Today is Wednesday, so not an early entry day. We did make it to Disneyland for the 8:00 opening. After stopping at Blue Ribbon Bakery for chocolate milk for Alex, diet coke for me, and a blueberry muffin for the 3 of us to share which is pretty much a tradition for us each morning.
We entered Fantasyland and were able to ride laceName w:st="on">StorybooklaceName> laceType w:st="on">LandlaceType>, It’s a Small World, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Buzz Lightyear, and Mad Tea Party (Alex and Andy). I took several pictures of Alex and Andy in the Teacups during this ride. I stayed away because of the motion sickness issue. Alex seemed to really enjoy this ride which was wonderful. He had seen it on his Disneyland Fun video so many times it was nice to see him enjoy it for the first time. We also tried to get Alex on Dumbo, but for some reason he is terrified of this ride and refuses to go on. Did he get Mommy’s fear of heights? Alex also thoroughly enjoyed Buzz again, as it is one of his favorite rides. Small World puts a smile on his face every single time and this ride was no different.
It was about 9:30 when we were done with all of those rides and had made a Fastpass run, so we headed to ToonTown so Alex could see Mickey. We had stood in line for about 25 minutes when Alex announced he had to go potty. We left the line and didn’t go back. This in itself was amazing. Our last trip to Disneyland we saw Mickey and Minnie so much it was incredible. It is now Day 2 and aside from the few minutes we saw Mickey in the Electric Parade, we had not yet seen him.
After Alex went potty we did go stand in line to see Minnie, whose line was pretty short. She was so funny. Alex has a bad habit that most children his age acquire for a period. While it drives me nuts, at least he quit doing the second part of the bad habit. So, the habit he has picked up? He picks his nose (but remember, he no longer does the worse part). Well, he is standing with Minnie, and they were perfectly posed for the picture when he put his fingers to his nose. My first reaction is the standard one “Alex, get your fingers out of your nose” and Minnie, who must have a secret child with Mickey because she understood, used her hand to rub down Alex’s face to get his fingers from his nose. It was so hilarious. Unfortunately you can’t see that on camera, but you can see my hand holding his hands down so he doesn’t do it again. Minnie signed Alex’s autograph book and we spent a few minutes inside the house.
For some reason, Alex decided her house was his. He had to show all the children that came in how to work the dishwasher and the stove. At one point he was racing back and forth to show people. Then of course he had to be stopped because he quit showing them and instead was keeping these children from reaching the knobs. We finally got our mischievous little boy out of there amid laughter from other parents.
Up next was Gadgets Go Coaster. This one scared Alex last time, so we decided to try it again. This time he said he didn’t want to go on it again, but it didn’t seem to scare him. We left it at that, and started to explore ToonTown. Of course, Alex had to play in the vehicles, especially the one with the flat tires. This was his favorite because at home when he plays with cars, on cars, or in our truck, he always pretends there is a flat tire (this began after we actually got a flat tire once several months ago). Of course I have pictures of Alex ‘fixing’ the flat tire. Unfortunately for him, this wasn’t a pretend flat, so he could not fix it. We are so used to him ‘fixing’ the flat tires that Andy didn’t realize this vehicle had a real flat until he saw the pictures today!
We finally were able to pry him away from the cars and he went to explore the new Goofy’s Playground. This has replaced Goofy’s Bounce House. Now his yard is a playground with a slide, and overgrown pumpkin and more. The interior is empty aside from wall decorations. A Christmas tree is in Goofy’s loft, and it will be interesting to see where this tree lives for the Christmas season in a few months. Most appropriately, after leaving his house we ran into Goofy. After signing Alex’s book, Goofy and he played around for a few minutes.
Noticing that Roger Rabbit’s CarToon Spin had a short 10 minute wait, we decided to give that ride a shot. Yeah, I was wearing my patch so wasn’t too concerned even though I had heard this ride could make you very sick. The biggest problem was the incredible heat and high humidity. Because of that my transdermscope patch had problems staying on, so I had problems with motion sickness after the strangest rides. Anyway, as far as Roger Rabbit’s, the line was pretty short. We rode in different cars because Alex likes to spin, so he and Andy were in front of me. This ride is very colorful, and very loud. It is also a lot of fun, especially since I was able to see Alex spinning himself and Andy nonstop for the first half of the ride. When it was over, Andy was woozy but I was doing just fine. If you don’t touch the spinning wheel, the natural spinning in the ride is not that bad, and with my patch on (kind of) I didn’t have any problems with motion sickness here.
