A Quick Trip to DL before the big one to WDW Day 3

[meldan98]

We woke up a half hour late the 2nd day, but we still managed to get out of the hotel on time. I'm not sure how we managed that, even with giving DD a bath. She was just so tired when we got back to hotel the night before, she told me she would be good in the morning if we could just skip bath. Poor kid. I felt so bad. Sure enough, she woke up with a smile on her face, ready to get up and take a bath and head back to DL.

We took the car again and got to DL just as they opened the gates. Since we didn't have to worry about Nemo, we took our time down Main Street and visited Goofy and Chip and Dale. Chip and Dale were hilarious. I don't think DD thought so though. She took her Aurora doll with her when she went to meet them and they kept taking turns taking it away from her. I could tell she thought it was funny at first, but she got quickly annoyed. We got some great pictures and video of that interaction. From then on, she left Aurora in the stroller because she didn't want ANYBODY taking her away again.

We went to Tommorrowland and rode Buzz and then hit Star Trader, and then went down Main Street to hit the shops. It is so much nicer hitting the shops first thing in the morning. We bought a few things and got the ornaments that I wanted and then headed down to Disneyana. We found out that the print that we wanted was only sold at the Gallery, so DH had to go back later that day to pick it up. I did have an interesting discussion with the cast member at the Disneyana store though. The staff is very upset that they are closing the gallery. They don't understand why they would want to turn it into a guest room, because most staff members don't like being in the gallery at night. He said there have been to many "weird" things that have taken place at the gallery at night, and he would never want to stay there. I didn't ask more details, but thought that was interesting. We finished up our shopping and then headed over to California Adventure. We put all of our purchases into a locker and headed down to the animation building to talk with Crush.

The next time to talk with Crush was 20 minutes so we went over to ride Monsters and we walked right on. We then went back to Crush and waited just a couple of minutes and went right in. I sat with DD on the carpet and DH sat in one of the chair. Once Crush started talking, he tried to talk to the little girl right next to us, but she would talk. He then started talking to my DD and I was amazed. She actually talked back!!! They had a great conversation and then he talked with me a little. It was so much fun. After Crush we went out and DD met Woody. We then went in the Off the Page store and Woody walked through the shop a few minutes later pushing a stroller and grabbed as much High School Musical merchandise as he could and threw it all in the stroller like a shopping cart. The poor mom with the stroller was really thrilled with having to put it all back. Of course with Woody being so tall, and taking everything off the top shelves, it made it pretty difficult for the mom to put everything back. Finally a cast member noticed what happened and took everything and put it back. It was quite funny.

We went to grab some lunch and we were really disappointed in the food offerings at CA. There really aren't a lot of choices and what they do have isn't really all that great. We ended up eating at the Mexican place but it was terrible. I could barely eat it. We then headed over to Flick Fun Fair for DD to ride some of the rides and get wet. I brought flip flops and a change of clothes for her and she would run around a play with water. She just stood there. So we headed back to the Farm area so that she could try playing up there. She had fun and got completely soaked. I also made us reservations at the Italian table service place, not the fancy one, but the other one. I can't remember the name. After a quick change of clothes, we road the bumper cars and the lady bugs and then headed over to the Tough to be a Bug. DD is really into the movie right now, so DH kept her on his lap and covered her eyes during the spiders and she thought it was scary but fun. Now it was nap time. We put DD in her stroller, covered her up with one of the t-shirts we bought and she was out almost immediately. I can't believe how little shade is at CA as compared to DL. DH ran over to DL to go to the gallery and I found a nice spot in front of the Sun Fountain that was in the shade. I sat and ate a frozen lemonade while DD slept. It was great to just sit down and relax. DH also picked up some fastpasses for Soarin' just in case DD was tall enough to ride.

We then went over to the Pier area because DD wanted to ride the Sun Wheel. We saw the sign that said 45 minutes, so we headed back to the Block Party area so we could sit down and watch. DD wouldn't stand up and dance, she just sat there. She wasn't in a great mood by the time it was over because she didn't get one of the balls that shoots up after the dancing. Sometimes, it is so difficult to reason with a 3 year old. We then headed off to dinner. After DD had her temper tantrum about the ball, were able to sit down at the restaurant enjoy dinner. Dinner was pretty good. I would definitely try it again.

After dinner we went back to the pier area and figured we would wait for the Sun Wheel. Once we got in line, we realized we were in line for the moving cars, which we didn't want, so we got out of line, and just walked right on one of the stationary cars. That ride is really neat. The view was amazing.

We then headed over to the Zephyrs and walked right on to that as well. DD got to be flight commander and tell the ride operator that we were ready for flight. It was really cute. She wore a reflective vest and had one of cone lights and waved it in the air. We then went by Soarin and found out that she was a half inch to short. Oh well, maybe she'll be tall enough by the time we go to WDW. We then went to meet Mater and Lightening. DD thought that was really neat. We hit a few shops and then got our spots for the light parade. We got the CD for the light parade during our last visit and she just loves the music, so we knew she would really enjoy it this time. She had a blast watching the parade and after the parade we headed out. We got to catch the end of the fireworks just as we were leaving. All in all, it was an okay 2nd day at the parks.

I'll post info about our last day and some final thoughts about the trip in my next post.

[ChipnDaleGal]

Another great day Melissa. I wish I had ridden the Sun Wheel at night. I can only imagine how beautiful it must be with all the lights. Thanks for sharing.

[JRocker]

Totally agree with you on the food selection.

[Lizzie]

Another great day. And yes we found that the non moving cars on the sun wheel never had a wait.