Alex’s 5th Birthday at Disneyland
Our trip began on Friday the 14th of September. We got to the Paradise Pier Hotel at approximately 3:45pm. Andy and Alex immediately left to go to the store. They went to purchase water, Gatorade and beer while I checked us into the hotel. By 4:10 I was in our room, 1240 which we love. I called to have our bags brought up and they were there within minutes.
My next call was to Karen at Vacation Planning because she wanted to meet up with us before we went to Disneyland. I told her it would be a good half our before we left the hotel and she asked me to call when we left. Andy and Alex arrived then and we put the drinks in the fridge and rested for a minute. We didn’t even take the time to unpack before heading out.
I had to take small steps because of my back, so we walked slower than we normally would on our way to meeting Karen. I tried to put my fanny pack on, but it was much too painful on my back, so I carried it like a purse. She was there and we talked for about 10 minutes before heading to Disneyland.
Amazingly there was little to no wait to get through security. Once done, we headed for the Disneyland gates. What happened next is very sad for me. I was in pain and was not thinking as we went through the right tunnel. Yep, the RIGHT tunnel. I was completely horrified, as I always start a trip through the left tunnel! I let it go though and we got our first glimpse of Main Street U.S.A.
As usual we pretty much let Alex dictate what we do and when we do it. His first wish on this day was to ride Star Tours. I did it, even with my bad back, because I simply couldn’t skip the first ride of the trip. Star Tours was a walk-on, and it was close to 5pm on a Friday. We were in heaven!
Next Alex wanted to ride Buzz. We were a little shocked that he didn’t say Small World, but we went along with Alex’s plan. It was a 5 minute wait before we could start trying to save the world from Zurg. Andy and I only got up to level 4 for some reason. Oh well.
It was then that Alex wanted to ride Small World. I skipped this ride because the seats are horrible for a bad back. We did pass the Nemo queue on the way and the line was close to 2 hours long. Ouch. While Alex and Andy were on their world tour, I did some people watching and window shopping. There were a few things in the Small World store I thought Alex might like.
When my boys came out, Alex wanted to ride Dumbo, so he and I stood in a mere 10 minute line (remember the time of day – it was after 5). Alex was having a lot of fun making our elephant go up and down. I was okay until we went all the way down and the bounce caught me by surprise. Lol
After Dumbo, Alex wanted to go to California. Yep, he thinks DCA is California. I have tried to tell him the STATE is California, but he can’t grasp the concept. Anyway we headed for California Adventure to get Soarin’ fastpasses. We then headed toward Mulholland Madness which had a 5-10 minute wait. Andy and Alex rode while I put an ice pack between my shorts and my back, holding it in with my fanny pack. The ice felt wonderful!
Once my boys had crashed their way through Mulholland Madness we headed for the wimp chairs on the Sun Wheel. It was getting dark, and the views were incredible. The fact that there was no bright light helped my fear of heights and I survived this ride with no worries of falling to my death. It was nice.
Alex wanted to ride the one ride that is closed more often than not due to wind. The Zephyr happened to be open at this time and was a walk-on, so Andy and Alex rode. I could see Alex sticking his head over the side of the rocket as it flew. This boy loves to fly!
Once they were back on terra firma we headed to Soarin’ and used our fastpasses. The standby wait was only 20 minutes. This is one of my favorite rides in the whole Disneyland resort, and I really enjoyed this trip over some of California’s amazing sites.
After Soarin’ we made a big mistake. We should have gone back to the hotel. Instead we headed to Disneyland thinking we could get in a lot of rides during the fireworks and Fantasmic!. Alex refused to ride Pirates, Splash wasn’t an option because it was cool and the laceName w:st="on">HauntedlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MansionlaceType> was closed. We rode Winnie the Pooh and headed back to the hotel. Other lines were long, and we were tired. It had been a long day.
Our second mistake was made because we were exhausted. We had decided to sleep in on Saturday and not get up for Early Entry. This was a mistake because we know better. We always get up early on our first morning. Anyway, I called for a wake-up call at 6:45, figuring we would be at Disneyland by 7:40 or so.
I had gotten a tip from a friend of mine who knew about my feet swelling at Disneyland. She told me to prop up the bottom of the bed and sleep with my feet elevated. Between that and the diuretics I woke with no swelling in my feet.
