The birthday trip, part 1
Howdy, we are back. Drove the 17 hours back in 2 days and I am bushed.
We took 4 days for the drive out, stayed with friends, and went to the Grand Canyon. My oh my, I had never been there and I just about broke down sobbing. It was the most beautiful and awesome thing I have ever seen -- and I've been all over. WOW!
The beans had been spilled about the trip the day before we left so the surprise was off, but that was okay. We arrived around 2pm and checked in to the Anabella -- they told us to come back at four to get our concierge room. There were cheerleaders everywhere because they had some sort of competition over the weekend but the overwhelming majority were leaving that afternoon (sunday the 25th). So the boys and I went to DTD for a while until my parents showed up and then we took them around. I got Jack Sparrow pins for the boys, a DL pin for myself and a new Humphry the Bear pin with the park ranger on it too :thumbsup:
Walked back to the hotel by 4:30 and still no room and so we waited until around 5pm. To our dismay that night, we learned that the ice maker was on the other side of the wall and it operated all night long -- SO room 3105 is not a good room. The room was fine, and we got a free breakfast every morning which consisted of each of us getting a plate of sliced melons and pineapple, two pastries, and our choice of coffee, tea or milk. There were two beds (one queen and one king) and a small pull out sofa. There was a flatscreen TV and although there was a bathtub, there was no way to take a bath -- the drain had no stopper or close off valve, and with 2 6 year olds , that was a hassle. The grounds were lovely though. Pool was not heated.
Okay, next morning we all donned our Disney shirts and headed over for early entry to DL at 8am. We headed straight to Fantasyland and rode all the dark rides except for Snow White and Alice, Peter Pan was #1 on the list and the boys loved it. They also loved Mr Toad. When 9am rolled around, we went onto IASW and we got stuck in the last room, but my sons and I were singing with great gusto so it worked out just fine for us.
OH, we got the birthday buttons and I was amazed at how the CM's saw it even when things were crowded. The boys loved the attention so much that they started proactively showing them to the CMs. They also got a birthday call from Goofy and they were very excited to see him later in Toon town.
Anyway, at 9am we did morning madness and went right on to Roger Rabbit, which was a big hit. They went on Gadget's go-coaster a couple of times, saw Goofy, and did the buildings there. Then we went the backway into fronteirland and went on BTMRR, another big hit, then onto the Columbia. Haunted Mansion was next and the most awesome thing happened --
WE GOT DREAM SQUADED!!!!
Our entire "room" in the HM got lanyards with special pins on them. I will have to take a pic of it and see if they will let me post it. So I got three sets. YEAH! It was totally cool and unexpected.
Well, I loved the changes to the HM -- the improvements to the Mme Leota scene were much needed. I also liked the killer bride bit. Really neat. That was the first time I can remember the ride working well, in the past it always got stopped somewhere along the way.
Then on to POTC. From now on, I will call MK's version POTC Lite. My boys were enthralled with the treasure caves and I admit I had forgotten just how superior it was. The new animatronics were cool, but I did not care for the ending bit. The Davy Jones effect was awesome.
We booked on over to tomorrowland and did Buzz Lightyear, which was also better than the MK version. It seemed like a longer ride but being able to have the guns in your hands made for sore arms after 4 days of driving.... We did Star Tours, and then went to Innoventions.
They have something in Innoventions that I hadn't heard anything about. On the top floor off to the left, they have a Stitch area where you can have an interactive Stitch talk to your kids via videophone. It was like Turtle Talk with Crush but it was a private audience. My sons were dying laughing. Stitch called them by name and sang happy birthday to them. When Andy stuck out his tongue at Stitch, Stitch said, "Andy get tongue back in mouth!" Well, he was shocked. At this point they decided to give him raspberries and Stitch said, "Hey! Stitch no need bath." And everything broke down at this point. They reached out to touch the screen and Stitch said, "Hey! No touchy me!" It was hilarious and worth the wait. Needless to say, my boys were completely hyper after that....
Then we went over to the Blue Bayou and had a wonderful meal. They gave the boys chocolate mousse with candles in it and sang to them. It was cute.
When the parade started, we took the opportunity to walk onto Jungle Cruise (which is greatly improved with new jokes and pirhannas since my last visit), POTC and HM. :thumbsup: Then we were blitzed to we returned to the hotel and the boys went swimming with the grandparents and I went to sleep.
Day 2 -- Our first California Adventure!
