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jrkcr
05-23-2012, 05:56 PM
THis trip was just for DD12 and myself. DD loves planning Disney vacations almost as much as I do, so I let her make most of the decisions for this trip. She wanted to stay at the Disneyland hotel, and it was a good choice. She got to decide when we ate, what park we went to, what we rode. She felt all grown up! *DD spends time on intercot and on my iPad Disney app. planning *trips. so I knew she would love being in charge.

We left home around 6:45to drop off the dog at the sitter, drop off my older DDs at the airport for their vacation trip, and by 7:30 we were on the road to Disneyland! *Nine hours, but at least I love the scenery between Reno and DL. We always take hwy 395 past Yosemite, Mammoth Lakes, and even the empty dessert around China Lake is beautiful. I stay on 395 till it runs into I-15 and I can avoid going into LA.

We arrived around 4pm Tuesday, and after unpacking we spent the evening in the pool and hot tub. The monorail slides had already closed for the day, and we never were at the hotel during the day to try them out. We asked at the front desk what time the slides opened in the mornings, and were told they open at 8am. DD went down at 8am one morning, but no slides were open. She waited around the pool area for a while, hoping they would open. But after waiting 15 minutes she gave up, disappointed.*

Our room was in the fantasy tower with a view overlooking the pool.It was nice to have the little shop in the lobby for picking up individual sized bottles of milk and cold drinks every day. We had a small refrigerator in the room. We brought plastic cups,fruit loops, and juice boxes to have in the morning, and cups of applesauce and carrots with ranch dressing for late night snacking. The frig was plenty big for what we needed. We loved the headboard that played music and had the twinkle lights! DD would like to bring that headboard home! *The beds were very comfortable, plenty of pillows and I think the beds were queen sized. I never did figure out how to use the bedside alarm clock, but I just used the wake-up call from Mickey.

The parks were not crowded at all on Wednesday and Thursday.*Wednesday, we walked onto BTMRR, we were all alone in the boat on POC, were with four other people in the HM, and on other rides we waited about 5-10 minutes all day. I nicely insisted DD try Indiana Jones, as she had been too scared on our last trip about four years ago. I knew she could handle it, and she says it is now her new favorite ride! We had about a 10 minute wait for that ride. We did not ride Space Mtn, Star Tours, and the tea cups. DD doesn't do roller coasters, and I get sick from star tours and tea cups. And the Matterhorn was closed during this trip. Other than that, we rode everything! *Which means it was a long day. I did have a few minutes of complete confusion as I wandered around looking for the magic carpets of Aladdin, saying "I know they were right here". Lol*

Thursday, we went to Ca Adventure. First ride was Soarin, front row, first in line. Perfect! The new Ariel ride is really nice, and not just because it was air conditioned. But the cold air was a bonus! It was sunny and hot during the middle of the day. So we ate ice cream while in the 40 minute line for Toy Story. The Alladin show was as packed as always, and we ate a pretzel with jalapeno cheese while in line. (we eat in line alot i guess) The show was great, even with a malfunction with the giant snake. After a few minutes, it was fixed and the show continued. *We did not ride the Silly Symphony swings, Ca Screaming, as DD doesn't do bigger roller coasters, and the Golden Zepher and Goofys sky school was closed that day.
We had planned to watch world of color, but we rode Grizzly river rapids and got soaked and were cold. So we went back to the hotel to change, and then decided to skip WoC and go back to magic kingdom instead. So we rode rides until closing that night, I even got the front seat on Splash Mtn as our last ride of the night. It was such small crowds, DD and I were alone on Splash!*

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: we went to the parks late morning, and stayed till 30 minutes before closing every night. Which is when the monorail stops running. It was much more crowded over the weekend, and the only times we got to walk onto a ride was during the Fantasmic show and the fireworks. While people watched the show, we rode rides!*

Friday: We wandered around Tom Sawyer island, rowed the canoes around the river, and went to pet goats, donkeys, and the horse at the big thunder ranch. Since it was more crowded, we just went with the flow and rode any ride that had a short line that we happened to see. We got on the train in tomorrow land to go to New Orleans for lunch, but when we arrived and saw how crowded it was, we stayed on the train and rode all the way around the park again,back to Main Street. We watched the parade from the train station area, and then stayed to watch the flag retreat ceremony. We skipped Fantasmic, but we did watch the fireworks.*

Saturday: We went back to Ca Adven park and rode everything that we had skipped(except Ca screamin) We again rode Grizzly river rapids and then left the park soaking. We rested at the hotel, showered and dressed and went back to Magic Kingdom. We watched Fantasmic on Saturday evening, the early show. I staked out a table at the River Belle Terrace early, and we ate dinner and people watched there. DD went off to ride PoC by herself. After we watched Fantasmic, we used our fast passes for Splash Mtn,but we didn't need to use them as the walk on time was 5 minutes.

Sunday: we spent the day at Ca Adventure, shopped at World of Disney in downtown Disney in the afternoon, and stayed at magic kingdom till closing. We rode It's a Small World several times, where I accidentally called and woke up my husband while trying to take a picture with my cell phone...all he could hear was singing! Lol We walked onto the submarines and autopia with no lines. Rode the Storybook canal boats after dark, which is such a cute ride. We ate churros. There is something extra magical about being in the park late at night!*

*Our last ride every night was Splash Mtn,so we left every night wet and cold. Which is why DD now has a new sweatshirt, and splash mtn beach towel.We would leave Splash, ride the train around to tomorrow land and take the monorail back to the hotel.*

We never did go back to see WoC, but we have to save something for our next trip. We bought annual passes, so I am sure we will be going back as soon as public school starts up in August/Sept. I refuse to go during the hot summer months.

Since it was just DD and I, we didn't do any sit down dinners. We shared a corn dog from Corn dog castle, we shared a huge baked potato with broccoli and cheese from Troubador Tavern(one of our favorite lunches), we had pizza from Redd Rockets, a salad with turkey breast at River Belle Terrace. We had a quiet, air conditioned, no crowds lunch at White water snacks at the Grand Californian hotel. I had the chicken nachos and it was great! *DD is a nibbler, so we carried individual bags of apple slices(from Costco) and ziplock bags of animal crackers, and munched all day. We splurged and ordered room service at midnight, and either we were really hungry, or the food was really good. I had hoped to try Tangaroa Terrace, but we never seemed to be at our hotel during meal time. Maybe next trip...
I know for my anniversary trip next spring, I want to stay at the Grand Californian hotel. DD laughed at this idea, since I am slowly changing our house into this style. But I know my hubby will like the look and feel, and the location. Until then, I plan to try out Park Vue and the hotels in that area.
:mickey:

Diznee4Me
05-29-2012, 01:19 PM
Sounds like you two had an awesome trip!!! I miss our trips together. :( Hopefully one day Liz and I can fly out and go with y'all. Until then - you'll miss WDW this October! :D