Bringing the crazy to SoCal (pre-trip) August 7-19, 2017

Canadian Girl 77

Hoping for some pixie dust
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
We're headed to Southern California August 7 to August 19, 2017. This will be our second trip to Disneyland. We're frequent visitors to Disney World/Universal Orlando but it has been five years since our last Disneyland trip.

Five years ago my husband had to present at a conference at the Disneyland Hotel. DD and I tagged along for the week. We stayed at the Grand Californian on the company dime (although they only had to pay the conference rate of $189 per night). This trip will be different since nobody has to work and DD is full of tweenager attitude these days.
 
Meet the Family

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Me
I'm 39 and have been visiting Disney since I was 6. My favourite characters are Sneezy and the green alien from Toy Story. My favourite park is Epcot.
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DH
DH is also 39. His first visit to Disney was our honeymoon in 2000. This summer we will celebrate our 17th anniversary. He is all about Stitch. He's a big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.
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DD
DD is 12 and a Disney veteran. Her favourite character is Scarlet Witch. She loves Space Mountain.
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Planning

DH likes to know what the plan is for our entire vacation. It's one of the reasons we love Disney World so much. The plan is that we go to a Disney park everyday. With Magic bands I can even tell him which park we're going to each day.

Last time we were in California we played it by ear during our San Diego and LA portion of the trip. It landed us in some hot water - for instance I trusted my GPS to find a gas station for us while driving to LA from San Diego. I ended up in Camp Pendleton. We had our passports with us so it ended nicely. But jeez!

So, this trip is being planned. I even make a PowerPoint presentation for DH and DD to help narrow down the activities they want to do. They made fun of me but it seems to have gotten them excited.

The Schedule (so far)

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We are flying to LAX from Toronto on Monday, August 7 on WestJet. Usually we fly through Buffalo but the rates were similar so we decided to use the airport 15-minutes away. We should arrive in LA around noon. We leave from LAX on Saturday, August 19 around noon.

Our first portion of our trip is Disneyland. We'll be there for 5 days. Then we're spending 5 days in Hollywood. The last leg of our trip is Santa Monica. We'll be there for 2 days.

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We are going to book an airport limo to pick us up at airport and drive us to the Howard Johnson. Now that DD is a tween, it is important to have a little more space so that we aren't on top of each other all the time. DH originally wanted to stay at the Disneyland hotel but he likes the suite better because of the space. I'm always on the look out for a good deal but I still want quality. This seems like a good compromise.

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Because the hotel is costing us so much less than the Disneyland hotel would, we are planning on a few other splurges.
  • Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps guided tour
  • World of Colour Dessert Party
  • Electric Parade dining package
  • Fantasmic Dessert Party (if Fantasmic is open again when we are there)
I still have to figure out the actual day-to-day schedule. That will depend on when I can get reservations.

We are planning on having breakfast at the IHOP on Sunday before heading to Hollywood for leg 2. I'm not going to rent a car this trip. Instead we are going to use Uber, taxis or driving services.
 
I'm in. We will be there at the same time and I have a 13 year old boy...TEENAGERS. That is all I will say about that!
 


Planning

DH likes to know what the plan is for our entire vacation. It's one of the reasons we love Disney World so much. The plan is that we go to a Disney park everyday. With Magic bands I can even tell him which park we're going to each day.

Last time we were in California we played it by ear during our San Diego and LA portion of the trip. It landed us in some hot water - for instance I trusted my GPS to find a gas station for us while driving to LA from San Diego. I ended up in Camp Pendleton. We had our passports with us so it ended nicely. But jeez!

So, this trip is being planned. I even make a PowerPoint presentation for DH and DD to help narrow down the activities they want to do. They made fun of me but it seems to have gotten them excited.

The Schedule (so far)

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We are flying to LAX from Toronto on Monday, August 7 on WestJet. Usually we fly through Buffalo but the rates were similar so we decided to use the airport 15-minutes away. We should arrive in LA around noon. We leave from LAX on Saturday, August 19 around noon.

Our first portion of our trip is Disneyland. We'll be there for 5 days. Then we're spending 5 days in Hollywood. The last leg of our trip is Santa Monica. We'll be there for 2 days.

View attachment 228929

We are going to book an airport limo to pick us up at airport and drive us to the Howard Johnson. Now that DD is a tween, it is important to have a little more space so that we aren't on top of each other all the time. DH originally wanted to stay at the Disneyland hotel but he likes the suite better because of the space. I'm always on the look out for a good deal but I still want quality. This seems like a good compromise.

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Because the hotel is costing us so much less than the Disneyland hotel would, we are planning on a few other splurges.
  • Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps guided tour
  • World of Colour Dessert Party
  • Electric Parade dining package
  • Fantasmic Dessert Party (if Fantasmic is open again when we are there)
I still have to figure out the actual day-to-day schedule. That will depend on when I can get reservations.

We are planning on having breakfast at the IHOP on Sunday before heading to Hollywood for leg 2. I'm not going to rent a car this trip. Instead we are going to use Uber, taxis or driving services.
I loved HoJo! Great choice!
 
Hi Canadian Girl 77.

