Cast of Characters:
Me: Disney fanatic (would live in It's a Small World, if they'd let me)
DH: Tolerates Disney once every 2 years
DD1: 8 year old, loves everything Disney
DS: 6 years old, Buzz Lightyear is his idol
DD2: 3 years old, second DL trip
DD3: 3 years old, second DL trip (yup, we took twins to DL)
There are many other people on this trip with us, as this was a family get together with 20 people total.
Days 1, 2 and 3 can be found on this board as well.
Day 4 Tuesday, September 13, 2005
While eating breakfast at the hotel, we realized that tomorrow is our last day, and with the exception of Aladdin and Flik's Fun Fair, we haven't done anything in CA. Today's the day! We also decided to do a nice lunch at Ariel's Grotto to celebrate my DSIL's birthday today. She could care less as she's in the first trimester of her 3rd pregnancy and not feeling very well.
We mustered the troops, stocked up the stroller bags, and headed off to CA. Once again, Dad ran ahead while we went through security to get a wheelchair for mom. By the end of the trip, he realized that it would have been easier for him to bring the wheelchair from home. Well, duh!!! We've been telling him that for the last 3 trips. Lesson finally learned.
Once inside CA, we immediately headed for Soarin' Over California. I LOVE this ride. Last time, the twins were only 18 months old so they couldn't go on it, and my DS was an inch too short, so he couldn't go on it. I've waited a long time for him to be able to experience this ride! The posted wait was 10 minutes, so we hurried and got kid swap passes, plus some extra Fast Passes for later, and hurried on the ride. We didn't get onto the front row, but it was an excellent ride nonetheless. DS loved the ride, but claimed that Splash Mountain was still his favorite ride. The group decided not to use the kid swap passes until later, so we decided to head up to Grizzly River Run. There was absolutely NO wait on this ride. So, the brave ones hurried on the ride while I took the twins and the other little ones to an observation point where they could watch the rafts come around the last bend. They enjoyed watching, but when they finally caught sight of Daddy and their big sister and brother, they went crazy. Everyone in the raft was soaking. It looked like it had been a fun ride. As they came off the ride, my son ran up to me screaming, "That ride is to wet to be true!!!" Huge grin on his face. I had been a little worried since he really doesn't like to get wet, but no problem here. He LOVED it! New favorite ride. DD1 has chosen this as her favorite as well, so she grabbed one of my hands and DS grabbed the other. My DSister and DBrother also came with some of the other brave kids. All in all we filled up a raft all by ourselves. It was a great ride, and I got quite wet. Not as wet as last time since I learned from the DISboards not to sit by the opening. Thanks guys. Luckily it was a warm day, and the sun was shining. We knew we'd be ok.
Once off Grizzly River Run, we split up. DH took DD1 and DS back to Soarin' to use the Fast Passes and kid swaps. Mom, Dad and I took the twins over to Paradise Pier to see about PS for Ariel's Grotto. It took some doing, but we finally got a time for lunch at noon. On to King Triton's Carousel. The twins adored this ride. Since no one else was in the park, we rode 5 times in a row, before I got dizzy and had to call it quits. The girls would have been happy to stay on the carousel all day if I'd let them.
After the carousel, we made our way to Jumpin' Jellyfish. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that there is 40 inch height restriction so the girls couldn't go on it. That didn't sit too well with them as they saw the beautiful colors and really wanted to go. Luckily, daddy came by just then with the older kids, and agreed to take them on the Silver Rocket Ride (don't know the name of it), if I would take the older ones on Mulholland Madness. Off we all went. Can I just say I don't enjoy Wild Mouse rides? DS liked it, but DD1 felt it was too wild for her. Luckily, neither one wanted to ride it again.
Well, by now we had about 10 minutes to our seating time at Ariel's Grotto, so we headed over that way. When we got there we were told that there was a problem in the kitchen and the restaurant was closed for the day. We were really sad about that, as we really like Ariel's Grotto. Dad was bummed, because it was going to be a nice sit down meal for DSIL's birthday. We decided not to let it ruin our day; to finish what we wanted to do in CA and then head over to DL to eat at the Plaza after the lunch rush was over. With that decided, we headed over to the Hollywood Backlot to do Turtle Talk with Crush. On the way, DH suggested that my brother and I hit Tower of Terror, to see what the crowds were like. It was his nice way of telling me to take some time away from the kids to do a grown up ride. Did I mention I have the greatest husband in the world?