We then left ToonTown and of course did our two standby rides. First was Small World which had a very short line, and then Buzz which also had a short line. (Have you noticed a theme yet?) By this time it was close to our lunch priority seating which was scheduled at noon, so we left Tomorrowland in search of food. We quickly grabbed new fastpasses and headed to Main Street.
My absolute favorite place to eat in Disneyland is the Carnation Café. We got there at about 10 minutes before 12. After no more than two minutes we were ushered in and to our table. Of course, this did not make all the people standing in the VERY long line happy and we heard many grumbles of discontent. How can people not know you can make priority seating for the Carnation Café? Oh, that’s right; they don’t come to our website where we share that information. It does seem that our readers are the only ones who know that information and it is so very useful since this is one incredible place to eat! Okay, off my soapbox. This is a favorite for both Andy and I so we settled in for what we expected to be a wonderful meal.
Our server was Randy – the same person who helped us last year Andy and I both remembered. He has been with Disneyland for over 30 years. In fact, the staff at this restaurant has all been here for years. You won’t find any class of 2006 cast members as the wait staff at Carnation Café. Because of this the knowledge here is incredible, and you can trust the answers you get to your questions, especially food related. So when I asked Randy about the chicken pot pie, I didn’t get the expected answer: it’s very good. Instead Randy let me know that it is served in a large bowl and has a homemade flakey crust on the top. Under the crust is a plethora of chicken with vegetables in a homemade sauce. There is no bottom crust like the frozen variety of pot pies. This sounded heavenly so I did give it a shot. Andy had the steak sandwich. Alex continued with a secondary theme this trip. He stared at and played with his meal. He did make an exception though and ate the two mini hot dogs. Not the buns, but the meat. So, about 3-4 inches of meat, but it was more than he had eaten the night before. In addition to those mini hotdogs he got fresh fruit and Mickey shaped tortilla chips. He did have fun feeding his grapes to Daddy. My chicken pot pie was incredible. So much chicken and such big fresh veggies in a wonderful sauce will keep me from being able to eat a frozen pot pie ever again.
I had really been looking forward to the best dessert at the Resort and as soon as I could I asked Randy about the brownie sundae. Unfortunately it is no longer on the menu. Randy did check to see if they could make it special for me though. They said no so I settled and we all shared a banana split. I chose this because it did have the chocolate sauce on it that was so incredible last year. I think Alex ate the bulk of this wonderful dessert. Yes it was divine and sure didn’t taste like I had to settle.
After leaving Carnation Café we went to get more Buzz fastpasses then left the resort in search of liquid refreshment to take back to the hotel. From the Paradise Pier if you go out the front doors and turn right and go to the light, then turn right and go one block you will find a mini mart. We knew from previous trips that this was here, so headed there for beer, a lottery ticket and some snack Alex may eat. Alex fell asleep in the stroller during this walk. Timing wasn’t the best though because we had priority seating for Playhouse Disney, so he couldn’t sleep long. We got back to the hotel and let Alex sleep in the stroller for a few minutes while we relaxed and had a beer. Alex was still sleeping when we left to go to Playhouse Disney.
We got to California Adventure and quickly walked to the Playhouse Disney location getting there just 10 minutes before the show was due to begin. We were told there were no Priority Seating reservations for us. The line was not horrible, so we decided to just wait. We did get in, and had a great view of the stage (what seat isn’t a great view here since they are all wonderful) and we woke Alex up right before getting in line when we had to park the stroller.
Alex really enjoyed Playhouse Disney but he was so tired. I think if he would have been able to sleep more he would have been dancing like the other children. He was all smiles during the show though as he loves Bear, JoJo and Pooh. After the show we grabbed Soarin fastpasses and headed back to the hotel for Alex to sleep. When we got there we stopped in the gift shop for Andy to get a paper. This was my first view of the shop, and I was very impressed. Alex immediately saw something he wanted. He even picked it up off the shelf and said please. When I said yes, he said thanks. His chosen purchase was the 50th’s Anniversary Hot Wheels Big Rig painted purple with the Disney characters. It is absolutely beautiful – a real collectors item. So, his first $20.00 was spent on day 2. Unfortunately when we got upstairs he had to play with this instead of sleeping.
I actually left on a mission while Andy stayed with Alex hoping he would sleep. First I went to Walt Disney Travel Company, armed with my paperwork from Disney Visa that says I can use ANY travel agency. I go in and immediately recognize Suzette. She doesn’t make the connection as to who I am though and says no, policy began on January 1st that if you use AAA for your reservation you can’t get the Disney Tote Bag offered by Visa. I was very upset, and let her know. I then left and went to shop.
