Canadian Harmony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
In real estate, it's all about location. For this trip it was all about timing. From start to finish - timing played a large part in our journey.
We began in Victoria, by way of Calgary. We had a weekend there for a family event. Who are we? Let me introduce...
B - Dad. He loves the corn dogs and believes the scariest ride is Mr Toad's Wild Ride.
M1 - Mum. That'd be me. My favourite snack is the Mickey Bar but I'm quite happy to eat my way around the parks at all times. My favourite ride in DLR is BMTRR and in DCA it's Incredicoaster.
R - 15 year old daughter #1. She is firmly in teen-mode, but still wavers into child-mode. I love it when she grabs my hand and the look on her face when she sees a character she loves melts my heart. Her favourite ride is probably Pirates. She loves Captain Jack and all the Pirate-y things. She can eat all the fries at all the restaurants and be a happy girl.
M2 - 13 year old daughter #2. She is also wavering between teen and child, but is more of a teen than I wish she was. Her favourite snack is popcorn - the kind at the carts, not the kind in the bags. Her favourite ride is the faster, scarier the better. Right now, that's Guardians and Incredicoaster.
So, the first thing we did in Calgary was hit Cross Iron Mills mall for a Cinderella key, but they weren't there because it was an outlet store. But that didn't stop us from buying things early (and at a discount!). Then we hit Hot Topic and I got the LAST "Child" Teva (?) mug. Love it. Used it all the time. Got tons of compliments on it too.
We shopped around for a good hour, maybe two, and then caught Onward. we really enjoyed the show. I cried, of course.
The rest of the weekend was about family, so I'll pass over that part. I'm sad I didn't get to meet up with Timon and her family like I had hoped to do.
The next morning, early early, we went back to the Calgary airport where it was -18C. Why do people live where your face can freeze? It was so so so so cold.
We ended up on the airplane and had a smooth flight to Vancouver. Then things got interesting. We got on a bus and it took us closer to our departure terminal and we went through the border process and continued on to the next terminal and the gate. We grabbed a quick breakfast, then waited for our flight south.
That flight got us to Santa Ana and then we had a longer than usual wait for our shuttle to the hotel. Usually it takes less than 10 minutes but this time it was closer to 30. We were finally at the Tropicana on South Harbour around 2:30. Check in is at 4, so we checked our bags and headed to the parks. We had decided to go to DCA first.
Even in the afternoon, the lines were longer than I had thought they'd be. But, we were happy to be there! It was 25 degrees - quite the difference in temperatures from that morning!
We had the munchies, and dinner was at 5, so we decided to get something from Clarabella's. R & and I shared a kitchen sink, M2 and B each had a sprinkle waffle cone.
While we were enjoying the sun, Daisy came by and tried to help B read the park map.
She seemed to like what M was nibbling on too.
The first ride M2 wanted was the Incredicoaster. R hadn't ridden it yet, and didn't feel like riding it this time, so it was just me and M2.
I had purchased 5 day Park Hoppers with Max Pass for everyone, but because I didn't think I was coming back twice in a year, I didn't put Max Pass on my Flex Pass. So, once I managed to get it on for the day, we headed to the Single Rider Line.
We had only a 10 minute wait and then we were on our ride! M2 ended up on the left car up at the front, and I was on the right car, near the back.
We decided to hit up Racers as our second ride, and once again hit up the single rider line, but this time it was all of us. R & I were in one car, with B and M2 in different cars again.
We got the paint job.
We won our race against M2. She was not impressed.
Had a bit of time for photos on Route 66 with my main man.
Now it was time for check-in, so we headed over. It took us 13 minutes from Racers to the Tropicana. There was a bit of a mix up with my credit card and after 35 minutes of being passed from department to department, to say I was frustrated is a bit of an understatement. FINALLY things got sorted out, then we put our bags in the room and headed back for our reservation at Carthay Circle.
In case you didn't know, Disney Dining has shortened their hours from 7-7, to 9-5. Naturally, our reservation was for 5:10, and Dining was no help at all as the line was down. I called the main info number, pressed two for AP holders, and by the time I got someone on the line, we were going through security. I could barely hear her but asked her to please call Carthay directly and let them know we'd be a bit late but still on our way.
We made it. And after the afternoon I had, I REALLY needed a drink. We had a bit of a wait, not long, and then headed upstairs where we were sat in the 'family' area to the right in the back. We had another incredible meal, a daiquiri, an appetizer, and a delicious dessert.
Appetizer
Duck dinner
Chicken meatloaf
Decadent dessert
Next up - Guardians FP for M2 and me.
I hadn't seen this painting before and thought it was awesome.
On our way back from our Guardians FP, we saw Spidey, so of course, we had to stop for a visit.
Then we visited Monstropolis.
And then one last FP for Incredicoaster. This time, with R in tow as her FIRST ride, in the dark. Such a brave girl, and she loved the ride (we're behind the hands).
And of course, a Cookie Num-Num was to be had before heading back for the night.
It had been a LONG day. We were wiped out and so headed back to the hotel around 9. M2 headed to the pool and we were surprised to see the fireworks from our balcony and from the pool. It was great! The hot tub sure felt good on my feet.
We were all in bed and passed out by 1010 that night. Tomorrow we were hoping for a BG for RotR, so we needed some sleep to be there on time.