DB and I got to TOT and found a posted wait time of 13 minutes. Since everyone else was talking with Crush, we decided to wait. By the time we got into the ride we'd been waiting about 5 minutes. We were seated in our elevator on the back row. I was carrying my wallet with me (never know when shopping opportunities will arise), and noticed that there was no place to stash the wallet. I had to hold it which prevented me from holding onto the hand holds by the seats. I was a little nervous as the doors closed, but with DB right there, I had to be brave.
At the first drop I noticed that I was catching some serious air. Talk about a RUSH!!!!! It was fantastic. We both loved that ride and decided to come back with the others as soon as possible. We made our way back to the Animation Station, and waited outside by our strollers for the rest of the family. It took FOREVER! We could have ridden TOT 5 more times in the time it took for them to come out. On the upside, they loved Turtle Talk. DS was bummed that he wasn't chosen to ask a question, but I told him that just meant we'd have to try to come back for another go.
We all went back to TOT and DS agreed to go with daddy. DD1 said, "NO WAY!!!" We tried to tell her it was no worse than the drop on Splash Mtn., but there was no reasoning with her. Of course, during the wait time, she was convinced once again that everyone else was having all the fun, and it just wasn't fair. We bought some churros for the kids to munch on while we waited, and they enjoyed playing on the street in front of the tower. Every time the door would open at the top and they'd see people drop, the twins would squeal and laugh. DD1 didn't think it was such a great time. Finally, we saw our people coming out of the hotel, and DS was grinning ear to ear! I wanted to go again, but DD1 wouldn't even consider going with me. My niece, nephew and sister agreed to come with me, and at the last minute my son grabbed my hand to come, too. The second time was just as fun as the first, but my son said, he'd rather go on GRR. Since he was being such a good sport (and since DD1 was making a fuss about not being able to go on any rides) DH took them to GRR while I took the twins to Flik's Fun Fair. My sister and her kids came with us.
Again, there were no crowds at all in Flik's Fun Fair so we were able to do whatever we wanted. We parked our strollers at Heimlich's train, and went there first. After that ride (the twins favorite, "funny train."), we went on Francis's Lady Bug Boogie and Flik's Fliers. After that, we made our way to the front of the park and met with DH. We left that park, and stopped by the "N" to take a picture of all the kids in front of our initial. It will make a beautiful Christmas Card picture.
We got to the Plaza, and had a really nice lunch. The kids shared the kids chicken meals, and DH had the roast beef, while I had the chicken plate. We really should have shared as the portions were huge and we still had tons of food left over. Very yummy.
We made our way to FL and found that the line for Storybookland Canal was quite manageable. We all love this ride. There's just something really magical about the little houses. I was a little worried about the twins, though. Earlier this summer, they had a near drowning experience, and since then have been really wary about water. Once we made it through Monstro, however, they were too interested in the houses to worry about the water. They also loved the "giant" ducks that were resting in the Peter Pan Park part of the ride.
After this ride, I took DD1 for some quality mother/daughter shopping time. My mom and dad and niece came with us. We shopped around in FL for a while finding some wonderful surprises for the twins, and then headed to Main Street. For my dad and me this is something of a tradition. It started long before I had any kids. My dad would steal me away from the rides and we'd go shopping and talking along Main Street. It's been really special to spend that time with my dad, just talking and being together. I'll admit I'm a daddy's girl and proud of it. We ended our time by going to the ice cream parlor for Coke floats. Again, this is part of the tradition. It was fun to be able to share it with my daughter and niece and mom. Way cool!
DH brought the rest of the tribe over and we decided to head over to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Once there, however, DH decided he'd rather go on Indy. Since he'd let me have a couple of hours without the twins, I told him to go. DS went with him and Mom, Dad, DD1, DD2 and DD3 and I went to the Tiki Room. Now I just adore those birds. The show is a wonderful one for little people. The twins eyes kept getting bigger and bigger all through the show. They loved it just as much as I do. I'm really happy about that.
DS and DD1 wanted a ride on Pirates again, so DH took them while dad, the twins and I ran to Critter Country. I had heard a rumor that there were Italian charms there and DD1 wanted one for her bracelet. Dad was looking for a Splash mountain shirt for one of the kids, so he searched for that while I went into the store. The charms were found and bought, and we went outside to wait for dad. I saw a water fountain, so I took the opportunity to fill the water bottles. While I had my back turned, I heard DD3 scream, "Eeyore!" I turned around to find them leaping out of the stroller and running full steam ahead towards Eeyore. I was kind of scared for a minute because I couldn't see them, but in short order I found them. There were lines for Tigger and Pooh, but no one was in line to see Eeyore. By the time I got there, he had my twins wrapped around his legs and they each tried to out talk the other telling him how much they loved him. Eeyore was wonderful! He kissed them and made a really big deal over them. Thanks for the pixie dust, Eeyore! You made our day!
