This year’s trip started out much better than the one we took last year. On Monday June 27th we headed to the airport for our flight to Los Angeles. On the way, all I could think about was last years cancelled flight. So, we step up to the ticket counter with our ton of luggage. We had two large suitcases, and 5 carryon bags. Fortunately, I was able to fit our laptop into a carryon, so we didn’t have 6 bags plus Alex and the stroller to carry through security. For the first time in years, I did not get singled out in security and sailed right through. They took special care with the laptop, and sent it through again by itself, but we were quickly on our way to the concourse.
First thing we did upon arrival at the concourse was to find food. McDonald’s was the choice, because we figured Alex would eat nuggets, and we were right. He enjoyed his meal, and when done, had fun on the escalators with Dad before going upstairs to play while waiting for our flight.
We left Denver a bit late, but did catch up on the way to Los Angeles, and arrived on time. Unfortunately, the Jetway was not working, so we sat on the plane at our gate for over 20 minutes. We were finally able to get off the plane and headed to get our luggage. We waited, and waited, and waited. Even with the delay at the gate, it still took well over 30 minutes to get our luggage. I was frustrated, seeing the time pass and unable to do anything about it.
Finally our luggage came, and we headed outside to catch the Alamo shuttle. We got lucky, and caught one right away. We were soon at the Alamo/National car rental office. The line was horribly long, but fortunately there was a play area for children, and once the car was finally rented, it was hard to get Alex off the play area. As we went to get our car, I asked Andy about the car seat, and he knew nothing about it. We headed back in, talked to someone, and were quickly given a car seat, at no charge.
Once on the road, we took the freeways, and stayed in the car pool lane all the way. In fact, we stayed for too long. When switching to I-605, we should have left the car pool lane. Since we didn’t, we missed the exit, and took the long way around to the 605. Of course, the long way only took about 5 minutes, and is nicely marked if you follow the Imperial Highway signs.
Since we were running late, we decided to shop before checking into the Howard Johnson. There was a bit of miscommunication here, as I thought Andy wanted directions to the Character Warehouse. He thought I was giving him directions to the store. So, we ended up at the Character Warehouse store, and time was quickly running out to make our dinner reservations. We knew going in that we had to be quick, so, I looked for trinkets, and Andy looked for clothing. I have him both my size and Alex’s and told him what to look for. We ended up with one sweatshirt for Alex. That is the only clothing we chose and they had many racks of it. Unlike the AMS Character Warehouse that visits us in Colorado. When they come here, most clothing is laid out on tables, and harder to look through. So, while the set up for clothing was nice, and they had an incredible amount to sell, we chose none of it. In the trinket area, there was not much to chose from either. I was very disappointed in this store. I thought I would easily be able to find items we would like, or I could collect, but the selection was very small. I probably won’t go back on our next trip to Disneyland.
After the Character Warehouse, we headed over to Target, which was across the street. Here we were able to pick up everything we needed except for beer. Now, why does a store sell wine, but not beer? We checked out, and headed for Howard Johnson’s.
As usual, check in was very quick, the staff was incredible, and we were quickly up to our room. We had a very large room on the 7th floor with skylights, a balcony, and a great view of Disneyland.
Because of the many delays, we only had a few minutes there before we had to hurry to Goofy’s Kitchen. I was wearing my very comfortable sandals, and to my dismay, they were not for walking fast. Since we were in a hurry, we were practically run/walking the normal 20-minute walk from Howard Johnson to the Disneyland Hotel. I ended up with very painful blisters on the bottom of each foot where my foot slid in the sandal.
We quickly checked in for our priority seating, and it was just a few minutes before we were seated. We had huge expectations for Alex this year, as he is much more expressive, and totally loves Mickey, Minnie, and Pooh. Since Alex wanted to eat, I immediately went to get him food. For his first meal at Disneyland, I chose Mickey chicken nuggets, pepperoni pizza, and fresh fruit. For myself, I chose the salmon and popcorn shrimp. While Goofy’s Kitchen is not known for its food, I have never had a problem with it. Until this night, where the salmon was so dry it was inedible. Alex refused everything I offered. When the characters came, he was very weird. Wild, shy, and maybe even a little bit scared. Definitely not what we expected for this trip due to his actions before we left the house. That night at dinner, he saw Mulan, Rafiki, Goofy, Chip and Dale, and Pluto. He also saw Minnie, but acted so shy that she quickly left. Snow White was there, but never made it to our table.
When done, we walked out, and stopped at the bathrooms at the top of the steps. While in the ladies room, I could hear Alex screaming in the men’s room, and could not figure out what was going on. When I walked out, Alex was in the hallway completely naked, except for a diaper. Andy let me know that the men’s room was flooded, and Alex had slipped and fallen. He was screaming because he was wet (this child HATES to be in wet clothing). Not having a change of clothing with us, we went into the Disneyland Hotel Gift Shop, in search of clothing for Alex. The only thing they had in a 2T was a pair of Buzz Lightyear Pajama’s. I tore the tag off and waited in line to pay, while Andy dressed our poor child.
Upon leaving, the next thing we needed to do was go to the World of Disney to pick up our lanyards. I wanted to do this before going to Disneyland the next day, because I did not want us fumbling in wallets or pockets for tickets and Fastpasses. Once we got there, I went in search of the place to get our lanyards, while Andy and Alex looked around. Alex fell in love with a remote control character train. I picked up a Winnie the Pooh storybook for him, and I also picked out a Mickey Mouse plush for Alex to sleep with since we didn’t bring any of his own plush from home. This task taken care of, we only had one thing left to do. We wanted beer for the hotel room, and needed batteries for the Character Train. We stopped at the Minni Mart on Harbor on our way to the Howard Johnson. We picked up a 12 pack of Coors Light, a 9-volt battery, a 4 pack of AAA batteries, and a pen. The total was $30.00!!! We were a little shocked, to say the least.
We got back to Howard Johnson just in time to watch the fireworks from our balcony. Alex ran inside shortly after they started, and we quickly realized that he was afraid of the fireworks. That did not bode well for watching them during the trip. From our balcony, I was able to occasionally hear the music from Disneyland, so I thought that was pretty neat. After watching the fireworks from the balcony, I could not wait to see them from in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. When they were done, we went to bed. It had been a very long day, and I had been up since 6 am. I fell asleep quickly, and even woke before our scheduled wake up call.
Coming soon, day 2. Can we make it to Disneyland by opening? We wanted to, since we never once made it by opening in 2004.
Leanne
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