a nice long rest that afternoon. We **think** that Grandma took a nap but given what we learned the following day about her neck pain, it's very possible that she wasn't able to relax much. DH took a nap. I took a nap. And about 10 min before we were going to head back to the parks, YDD finally fell asleep. She was totally tuckered out & had fought sleep all afternoon in the hotel room. I mean, looking at the kid, you could TELL she was tired and she was like "No! I'm fine!" :-)

Around 5 pm-ish, I think, is when it started to rain. Sprinkling/drizzling. It wasn't too bad, but it was enough rain that we all needed our rain jackets, ponchos, and umbrellas. Scarlet the Scooter Stealer at first decided that she was just fine and didn't need head protection. Then when we were halfway through the hotel parking lot headed toward the crosswalk, she decided that maybe she wanted to use an umbrella. What? o_O She could barely drive the scooter with 2 hands and now she wanted to do it one-handed? DH tried reasoning with her but she wouldn't listen. Eventually, I stepped in and pointed out that she has a hood on that big ski jacket she was wearing and THAT is water-proof. Problem solved.

Earlier in the afternoon, I had the kids each take a shower because I knew that neither of them would want to shower in the evening after we got back from the parks. Nor would they want to shower in the following morning on departure day. After the showers were all done, DH asked, "So what's the plan for dinner?" I don't know, honey, what do you think? He said, "Oh anything's fine." No, he didn't really think that anything was fine because earlier in the day, he'd commented about how he was getting tired of theme park food.

I asked him if Grandma had any opinions...he said to not bother asking her because she'll just say "Whatever. Anything's fine."

So Ms. Cruise Director here got on her thinking cap. Hm, ok, so it's raining out. And we don't have a TS reservation anywhere. Nor do we want to pay TS rates for dinner anyway. So since it's raining, all of the inside and covered areas at the quick service locations will all be busy and it'll be hard to find a place to sit. Therefore, that rules out most of DCA and DL. And, thus, leaves us with the hotels or DTD. We settled on La Brea Bakery Express. YDD announced that she didn't want anything there and she wasn't that hungry yet for dinner anyway and "Hey Mama, remember you promised that I could have a Disneyland ice cream today."

Oh dang it, that's right. Ok, kiddo, I'll get you one later from the Gibson Girl shop on Main Street. But wait...she just announced that she's too tired to go on any rides this evening...she really WANTS to go on rides w/ODD and I, but her feet are so tuckered out. Ok, so we went to Plan C: all 5 of us go to La Brea Bakery Express, 4 of us eat there, then ODD & I head off for rides while DH, Grandma, & YDD go into DL for Gibson Girl ice cream. Ice cream for dinner? Sure! It's Disneyland. You can't have ice cream for dinner all of the time. But once is fine with us! :-)

Yes, in the rain. :rotfl2:

When we first got to La Brea Bakery Express, it wasn't raining, but after we sat down under a huge umbrella (and they had the heaters running!), it started to rain a bit. Not that hard. But it was enough such that it was driving EVERYONE out of the parks. Seriously, there was a steady stream of people leaving both parks. ODD looked at that and said, "Hey, check it out. Everybody's leaving. The rides will be great tonight!" I think that we were literally the only people eating there. The weather drove everyone away!

ODD had the tomato soup in a bread bowl. I had the pepperoni pizza...YDD normally is a pizza kid, but I don't think she would have cared much for this pizza. It was just ok. DH had the grilled cheese & tomato soup combo. Grandma had tomato soup in a bread bowl, too.

Then when everybody was done eating, we did the normal routine of "Anybody need a bathroom?" ODD went first. Then Grandma decided that she needed the ladies room. Heads up...the La Brea Bakery Express bathrooms only have 2 stalls in them. And when there's 4 people waiting, it takes forever. Especially when you have 1 of those bathroom users as Grandma who...as YDD puts it...is in there so long that you think she's having a pool party or something. :lmao:Then *I* needed to use the ladies room, but the line was too long and I wanted to go on rides so I just waited until we got into the park.

We all went to the DL main entrance together. After we got into the main gate, the plan was for ODD & I to head to the train station so we could take the train to New Orleans Square and then head off to a ride. But Grandma got confused, thought that she was going with us, so she headed off toward Main Street Station, not realizing or paying attention to what was going on or where she was going. All of us were yelling at her to stop. DH said, "MOM! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? WE'RE GOING DOWN MAIN STREET. TO GET YDD AN ICE CREAM. YOU HAVE TO GO THIS WAY!"

Then Half Deaf Death on Wheels Grandma heads toward the curb at full speed, almost running off the raised curb. Almost really getting hurt. I've never heard DH yell so loud before.

"MOM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP! YOU'RE ABOUT TO GO OFF THE CURB!"

And you know what? It was still a tad crowded because the parade was JUST about to start. So she almost drove her scooter directly into a group of people. Oh. My. Goodness. She seriously did not see that there was a curb. After this trip, no more scootering at theme parks for Grandma. She's a danger to herself and others! DH explained to Grandma how we were splitting up, WHY we were splitting up, and where he, YDD & she were headed. Then I gave YDD a big hug and I asked DH to get YDD whatever the heck she wants...as big an ice cream as she feels like...and maybe get another treat for her to have back at the room later. THEIR plan was to just have ice cream and then head back to the room. My & ODD's plan was to go on rides all evening until the park closed. I asked ODD if she was sure that she was up for it. She said, "Yes! I didn't come all this way to sit in a hotel room all evening on our last day at Disneyland. I want to go on rides!"
 
Once we had split up, ODD & I breathed a huge sigh of relief. We got on board the next train! And said a little prayer for YDD for having to put up with Grandma that evening. YDD told me the following morning that her ice cream was really good. She had 2 scoops of what she thought was the best vanilla and chocolate ice cream ever. She said that DH had 2 scoops...and then when they were almost done eating, then Grandma decided that SHE wanted some ice cream. And then they had to sit there "forever" (her words!) and watch Grandma eat her ice cream. YDD said, "Mama! She takes FOREVER to eat! Daddy & I were all done and we wanted to leave and I wanted to go watch TV at the hotel with Daddy and we could have left already but Grandma was still eating. How come she didn't get ice cream when Daddy got ours?" Yes, kiddo, exactly.
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Once ODD & I got off at New Orleans Square, we then walked to BTMRR because I had FPs for us.
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It was the WILDEST RIDE IN THE WILDERNESS! YEEHAW! Seriously, such a fun ride. As you can see, we went on that at 6:41 pm. Then ODD wanted some dessert. I think we either went to Gibson Girl or we stopped at the Tropical Hideaway for her to get another Dole Whip. No wait...we got her a Dole Whip and then I got ice cream from Gibson Girl. Then we sat and chatted and ate for awhile. And THEN we on HM using FP...
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It was still raining on and off, but not too bad. But things were definitely starting to clear out A LOT! Right after I scanned our HM FP, I then got Buzz Lightyear FP, so we headed to Tomorrowland after HM.

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Then I got us an IASW FP for I think 9-10 pm or 9:15-10:15 pm. Just as we were about to go over to IASW, that FP changed to a Multiple Experiences FP. Why? Because of fireworks & that stupid Mickey's Mix Magic show (which projects onto the front of IASW, so they shut that whole ride down...no loading new riders during the show).

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