WE met back up with the rest of the crowd and went back to Indy. DH took a turn and then it was finally my turn. I hadn't been on the ride, yet, and was really looking forward to it. I couldn't talk any of my kids into going with me, so my nephew took pity on me. We went and as we were on the ride, I realized that I'm getting older. The bumps and jarring motion of the ride really seemed a lot worse than the last time I'd been on the ride. It was still enjoyable, but it's no longer my favorite. That is now TOT.
It was now time to introduce the kids to Frontierland. Namely Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. All the way from Adventureland to Frontierland, my DD1 was insistent that she would not go on that ride. It looked too wild. Well, I was just too tired to try to talk her into it, so I just agreed with her. That kind of took the wind out of her sails, as I think she was counting on me talking her into it. DH took DS first and predictably, he LOVED it. New favorite for DS. By now I think every ride is his favorite. As he came off, he grabbed my hand and we went again. Absolutely no wait whatsoever. It was fabulous. It was pretty dark by this time, and I'd never been on this ride in the dark. What an experience. I highly recommend it!!!
Just as we finished BTMRR, the fireworks started. We were able to make our way to the bridge to Main Street and got to see them again. They were spectacular again, even though we couldn't see too much. We did get a great view of Tink, though. Once the fireworks were over, we slowly made our way out of the parks. It was slow going, and you could tell the CM's were tired, too. I noticed a couple of them, using their little light thingy's to point the way out, and both had really glum looks on their faces. I quickly jumped out of the crowd and went up to them. "You have really thankless jobs," I told them, "so I just want to thank you for all you do." The girl started to cry and thanked me for coming. Both perked up and looked more cheerful. They do such a great job, and mostly they have to deal with cranky customers. So, for all you CM's out there, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!! We really appreciate all you do!
We finally made it back to the hotel, and realized we hadn't had dinner. We didn't feel like going back out to IHOP or Denny's so we just sent the men to McDonald's for burgers. We had a good time eating and talking about our day, before we got in jammies and settled in for sleep. Tomorrow was going to be our last day, and we wanted to be well rested for it!
Part 5 to follow, I promise.
Me: Disney fanatic (would live in It's a Small World, if they'd let me)
DH: Tolerates Disney once every 2 years
DD1: 8 year old, loves everything Disney
DS: 6 years old, Buzz Lightyear is his idol
DD2: 3 years old, second DL trip
DD3: 3 years old, second DL trip (yup, we took twins to DL)
There are many other people on this trip with us, as this was a family get together with 20 people total.
Days 1, 2 and 3 can be found on this board as well.
Day 4 Tuesday, September 13, 2005
While eating breakfast at the hotel, we realized that tomorrow is our last day, and with the exception of Aladdin and Flik's Fun Fair, we haven't done anything in CA. Today's the day! We also decided to do a nice lunch at Ariel's Grotto to celebrate my DSIL's birthday today. She could care less as she's in the first trimester of her 3rd pregnancy and not feeling very well.
We mustered the troops, stocked up the stroller bags, and headed off to CA. Once again, Dad ran ahead while we went through security to get a wheelchair for mom. By the end of the trip, he realized that it would have been easier for him to bring the wheelchair from home. Well, duh!!! We've been telling him that for the last 3 trips. Lesson finally learned.
Once inside CA, we immediately headed for Soarin' Over California. I LOVE this ride. Last time, the twins were only 18 months old so they couldn't go on it, and my DS was an inch too short, so he couldn't go on it. I've waited a long time for him to be able to experience this ride! The posted wait was 10 minutes, so we hurried and got kid swap passes, plus some extra Fast Passes for later, and hurried on the ride. We didn't get onto the front row, but it was an excellent ride nonetheless. DS loved the ride, but claimed that Splash Mountain was still his favorite ride. The group decided not to use the kid swap passes until later, so we decided to head up to Grizzly River Run. There was absolutely NO wait on this ride. So, the brave ones hurried on the ride while I took the twins and the other little ones to an observation point where they could watch the rafts come around the last bend. They enjoyed watching, but when they finally caught sight of Daddy and their big sister and brother, they went crazy. Everyone in the raft was soaking. It looked like it had been a fun ride. As they came off the ride, my son ran up to me screaming, "That ride is to wet to be true!!!" Huge grin on his face. I had been a little worried since he really doesn't like to get wet, but no problem here. He LOVED it! New favorite ride. DD1 has chosen this as her favorite as well, so she grabbed one of my hands and DS grabbed the other. My DSister and DBrother also came with some of the other brave kids. All in all we filled up a raft all by ourselves. It was a great ride, and I got quite wet. Not as wet as last time since I learned from the DISboards not to sit by the opening. Thanks guys. Luckily it was a warm day, and the sun was shining. We knew we'd be ok.