World of Disney was the chosen starting point for me to shop. I immediately headed to the collectibles area and found a beautiful crystal Tinker Bell. It was even numbered. This is not a small Tink. It is absolutely huge and very heavy. I actually don’t think crystal is the right term for what this is made out of now that I think about her. I will try to take a picture so you can all see her. So I went to enquire and found out that the one on display was the only one they had. They went to get it out of the glass for me and I continued looking around. I also found a little replica of laceName w:st="on">SleepinglaceName> laceName w:st="on">BeautylaceName> laceType w:st="on">CastlelaceType> that had some crystals on it, and when I found out it was only $45.00 I bought it as well. I didn’t find out until we got home since I left the box intact that this is actually a trinket box, and really very beautiful. I also used my own money to buy a few more items for Alex as a surprise. And of course I stopped at the antennae ball section for a few, and the keychain section for more. All in all, I didn’t spend very much here compared to my usual shopping excursions.
Next I headed to Marceline’s where I grabbed some taffy (ate when we got home and I grabbed a bag with horrible flavors so it wasn’t the best). I also got 2 cookies here since none were delivered the night before. There are also many different containers used for items of the junk food realm. I fell in love with a few so bought them. These items never get opened. I have some from 10 years ago still in shrink wrap. I wonder how long chocolate holds up in storage. Anyway I found a few real cute pieces so did buy them simply for the container. While here Andy called wanting to know where I was. Had I been gone that long? Not really, but he was bored and Alex didn’t sleep. I hurried back with my purchases.
Arriving at the Paradise Pier I showed Andy and Alex my purchases, then we headed out and into Disneyland. We had an issue this trip. We kept running into the afternoon and evening showing of the Parade of Dreams. Wow that parade messes up traffic! What should take 5 minutes to walk takes 20 or more because of the routes required by parade traffic blockades. We finally made it to laceName w:st="on">SplashlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType> and used the fastpasses we had obtained earlier. Strike one for our ‘don’t let me get a drop of water on me’ boy was a wet seat in the log. Not a great start to a ride we were not sure he would like. Throughout the ride he was real good, and he was in the back row with Andy who did a wonderful job keeping him dry. Alex liked the critters and the music that he knew very well. What he didn’t like was the big drop. Oh, he didn’t scream. He sat there silently suffering, and he did get a little wet. Heck I don’t think the drop scared him; it was the water he could see! He got just a tad wet. He said he liked the ride, but didn’t want to go again. Go figure.
Next we headed over to Small World (remember the theme) but ran into a total tragedy. The power had gone out at Small World and they didn’t know when it would be running again. Poor Alex. On the way to Small World though we did catch Buzz dancing in Club Buzz and stood next to him for a picture. Alex was actually scared of Buzz for some reason. That freaked me out. Toy Story is his all time favorite movie and he loves Woody and Buzz, so him being scared was a little freaky. To be honest I don’t know if it was this time or earlier, but we did see Buzz on the way to Small World some time today!
We did end up seeing a bit of the 7:00 parade on our way from Small World to Buzz. We didn’t stop to watch, but did see the Simba float. We did Buzz and Alex was okay. Sad, but at least both of his favorite rides were not broken. Of course for the next few hours all we heard from him was ‘Small World broken’. It was a terrible tragedy for this little boy.
By this time it was getting late so we headed over to California Adventure to watch the Electric Parade. With no other options for food, we went to McDonalds – AKA Burger Invasion. Andy tried Pizza Oom Mow Mow but they were already closed. This Burger Invasion has incredibly slow service. You order from a desk before reaching the windows. So I ordered and paid for our very expensive food. There were 3 families in front of me. Thirty minutes later I was still waiting for food so Andy and Alex went to grab seats. Finally I got our food and found Andy and Alex. At least the food was hot! Alex finally at something since he loves McDonald’s chicken nuggets. He also got a Cars toy so he was in hog heaven. Then the parade began and Small World was forgotten.
Once the parade was over we called it a night. Alex was exhausted as demonstrated earlier. The heat was getting to us and being out and about all day didn’t help so it was time to head back. We did get back to our room before fireworks started. From our room we could see just a few of them so didn’t spend much time trying. Instead I again went to bed and fell asleep very quickly.
*****
Just to let all of you know, pictures won't be posted here. When Andy puts them on our site pictures will go up and I will let you know so you can all look at them. We just got the ones back today from the non digital and there are some beautiful pictures this year. I have not seen the ones from the digital yet.
Leanne