My Birthday Trip - day two

[disneydrmr]

Friday, Nov. 2

4:30 AM - my bladder woke me up. We had a wake up call scheduled for 5am so I just stayed up and got my shower so we could get a jump on our day. At 5am the phone rang and I dove for it, excited to hear Stitch's voice...only to be GREATLY disappointed as Stitch was not on the phone call at all! My Dsis and my BFF both got up and got ready. We had a date with Stitch at 7am at the Paradise Pier and I did not want to be late. We left our room at about 6:40 to stroll over to the Pier. It took just mere minutes to arrive and we walked into the hotel. We passed a room that stopped us all in our tracks. It was the children's tv room. How adorable this room is! It's decorated like a beach, with a GIANT sandcastle for the 'entertainment' center. There were little white beach chairs in rows for the kids to sit in. All three of us took turns posing in front of the sand castle (and giving some of the hotel cast members a good chuckle). We then got to the lobby and there was a statue of Goofy decked out in his beach attire and holding a surfboard. We took more pictures (good thing we got an early start!). Finally we checked in and were seated pretty quickly, being the only ones in the restaurant. No menu was offered to us, the waiter just told us to go help ourselves to the buffet. (this turned out to give us a SHOCK when we got the bill - MUCH more expensive then the character meals at WDW). We just barely sat down when Stitch came along! He posed with us and he and I danced. He was the perfect Stitch. He sneezed on my friend. Wiped his butt with a napkin, and caused all kinds of mayhem and mischief. MInnie came out and we got pictures with her. Lilo also came out but we did not manage to catch her for a photo. Stitch came to our table numerous times. He sat down next to my sister and posed so cutely for her. (I'm hoping to get some of my pictures posted soon). He then posed again with me, hugging me around my neck. Our waiter brought me a free birthday dessert. A Mickey shaped cake with a raspberry topping - awesome! After breakfast we wandered back to the Disneyland Hotel and took some pictures then went to California Adventure for the day. Halloween decorations were still up so we took some pictures as we entered and headed straight for Soarin'. A funny thing happened to us on the way... we met Mater and Lightening McQueen. After posing for pictures with them we crossed over to Soarin' and walked straight onto the ride. The ride seemed to be the same as the WDW version and we enjoyed it. I'm not real sure of the order in which we did everything else. We met Pluto and posed for pictures with him. We saw Muppet Vision 3D (same version as WDW) With this we had 'preferred seating' thru AAA and it was great! We had a whole row to ourselves. We then went and rode the Monsters Inc ride. It was so cute! We then wandered over to Grizzly River Run (not to ride, but to watch) and spent the next 20 minutes laughing our butts off at the people and their reactions as they got drenched. We noticed a pattern in the main drenching geyser. Every 5th ride vehicle got drenched. We watched and laughed as one guy, realizing he was in the 'wrong seat at the wrong time' literally tried to climb onto his friend's lap as the geyser spurted up and all over him! After watching we headed over to Ahwahnee Camp Circle to see the Magic of Brother Bear Totem Ceremony. This was a really cute show. Koda was in it so Dsis was very happy as he is her favorite character. They had a meet and greet with Koda and Kenai after the show. We then decided to make the showing of Alladin. (again, we had preferred seating thru AAA) After consulting the map we thought there was a path thru the Bug's Land, but discovered there wasn't so we had to backtrack. We made it to the theater and handed the guard our passes.. to which he rudely said "You girls sure like to push the time don't you?"... we got in and there was no special seating.. it was just allowing us to get in and get seats before the general public. This is the GREATEST Disney show we have ever seen! The Genie was a riot! He really made the show! After the show we went to Tower of Terror. This version is different from WDW's. You do not move forward.. it's all straight up and down. And there is a mirror at the start where you see yourselves then you turn into 'mists' in the mirror. Really awesome! We wandered thru some gift shops and I fell in love with a Lilo and Stitch plate. I thought "Oh, gonna be maybe $40 or $50" WRONG! It was $475!!! We meandered over to Paradise Pier and watched California Screamin'. We decided to hold off until later to ride. We hopped onto Triton's Carousel and took a spin with the sea creatures! After we decided to go claim our spots for the Block Party Bash. This parade/show is AWESOME! Our spot was in the middle of the route so we could see the action of three of the 'blocks'. Our green army man saw my birthday button and from his perch on the block wished me a happy birthday and told me that this show was for me! This is a very high energy party and all around us kids and adults alike were dancing, jumping, shouting, and just having an all out blast! We then headed over to Ariel's Grotto for our 6pm dinner. This was a disappointing meal. The 'character' interaction was great, but the food was bad. My meatloaf was spicy and made me sick for the rest of the night (though it could've been the combination of the meatloaf and the ride on California Screamin') Here we met Ariel, Sir Kyle (Prince Charming's nephew), Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine and "Princess" Minnie. After dinner we went back to the Pier where we rode California Screamin' (my BFF backed out cause she wasn't feeling too well, and then I regretted it the rest of the night). We wandered around taking pictures then headed back to the hotel where we watched the bedtime story with a princess on tv (tonight was Cinderella telling her story) and then crashed!

[Caroleh]

Sounds like a great day, Diane!!! I really happy you got to dance with Stitch!!!!!

[NotaGeek]

Thanks for posting! I am with you 100% on Ariel's Grotto! It's one of the WORST food expierences at Disney and really should be fixed, IMO it's really bad show to have such horrible food at a restaurant with great character interaction for the kids!

[offwego]

Overall a good day it seems to me! thanks for all the info on your trip it's so cool to read about it.

[BrerGnat]

Sounds like another fun day.

Ariel's Grotto has gotten poor food reviews all along. They tried to make it "better" by making it a character meal, but to no avail. I don't really understand it either, since the food offered upstairs at the Cove Bar is SOOO good! It's amazing that it comes from the same kitchen...

Sorry you got a bit sick to your stomach...that really puts a damper on things.

Glad you enjoyed BPB. We recently discovered this parade too and I'm now sad that it's leaving for WDW.

[pogo]

I'm glad you've had so much fun on day two and I'm sorry for your upset tummy.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

[2Epcot]

I enjoyed reading both of your days at Disneyland. Sounds like all of you had a great time. I also love the Aladdin show. I don't see it very often, and forget how good it is until I see it again. I love that the Genie makes the show current by joking about recent news and pop culture.

[disneydrmr]

I enjoyed reading both of your days at Disneyland. Sounds like all of you had a great time. I also love the Aladdin show. I don't see it very often, and forget how good it is until I see it again. I love that the Genie makes the show current by joking about recent news and pop culture.

Yeah, the Genie really made the show! He had a FIELD DAY and a half with the Brittany Spears situations. Too funny!

[MegaDisney]

What a fun packed day!

Thanks for posting!

[GeminiAngel]

Thank you for a great review. You pack great detail into your story.

the food at Ariel's....

[ChipnDaleGal]

Starting your day with Stitch was perfect for your birthday trip! Sounds like you had another amazing day minus the food at Ariel's Grotto. Thanks for the report.

[*tinker_belle*]

Unfortunately i know all too well what its like to have a meal and then ride CA Screamin.
Anyway, sounds like the rest of the day was a blast! I know what you mean about ToT not moving forward like WDW version, i wish ours did this! I also wish we had the random drop sequence! Maybe soon we'll get our wish