Once off Grizzly River Run, we split up. DH took DD1 and DS back to Soarin' to use the Fast Passes and kid swaps. Mom, Dad and I took the twins over to Paradise Pier to see about PS for Ariel's Grotto. It took some doing, but we finally got a time for lunch at noon. On to King Triton's Carousel. The twins adored this ride. Since no one else was in the park, we rode 5 times in a row, before I got dizzy and had to call it quits. The girls would have been happy to stay on the carousel all day if I'd let them.
After the carousel, we made our way to Jumpin' Jellyfish. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that there is 40 inch height restriction so the girls couldn't go on it. That didn't sit too well with them as they saw the beautiful colors and really wanted to go. Luckily, daddy came by just then with the older kids, and agreed to take them on the Silver Rocket Ride (don't know the name of it), if I would take the older ones on Mulholland Madness. Off we all went. Can I just say I don't enjoy Wild Mouse rides? DS liked it, but DD1 felt it was too wild for her. Luckily, neither one wanted to ride it again.
Well, by now we had about 10 minutes to our seating time at Ariel's Grotto, so we headed over that way. When we got there we were told that there was a problem in the kitchen and the restaurant was closed for the day. We were really sad about that, as we really like Ariel's Grotto. Dad was bummed, because it was going to be a nice sit down meal for DSIL's birthday. We decided not to let it ruin our day; to finish what we wanted to do in CA and then head over to DL to eat at the Plaza after the lunch rush was over. With that decided, we headed over to the Hollywood Backlot to do Turtle Talk with Crush. On the way, DH suggested that my brother and I hit Tower of Terror, to see what the crowds were like. It was his nice way of telling me to take some time away from the kids to do a grown up ride. Did I mention I have the greatest husband in the world?
DB and I got to TOT and found a posted wait time of 13 minutes. Since everyone else was talking with Crush, we decided to wait. By the time we got into the ride we'd been waiting about 5 minutes. We were seated in our elevator on the back row. I was carrying my wallet with me (never know when shopping opportunities will arise), and noticed that there was no place to stash the wallet. I had to hold it which prevented me from holding onto the hand holds by the seats. I was a little nervous as the doors closed, but with DB right there, I had to be brave.
At the first drop I noticed that I was catching some serious air. Talk about a RUSH!!!!! It was fantastic. We both loved that ride and decided to come back with the others as soon as possible. We made our way back to the Animation Station, and waited outside by our strollers for the rest of the family. It took FOREVER! We could have ridden TOT 5 more times in the time it took for them to come out. On the upside, they loved Turtle Talk. DS was bummed that he wasn't chosen to ask a question, but I told him that just meant we'd have to try to come back for another go.We all went back to TOT and DS agreed to go with daddy. DD1 said, "NO WAY!!!" We tried to tell her it was no worse than the drop on Splash Mtn., but there was no reasoning with her. Of course, during the wait time, she was convinced once again that everyone else was having all the fun, and it just wasn't fair. We bought some churros for the kids to munch on while we waited, and they enjoyed playing on the street in front of the tower. Every time the door would open at the top and they'd see people drop, the twins would squeal and laugh. DD1 didn't think it was such a great time. Finally, we saw our people coming out of the hotel, and DS was grinning ear to ear! I wanted to go again, but DD1 wouldn't even consider going with me. My niece, nephew and sister agreed to come with me, and at the last minute my son grabbed my hand to come, too. The second time was just as fun as the first, but my son said, he'd rather go on GRR. Since he was being such a good sport (and since DD1 was making a fuss about not being able to go on any rides) DH took them to GRR while I took the twins to Flik's Fun Fair. My sister and her kids came with us.
Again, there were no crowds at all in Flik's Fun Fair so we were able to do whatever we wanted. We parked our strollers at Heimlich's train, and went there first. After that ride (the twins favorite, "funny train."), we went on Francis's Lady Bug Boogie and Flik's Fliers. After that, we made our way to the front of the park and met with DH. We left that park, and stopped by the "N" to take a picture of all the kids in front of our initial. It will make a beautiful Christmas Card picture.