We began in Victoria, by way of Calgary. We had a weekend there for a family event. Who are we? Let me introduce...
B - Dad. He loves the corn dogs and believes the scariest ride is Mr Toad's Wild Ride.
M1 - Mum. That'd be me. My favourite snack is the Mickey Bar but I'm quite happy to eat my way around the parks at all times. My favourite ride in DLR is BMTRR and in DCA it's Incredicoaster.
R - 15 year old daughter #1. She is firmly in teen-mode, but still wavers into child-mode. I love it when she grabs my hand and the look on her face when she sees a character she loves melts my heart. Her favourite ride is probably Pirates. She loves Captain Jack and all the Pirate-y things. She can eat all the fries at all the restaurants and be a happy girl.
M2 - 13 year old daughter #2. She is also wavering between teen and child, but is more of a teen than I wish she was. Her favourite snack is popcorn - the kind at the carts, not the kind in the bags. Her favourite ride is the faster, scarier the better. Right now, that's Guardians and Incredicoaster.
So, the first thing we did in Calgary was hit Cross Iron Mills mall for a Cinderella key, but they weren't there because it was an outlet store. But that didn't stop us from buying things early (and at a discount!). Then we hit Hot Topic and I got the LAST "Child" Teva (?) mug. Love it. Used it all the time. Got tons of compliments on it too.
We shopped around for a good hour, maybe two, and then caught Onward. we really enjoyed the show. I cried, of course.
The rest of the weekend was about family, so I'll pass over that part. I'm sad I didn't get to meet up with Timon and her family like I had hoped to do.
The next morning, early early, we went back to the Calgary airport where it was -18C. Why do people live where your face can freeze? It was so so so so cold.
We ended up on the airplane and had a smooth flight to Vancouver. Then things got interesting. We got on a bus and it took us closer to our departure terminal and we went through the border process and continued on to the next terminal and the gate. We grabbed a quick breakfast, then waited for our flight south.
That flight got us to Santa Ana and then we had a longer than usual wait for our shuttle to the hotel. Usually it takes less than 10 minutes but this time it was closer to 30. We were finally at the Tropicana on South Harbour around 2:30. Check in is at 4, so we checked our bags and headed to the parks. We had decided to go to DCA first.
Even in the afternoon, the lines were longer than I had thought they'd be. But, we were happy to be there! It was 25 degrees - quite the difference in temperatures from that morning!
We had the munchies, and dinner was at 5, so we decided to get something from Clarabella's. R & and I shared a kitchen sink, M2 and B each had a sprinkle waffle cone.
While we were enjoying the sun, Daisy came by and tried to help B read the park map.
She seemed to like what M was nibbling on too.
The first ride M2 wanted was the Incredicoaster. R hadn't ridden it yet, and didn't feel like riding it this time, so it was just me and M2.
I had purchased 5 day Park Hoppers with Max Pass for everyone, but because I didn't think I was coming back twice in a year, I didn't put Max Pass on my Flex Pass. So, once I managed to get it on for the day, we headed to the Single Rider Line.
We had only a 10 minute wait and then we were on our ride! M2 ended up on the left car up at the front, and I was on the right car, near the back.
We decided to hit up Racers as our second ride, and once again hit up the single rider line, but this time it was all of us. R & I were in one car, with B and M2 in different cars again.
We got the paint job.
We won our race against M2. She was not impressed.
Had a bit of time for photos on Route 66 with my main man.
Now it was time for check-in, so we headed over. It took us 13 minutes from Racers to the Tropicana. There was a bit of a mix up with my credit card and after 35 minutes of being passed from department to department, to say I was frustrated is a bit of an understatement. FINALLY things got sorted out, then we put our bags in the room and headed back for our reservation at Carthay Circle.
In case you didn't know, Disney Dining has shortened their hours from 7-7, to 9-5. Naturally, our reservation was for 5:10, and Dining was no help at all as the line was down. I called the main info number, pressed two for AP holders, and by the time I got someone on the line, we were going through security. I could barely hear her but asked her to please call Carthay directly and let them know we'd be a bit late but still on our way.
We made it. And after the afternoon I had, I REALLY needed a drink. We had a bit of a wait, not long, and then headed upstairs where we were sat in the 'family' area to the right in the back. We had another incredible meal, a daiquiri, an appetizer, and a delicious dessert.
Appetizer
Duck dinner
Chicken meatloaf
Decadent dessert
Next up - Guardians FP for M2 and me.
I hadn't seen this painting before and thought it was awesome.
On our way back from our Guardians FP, we saw Spidey, so of course, we had to stop for a visit.
Then we visited Monstropolis.
And then one last FP for Incredicoaster. This time, with R in tow as her FIRST ride, in the dark. Such a brave girl, and she loved the ride (we're behind the hands).
And of course, a Cookie Num-Num was to be had before heading back for the night.
It had been a LONG day. We were wiped out and so headed back to the hotel around 9. M2 headed to the pool and we were surprised to see the fireworks from our balcony and from the pool. It was great! The hot tub sure felt good on my feet.
We were all in bed and passed out by 1010 that night. Tomorrow we were hoping for a BG for RotR, so we needed some sleep to be there on time.