TR: My Birthday Trip 12-17 Oct 16 or, How I Learned to Like My Own Company Again - Finished

[Canadian Harmony]

First was Cinderella. Sweet as always.



Then Ariel and we talked about swimming home (because I'm from an Island and all).



And finally Snow White who was lovely and kind and just the nicest.



Hmmm... hey! I haven't been on the carousel yet! I tried for Jingles, but the group in front of me got to her first. I had a nice ride and then got a photo of Jingles at least.







I thought it odd, though. It's called King Arthur's Carousel... but the cartoon panels above the middle were all from Sleeping Beauty... weird.



I wanted a ride on Roger Rabbit, but on the way, Mickey and the Magical Map was starting! I slithered in just during the opening number. What a great show!





HUGE cheer for Pocahontas.



Another for Mulan.



And another for Rapunzel and Flynn.





Under The Sea!! So great!



The biggest cheer was for Stitch though.



Tiana was amazing! My favourite song from the movie.



And the whole thing was just awesome! I really want to show the girls this next year.

Unfortunately, RR was down, so I wandered back over to Zocalo for dinner. By the time I was done, it was dark and time for my BTMRR ride. But first... one more FP for an hour after.



I sat around and just absorbed the atmosphere before taking my last ride for a while.



continued in the next post.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I cut through Fantasy Land back to Toon Town as the RR ride was up again and I really wanted to catch it.



I heard music and the Tangled tower was lit up!



The Car Toon Spin was up!



And the fountain looks so nice lit up at night.



Toon Town was closing at 8pm that night, so I had a good 20 minutes. It was basically a walk-on ride and I met a really nice couple in the line up behind me. We chatted about MHP tactics because they were going on Wednesday. They'd never been to DCA, so I gave them hints about the rides for their Monday. They were there for the first time without their kids and were really enjoying themselves too.



Cool theming all through the line. Love it.



Finally time for a spin!



Literally!





It was time for my trip, so I headed over to Tomorrowland. I browsed through Star Traders a bit, then got into line for my last ride.



This time we did a pod race and then went into Naboo (second time for Naboo, first time for the pod race for me! What fun!). I'm hoping for Hoth next year.







A couple more magic windows on the way out... Frog Princess



Toy Story.



And the posters on the other tunnel.

















Night night! Til tomorrow dear park.

 

[ADLFAN]

Wow- what a surprise and an awesome treat to get to check out the lounge at Club 33! I loved your pictures! I thought it was very cool that they built in some special effects, and that your host was so knowledgeable and could point them out. I love using my pilfered Disney pens, I always remember fun times!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thank you! Yes, completely out of the blue and the pen is being used at work all the time now.

I have one more day to get through, so I'll get to it tomorrow.

Glad you're enjoying the report. And I love Vancouver's USA arrival terminal. Just gorgeous!! I was on the phone at the time so no photos.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Sounds like a very magical birthday visit.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Monday dawned rainy and drizzly and crummy... but warm! I was getting picked up at noon at the hotel. I packed up and checked out, and they were kind enough to hold onto my luggage for me while I headed back to the park for 3 hours or so.

First things first... something to eat... I hadn't been in Downtown Disney since I'd arrived other than Uva on Thursday. I had planned on hitting the food trucks over the weekend but just didn't go due to forgetfulness.

First, a bit of retail therapy in the Disney Store. I'd already grabbed the Jack Skellington ornament I had broken last year (it's still wrapped up and will remain so until it goes on the tree!) and a Star Wars pin. This time I picked up charms for me and the girls, and a necklace for a friend that said "Princess". She loves all the princesses and asked for a 'sassy' princess magnet, but there weren't any! I think she'll like this necklace though. And I picked up some pretty filigree earrings for me - small silver Mickey heads on a drop earring. Really pretty and understated and about the most affordable ones I saw. I had a couple of gift cards to burn up too and the total wasn't too bad all things considered.

I'd never had anything from Ralph Brennan's so I headed there. I grabbed a bag of 4 beignets and a hot chocolate. Slightly over $10 so not as good of a value as Jolly Holiday, but those beignets were deeeelish!



I sat around checking out the square. Nothing was really open yet, and I had a gift card for BaB from last year, so I waited til 10 when they opened. I had wanted to go to the Lego store, but I couldn't afford anything in there so I decided not knowing what was there was best for now. We'll go back in June and grab my DD10 something then.