We got to the Plaza, and had a really nice lunch. The kids shared the kids chicken meals, and DH had the roast beef, while I had the chicken plate. We really should have shared as the portions were huge and we still had tons of food left over. Very yummy.
We made our way to FL and found that the line for Storybookland Canal was quite manageable. We all love this ride. There's just something really magical about the little houses. I was a little worried about the twins, though. Earlier this summer, they had a near drowning experience, and since then have been really wary about water. Once we made it through Monstro, however, they were too interested in the houses to worry about the water. They also loved the "giant" ducks that were resting in the Peter Pan Park part of the ride.
After this ride, I took DD1 for some quality mother/daughter shopping time. My mom and dad and niece came with us. We shopped around in FL for a while finding some wonderful surprises for the twins, and then headed to Main Street. For my dad and me this is something of a tradition. It started long before I had any kids. My dad would steal me away from the rides and we'd go shopping and talking along Main Street. It's been really special to spend that time with my dad, just talking and being together. I'll admit I'm a daddy's girl and proud of it.
We ended our time by going to the ice cream parlor for Coke floats. Again, this is part of the tradition. It was fun to be able to share it with my daughter and niece and mom. Way cool!DH brought the rest of the tribe over and we decided to head over to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Once there, however, DH decided he'd rather go on Indy. Since he'd let me have a couple of hours without the twins, I told him to go. DS went with him and Mom, Dad, DD1, DD2 and DD3 and I went to the Tiki Room. Now I just adore those birds. The show is a wonderful one for little people. The twins eyes kept getting bigger and bigger all through the show. They loved it just as much as I do. I'm really happy about that.
DS and DD1 wanted a ride on Pirates again, so DH took them while dad, the twins and I ran to Critter Country. I had heard a rumor that there were Italian charms there and DD1 wanted one for her bracelet. Dad was looking for a Splash mountain shirt for one of the kids, so he searched for that while I went into the store. The charms were found and bought, and we went outside to wait for dad. I saw a water fountain, so I took the opportunity to fill the water bottles. While I had my back turned, I heard DD3 scream, "Eeyore!" I turned around to find them leaping out of the stroller and running full steam ahead towards Eeyore. I was kind of scared for a minute because I couldn't see them, but in short order I found them. There were lines for Tigger and Pooh, but no one was in line to see Eeyore. By the time I got there, he had my twins wrapped around his legs and they each tried to out talk the other telling him how much they loved him. Eeyore was wonderful! He kissed them and made a really big deal over them. Thanks for the pixie dust, Eeyore! You made our day!
WE met back up with the rest of the crowd and went back to Indy. DH took a turn and then it was finally my turn. I hadn't been on the ride, yet, and was really looking forward to it. I couldn't talk any of my kids into going with me, so my nephew took pity on me. We went and as we were on the ride, I realized that I'm getting older. The bumps and jarring motion of the ride really seemed a lot worse than the last time I'd been on the ride. It was still enjoyable, but it's no longer my favorite. That is now TOT.
It was now time to introduce the kids to Frontierland. Namely Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. All the way from Adventureland to Frontierland, my DD1 was insistent that she would not go on that ride. It looked too wild. Well, I was just too tired to try to talk her into it, so I just agreed with her. That kind of took the wind out of her sails, as I think she was counting on me talking her into it. DH took DS first and predictably, he LOVED it. New favorite for DS. By now I think every ride is his favorite. As he came off, he grabbed my hand and we went again. Absolutely no wait whatsoever. It was fabulous. It was pretty dark by this time, and I'd never been on this ride in the dark. What an experience. I highly recommend it!!!
Just as we finished BTMRR, the fireworks started. We were able to make our way to the bridge to Main Street and got to see them again. They were spectacular again, even though we couldn't see too much. We did get a great view of Tink, though. Once the fireworks were over, we slowly made our way out of the parks. It was slow going, and you could tell the CM's were tired, too. I noticed a couple of them, using their little light thingy's to point the way out, and both had really glum looks on their faces. I quickly jumped out of the crowd and went up to them. "You have really thankless jobs," I told them, "so I just want to thank you for all you do." The girl started to cry and thanked me for coming. Both perked up and looked more cheerful. They do such a great job, and mostly they have to deal with cranky customers. So, for all you CM's out there, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!! We really appreciate all you do!
We finally made it back to the hotel, and realized we hadn't had dinner. We didn't feel like going back out to IHOP or Denny's so we just sent the men to McDonald's for burgers. We had a good time eating and talking about our day, before we got in jammies and settled in for sleep. Tomorrow was going to be our last day, and we wanted to be well rested for it!
Part 5 to follow, I promise.
