Left the house at 5:30am to get to the airport for out 8am flight. We were there and through security in plenty of time, to the gate and loaded onto the plane. After preboarding and waiting for everyone to file in, we sat on the ground for 30 minutes when the pilot announced that maintenance had fixed something on the plane and "fudged" the numbers in the maintenance logs, and that due to this the plane was grounded. So we had to deplane and wait for another plane to arrive After waiting another 30 minutes in the terminal, they loaded us onto....the same plane! Apologizing for the mix-up, we were finally off and arrive at LAX at 11:50am. No problems picking up the rental car from Alamo and it's easy to drive to Anaheim so we hit the road, a bit hungry but in good spirits. Joshua fell asleep on the drive, as we expected (and hoped). We arrived in Anaheim at 1pm and hit the local Target for a few essentials (pullups, drinks etc) and stopped at a local Pizza Hut for a quick bit before heading over to Paradise Pier, great pizza but very greasy! Arriving at the Pier, I went in to get the room and was informed that it was dirty and they would put us in a different room, ok no problem. We drove the car to the parkade and familiarized ourselves with the layout of the property. Walking in, Joshua immediately noticed the TV room for the kids with the cute little Adirondacks and TV mounted in the castle and wanted to stop. Lugging heavy cases, we promised him we would stop by there a bit later and continued to the glass elevator, which Joshua loved! We got into the room which overlooked California Adventure and had a great view of the Pier, Wheel, roaster coaster etc. so Joshua got quite excited looking at it all. For those that don't know, this is his second trip to DL. We had him there for a short two days on our way to Japan last year around the same time. We were less impressed with the room however. There were wet spots all over the floor, some up to a couple feet in diameter. We found half eaten chip bags from previous guests in the closet, and candy wrappers and an empty pop bottle under one of the beds. When I phoned the front desk...they said... sorry. Whatever. We weren't going to let this ruin our trip. We tried to get Joshua to have a bit more of a nap as the 40 minutes he had in the car wouldn't hold him over. After what felt like a couple of hours of coaxing we gave up, got ready, and made our way to Downtown Disney. We've never seen this area before so it was new and exciting to us. As we hadn't had much to eat we decided it would be smart to get something in ourselves before we hit the park, and there was Rainforest Cafe. Checked out the wait, 40 minutes. Not bad I suppose so we signed up and started walking around the store. We're only in the store maybe 5 minutes when the thunder and lights dimming goes off. Joshua was immediately scared and we had to leave. We sat outside though, waiting for our turn in the restaurant, convincing him that the thunder was pretend and we'd have a good meal and fun looking at the big fish tanks, He seemed unsure but was willing to give it a go, that is, until we were called up and right when we reached the entrance the thunder roared again. That was the key to leave, he wasn't having it. Oh well, maybe next year. But in the meantime, we need some food! We ended up stopping at Blue Ribbon and grabbing a coffee to stave off the hunger, which worked for a while. Then straight into Fantasyland for the Carousel which Joshua loves. He must have gone on 6-7 times in a row before agreeing to Dumbo, and then Small World..and then of course back to the Carousel. He wasn't interested in Buzz Astro Blasters and in fact we would later learn he was afraid to go on any rides that involved going inside. THe first time we had him at DL we took him on Mr. Toad and the darkness seemed to scare him. I'm sure he'll grow out of it. We closed down DL at 8pm, had a browse through Main St. and headed back to the hotel. It was nice to see that even though CA was closed, they leave the lights on the rides, which looks beautiful a lit up at night! That's it for Thursday..stay tuned for tomorrow.. Leanne and family (and Kevin!).

For day 2 of the report, click this link:

http://www.disneymouselinks.com/Forums/Topic71935-4-1.aspx

Coffee at Blue Ribbon to fill you up?  Wow - cheap dates, aren't ya?

No indoor rides - so I can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip - all those outdoor excursions!

Leanne

May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic!  And your nights full of Disney Dreams!

Leanne

May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic!  And your nights full of Disney Dreams!