Our last day at Disneyland, December 17th was a bittersweet day. I hate leaving, but I am always happy to be home. My feet didn’t do well in my new crocs and I was in incredible pain. Next time, my old crocs go with us!
We got up for early entry at were there by 8:00. I had called at 7 and requested late checkout and the best they could do was noon. This will affect us later, but we didn’t know it at the time. The plan was to play until 2 and then head out for the long drive to Vegas for our 9pm flight.
Since we had not yet ridden Peter Pan so that was the very first thing we did. We then rode Alice and the Tea Cups and had to talk Alex into both for some reason. Next was another journey to Star Tours for my boys while I rode Buzz. Once they came out we all rode Buzz before heading to Small World. Next we headed over to Pirates and laceName w:st="on">HauntedlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MansionlaceType>. These were very close to walk on. Andy wanted to single ride Splash while Alex and I met Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. Amazingly, we ran into Piglet and Rabbit first! We were in that line when the line moved and we thought they were leaving, so went to join the Pooh Line. Big mistake – they were not leaving, just moving! We ended up getting pictures, but no autographs unfortunately. Alex did have fun with Pooh and friends though.
We were going to eat at the French Market. I was completely craving clam chowder and they had it in a bread bowl. Unfortunately we discovered they don’t open until 11 and we had to check out by 12 so that wouldn’t work. Instead we just went back to the hotel through California Adventure for Soarin’ fastpasses.
Andy was loading the car and tried to get in the room at 12 and the keys had been shut off. Good thing I was still there waiting for him! As we took the final load to the car we decided to eat at White Water Snacks, ride Soarin and Mulholland Madness and then go to Disneyland for final rides on Star Tours and Small World. Great plan right?
Our lunch at Whitewater was very good. Andy and I had cheeseburgers while Alex had another hot dog. We also fed the kitty and she loved it!
Next we headed to Mulholland Madness where fortunately there was not much of a line so we road and then hurried to Soarin’. We got there and found the Fastpass return line out the door! We didn’t know at the time, but Soarin’ had broken down. We waited almost 30 minutes and by the time we got out we were really running late. It was almost 2 already.
We hurried to Disneyland where Andy and Alex did Star Tours while I bought him the promised suckers. And I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Star Tours had broken down while they were in line! It was almost 3 by this time, and Small World had to be ridden. Because I was moving so slowly, I decided to skip the final ride. I had wanted to get fudge for Christmas, so planned on making that stop on the way to the hotel, where I would meet my boys.
I did make a stop for fudge and also a stop at Wetzel’s Pretzel’s for the drive. With the stops it was almost 3:30 when I got to the hotel. Andy and Alex were not there yet. Finally he called. They were on their way back. Turns out, they lost Figaro again. Andy had walked the Small World mall over and over trying to find her. He had just decided to buy a new one when he walked buy a bench and found her. Someone had picked her up and put her there! We were so lucky both times we lost Figaro this trip.
Finally, we were on the road about 3:45. Not much spare time for the trip back! And of course we ran into rush hour traffic.
Long story short – Alex fell asleep on the drive. We got to the rental car return and left Alex’s suckers in the car L, and got to the airport just short of 1 hour before the flight.
We had a wonderful trip. We never made it to Billy Hill, Jedi Training or to see Block Party Bash.
I did end up finding the Tinker Bell Pin at – get this – the Tinker Bell Shop! It is a new shop in laceName w:st="on">SleepinglaceName> laceName w:st="on">BeautylaceName> laceType w:st="on">CastlelaceType> and didn’t even have the name on it yet, but was open for business. This shop sells only Tink items. Another new shop, the Three Fairies is across from it. Here you can have a picture put into crystal.
This was our third trip in 2007. Each one was wonderful and I won’t forget these trips for a long time. We were with Kevin in May, as we celebrated Andy’s Birthday and our 20th Anniversary. In September we were there for Alex’s birthday, and then for Christmas – my absolute favorite time of the year.
Another thing – laceName w:st="on">SleepinglaceName> laceName w:st="on">BeautylaceName> laceType w:st="on">CastlelaceType> was incredibly beautiful at night. The snow on it during the day was one thing, but at night, the snow was something to bring tears to your eyes. Never in all my trips to Disneyland have I seen laceName w:st="on">SleepinglaceName> laceName w:st="on">BeautylaceName> laceType w:st="on">CastlelaceType> look so beautiful!
I hope you have enjoyed my trip reports!
May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic! And your nights full of Disney Dreams!