As you can see, it was drizzly and icky. I eventually went into Build a Bear and grabbed something for DD10 as she'd requested. Then I wandered through Vault28, and back down the street to the gates. As I passed through Security again, I took a couple pictures of the esplanade.





I checked the Disney App and realized Cruella would be out in 20 minutes!! Well I guess I'll head back into DLR for one last shot at the girl. I went to where she should be and saw Pluto and Goofy, but no CdV. I asked a CM and he said he hadn't seen her in the back but he'd check for me once Goofy went inside. I stood out of the rain in front of the Mad Hatter and eventually, after Pluto left and Mickey and Minnie headed my way, I talked to another CM.

She explained the App hadn't been updated - Cruella was at a fashion show for the day. Well I guess I'll track her down in June. She's pretty much the last villain who makes regular appearances that I needed. No worries.... what to do... Oh! I hadn't gone into the Great Moments area yet. And it's dry there, so off I went.



Now, I'm Canadian, but I can appreciate what Mr Lincoln did. I didn't know what to expect, but I really liked the history about the Park at the start. My dad was a steam train guy, so I know he would have really enjoyed the first area all about Walt's trains. I took some photos of the plaques and stuff.

First, The Bench!



And then the lovely photo I've seen copies of.



This is to the side and above The Bench.



The Park has come a long way since this was done!







Ugh, blurry. I'll have to retake it next year.



















next post - flying HOME!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Sounds like a very magical birthday visit.

Thank you. It was! I had a great time.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

By the time 11 rolled around, I was done. I headed back to the hotel and dried out in the lobby. Naturally, the sun came out about 15 minutes later.

I was picked up around 1215 instead of 1200 and the other two families were also flying to Vancouver on the same West Jet flight I was! Crazy. The driver was very chatty.

Traffic was good and we made it in plenty of time. The security entrance nearest the gate was at a 15 minute wait for some reason, so a lot of us headed down to the other entrance which moved a lot quicker. I think it would have helped to have had THREE agents at the desk, instead of one for the 'regular' line and one for the 'first class' line. Two for the regular line would have moved things along better.

At any rate, soon I was through security and headed for McDonald's for a bite. I appreciated the option of a side salad instead of fries for my burger. I wish they'd do that here. It was a nice day for a flight.





We boarded pretty much on time and got ready to go.



Hello Vancouver!



I caught this and thought it was pretty cool!



Touch down & landing!



I had a 4 hour lay-over before flying home at 10pm. I chatted with a friend for the majority of it - she lives in Vancouver - and napped a bit, and used the free wifi at YVR. It was a LOOOOONNNGGG wait. I finally landed in Victoria, grabbed my luggage and then my friend who runs a limo business took me home in his Tesla!! So cool!

I got home quite late - around 1130 - and hugged the kids to let them know I was home.

It was an amazing trip and I was blessed to have had the experiences I did. I hope you enjoyed the TR. Soon I'll be planning my PTR for June!

 

[Angrose]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! It sounded and looked absolutely wonderful and full of surprises! I go solo quite often since I've have my AP and I have been trying to do new things each time. I would love to know about the meet up group on Facebook. Which one is it? I will be there solo today and tomorrow so it would fun to have lunch with some like minded folks.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! It sounded and looked absolutely wonderful and full of surprises! I go solo quite often since I've have my AP and I have been trying to do new things each time. I would love to know about the meet up group on Facebook. Which one is it? I will be there solo today and tomorrow so it would fun to have lunch with some like minded folks.

I'm so glad you liked it!

The name of the group is Mice Chat Sundays in the Hub Meets at Disneyland. There are different people there each week and you just need permission from an admin to join.

I really liked going solo and I think if I needed to do so again I wouldn't have a problem with it. Next trip is with the family though.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi there! I just finished your TR. I enjoyed seeing all of your character interaction. DLR was my first Disney love. Thanks for sharing, it helps me get through my wait for our trip there for Christmas!!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

So glad you enjoyed it! I loved seeing all the characters this time around. They were so awesome to me. It felt weird at first, but soon I totally got into it and had a lot of fun. Christmas seems like such a fun time to go too! I love seeing everyone's photos from that time.