Day 2, Saturday September 15th
We regretted our decision to sleep in the next morning as we arrived into Tomorrowland on the Monorail.
Andy and Alex got in line for Autopia, and I was to go get Space Mountain Fastpasses. So, at opening I headed over there only to find that laceName w:st="on">SpacelaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType> was down. Alex had really wanted to ride it, so he was a bit upset.
Instead of Space Fastpasses though I did go over and get Buzz fastpasses. My AP wouldn’t work. I was told it was not scanned by the Monorail crew when we entered. The Cast Member at Buzz took care of me and gave me a 1 day only Fastpass card to use until I could get my AP scanned.
Once the boys got off Autopia and found out the laceName w:st="on">SpacelaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType> was down Alex decided to ride Star Tours so we all headed there and again, found no line. Next we did Buzz, but did the stand-by line since it was a walk-on. Again, we didn’t make it past level 4.
Alex again loved the rockets, and had to ride the Astro Orbiter, so my boys did that while I took pictures. Then it was on to Small World, and this time I did ride. Alex had been told no each time he wanted to buy something. Today, he was finally told yes. At the Small World Toy Shoppe he found Minnie’s cat Figaro. Of course, since he named our cat Figaro, we had to okay this purchase. Alex was thrilled.
It was decided at that point that I would get laceName w:st="on">SplashlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType> fastpasses while Andy and Alex stayed in Fantasyland. So, Andy, Alex, and Figaro rode King Arthur Carousel and the Tea Cups while I headed to Critter Country. By this time we needed to head out for lunch. We didn’t have time to go through California Adventure so instead we took the Monorail to Downtown Disney and walked from there.
We checked in for lunch at Goofy’s Kitchen and were soon led to our table. Not our normal one, but we still were in the same section, so we were happy. It was amazing to see all of the empty tables around us. Usually when we are there, Goofy’s Kitchen is packed. It was great though, because we got extra time with the characters and we really enjoyed that. We saw Pluto outside taking pictures, Goofy, Baloo, Chip and Dale, Jasmine and Alice. Goofy was hilarious and used Alex’s head as a table to sign the autograph book. Each time Alex moved it off his head, Goofy would put it back. I was cracking up. Chip and Dale wrote on the paper tablecloth for us, and we brought that home. Chip had drawn a picture of Alex, and then had Alex draw him. Chip’s stick figure was cute, but the snowman Alex and Chip drew to depict Chip was the real treat. Alex had so much fun at this meal, and even managed to eat some of his food. Figaro on the other hand, ate nothing, but did seem to enjoy watching the three of us eat.
After our very entertaining brunch, we headed for DCA through the Grand Californian Entrance. We immediately went for fastpasses and discovered we could get Soarin’ fastpasses and five minutes later get them for Mulholland Madness so we did that. Next we headed to the store near Grizzly to get Alex a poncho. We put everything into the free lockers except the video camera (Andy was taping the ride), made sure Figaro was safe, and got in line. We had assured Alex that with his poncho on he would stay dry. We were very wrong.
At the end of the ride when the Geyser comes up our raft when over it before it had gone back down and everyone on our raft was drenched. The water poured over us and didn’t stop. Even Alex, in his poncho was soaked because water had come in at the neck. As the eight of us got off our raft we looked like drowned rats we were so wet. There literally was not a dry spot anywhere on any of us. The three of us had no choice but to go back to the hotel and change intro dry clothing. Because of this, Alex refused to ride Grizzly again.
So, as we dripped our way through the Grand Californian and back to our hotel we determined we would go back to California Adventure once we had dry clothing on. I was happy I always bring one extra set of clothes for each of us when I pack. The most unfortunate thing about this was that my back was killing me, and walking was not easy yet I had to make the trek back and forth to the hotel.
When we once again entered California Adventure we headed directly to Soarin’ and used our fastpasses. Alex measured Figaro and it was determined that she was big enough to ride in his lap. We still had my Fastpass card, so Andy had picked up 4 fastpasses for Mulholland Madness so that he and Alex could ride twice. Because of this, my boys and Figaro were able to ride after we got of Soarin’. Alex was upset that the Zephyr was down because of wind once that ride was over.
I then took Alex to Redwood Creek Challenge Trail so that Andy could ride Screamin’. Alex was having a blast in there, and constantly had to be told to wait for Mommy. With my back, I could not keep up with him. At one point he was right next to me as my phone rang. I looked down to see who it was and answered it since our pet sitter was calling. When I looked down again, Alex was gone. I yelled for him as I walked around, hoping he had just gone out of my eyesight. Five minutes later I was still yelling for him and was astonished that no other parent was trying to help me find my son. Kathleen, my pet sitter had been hung up on the second I noticed Alex missing.
Finally, Alex appeared. He had gone all the way back to the caves so he could put his hand in the handprint again. I kind of freaked out on him at that point. No, I didn’t yell at him or get mad. I did grab him, picked him up, wrenched my back even more, and held on for dear life. I told him never, ever do that again because Mommy was very scared when he was missing. He started crying and we just sat there for a minute getting it together. I called Kathleen back, let her known I had found Alex and got things taken care of with her. We needed her to turn on our computer at the house because for some reason we had not been able to dial in the night before. The worst part about Alex being missing was that we had prepared for this and put a business card in his lanyard with our names and cell phone numbers on it with the words please call if I am lost. The problem was he was not wearing this lanyard when he did disappear. I have never been so scared in my life!
We soon left Redwood Creek and kept trying to call Daddy. He wasn’t answering so I figured he was on Screamin’. I was thirsty so Alex and I headed to the Churro stand for a diet coke, and I decided to get him a straight donut (he had wanted one at Goofy’s Kitchen and they didn’t have any). I had to call it a straight donut or Alex never would have tried it. Can you believe that was our first Churro? Wow. Yummy. It won’t be our last, that’s for sure! And of course Alex loved it. We were almost done when Andy appeared.
I told Andy about our disappearing son and we put his lanyard back on him. We then headed back to Soarin for another ride. We were going to head to Disneyland after Soarin, but Alex wanted to ride Mulholland Madness again, so my boys did that and Jumpin’ Jellyfish as I took pictures. We decided then that we would hit White Water Snacks for dinner before going to Disneyland. Andy had the cheeseburger, Alex the hot dog kids meal, and I had the steak nachos. It was all yummy as usual.
Andy decided he would take the camera’s back to the hotel before going to Disneyland, so sent Alex and I on ahead.
So far, Alex’ pet Figaro had ridden more rides than I had. The only ride Figaro didn’t join us for was Grizzly, thank goodness. Alex had missed Kevin. I guess he figured that a stuffed Figaro would be an okay replacement. It was rather funny taking Figaro on all the rides with us.
When Alex and I got to Disneyland, the Parade of Dreams was starting so we took the long way around to Fantasyland. Finally made the crossover at Small World and headed back down. Alex wanted to ride Alice so we got in line (amazingly it was 20 minutes during the parade) and we watched the parade from that vantage point. We met up with Andy after we got off Alice. It was at this time where we played Let’s Make a Deal Disneyland style.
Andy and I wanted to ride laceName w:st="on">SplashlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType> and Pirates. Alex said he would ride laceName w:st="on">SplashlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType> if he could ride Small World first. So we headed to Small World for another world journey. Unfortunately, since the parade had just ended the line was astronomical. Alex and I went to the bathroom and the line was worse when we came out. Instead of Small World, we found a Small World pin for him. I bought that and we headed to Critter Country. Next up we used our fastpasses on laceName w:st="on">SplashlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType>. For some reason Alex always enjoys this ride, but never wants to go on it again. Go figure.
Deal time again. Alex would ride Pirates if they did the Tree house first. So, my boys headed to the tree house and I headed for shopping. The back had already come off of Alex’s pin, and I went to the pin store in New Orleans square to buy some pin backs. It was then that Andy called. The Tree House was closed. We decided to meet at Pirates. The wait was only a few minutes, and Alex was very nervous.
Finally we boarded our boat and were off to Yo Ho with the other guests. As we went down the two small hills, Alex yelled Wheee and didn’t get wet. The mist screen with Davy Jones was not working on this trip. As we knew he would, Alex loved Pirates! Once we were solidly on the ground again we decided to head back to the hotel for the night. The next day was Sunday. No early entry and we could sleep in an extra hour.
Leanne