We are a Canadian family from the West Coast going to Disneyland August 4 - 12, and we will also be staying at the HoJo! Just me (46) and my 15 year old DD. I think your choices for splurges are spot on. We also plan to do the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour, and we are hoping to do Blue Bayou Fantasmic! dining, providing F! is running by August. Just so you know, they cancelled the F! dessert party a year or so before the ROA was drained and I don't think it will be back, but I have heard good things about the WOC dessert seating.

We have done BB dining for F! in the past and have also done it for Paint the Night. If you have to choose - I would go with a dining package for F! I didn't care for the setup for the parade viewing.
 


I took a bit of a planning break but am back in the swing of things! I covered the Disneyland plans so let's move on to Hollywood...

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Last trip we stayed at Lowe's Hollywood Hotel. I got our room for the amazing price of $200. No such luck this trip. However, I didn't really deal hunt because my family was set on the Magic Castle. Access to the Magic Castle Club and the complimentary snacks sold DH and DD. I love the free laundry service. We're all pretty pumped. We are planning to get around via a combination of public transportation, taxis and uber. I just don't want to drive.


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We plan on having breakfast at the IHOP in Disneyland on Saturday and then heading to the Magic Castle to check in. I'm sure our room won't be ready but we have lots to do! At the moment we are planning on doing the Paramount Pictures After Dark Tour on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.


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I already connected with the hotel and they booked us in for brunch on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

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We're still figuring out what we're going to do exactly but these are the options.
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This one we may end up skipping. We see movies all the time. Last trip we saw Brave at the El Capitan which was neat. But, we don't think it is critical to the trip.

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We did this tour the last time. We enjoyed it. DD is now going to be almost 13 so she'll get more out of it. She's also been taking film making classes so she is excited about the tours. She'd love to see a taping of a show but it seems unlikely that will happen. Let me know if you have any tips.

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I'm not sold on this tour.

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DH and DD are desperate to go on a Hollywood Ghost Tour. This looked like the best option in Hollywood.

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The kid really like science and history.

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DH and DD aren't as interested in the Griffith Observatory. I think they will be once they hear about the Tesla exhibit and the Periodic Table.

The other thing I am considering is the Universal Hollywood VIP tour. We are annual passholders at Universal Orlando so I'm not 100% sold on this one. We've been so spoiled by the Express Pass at Universal (we only stay onsite because of it) that I don't think DH could cope without Express Pass here. There doesn't seem to be much unique about Universal Hollywood other than the Behind the Scenes Tour. That's why I would do the VIP tour. We haven't watched Walking Dead so that doesn't mean much at the moment. If we decide to go to Universal Hollywood we'll watch some of the show first.
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DH refuses to do a Hop On Hop Off Tour again. We did that last time and it was awful! I have considered doing a private limo tour but I feel that would be too rushes when it comes to the science stuff.
 
We are going to spend our last 2 days in Santa Monica. This is when we are going to chill out and relax. I think. ;)

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I had trouble picking out the hotel. I was leaning toward the Shore Hotel and then I started checking out Hotwire. I decided to take a chance after looking at what other hotels the secret hotel could be. I was confident it was The Shore but I was willing to take a chance. And we got the Shore Hotel. By going the secret hotel route I was able to get a Junior Suite for about $100 less than a standard room booking through the hotel. Access to a pool is critical to DD. At least in theory. Who knows how she'll feel in August. Tweenagers! BAH!

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I made slides of all the difference experiences for the family to look at. Some they are more excited about than others.

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Everyone loved the Coney Island freak show when we were in NYC a few years ago. I'm not sure we'll end up going to Venice but if we do I expect we'll go to this.

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I know we'll be visiting the pier. Probably a lot. I expect I'll drag them into the mall too.

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I like the Beach Butler option. I am a beach girl. DH is not so much. This seems like a nice compromise.

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DH and DD have told me that we have to do this tour. It is one of their must dos. I can live with that.
 
The California Science Center and LA Natural History Museum are right next door to each other! You can go to one in the morning and another one in the afternoon.
 
I want to get more in the Disney mood so I decided to post about our July/August 2012 trip.

DAY ONE - Disneyland

Our morning started at the crack of dawn. With a 8:20 a.m. flight out of Pearson we had a driver pick us up at 5:45. Being that we are us, we were ready way earlier and watched some Olympics before her arrived - exactly on time.

When I woke up the kid she actually groaned, "You've GOT to be kidding!" Didn't take her long to jump out of bed and in to her clothes.

The airport wasn't as easy, breezy as flying out of Buffalo. We had to wait in line to check out bags, then drag our bags through customs. We finally got rid of our bags and actually located our gate. We did. And everything was fairly uneventful.t. Poor hubby. Switching would have been a jerk move.

The kid watched tv shows and part of the Hunger Games on the flight. She also read some Archie comics. Me, I watched Crazy. Stupid. Love. and laughed like crazy and Contagion. Probably not the best choice on a plane headed to a heavily populated area. But...

We booked separately because this trip is for DH's work. So, he wasn't sitting with us. Interesting his coworker was sitting in our row! He offered to switch with DH but it didn't happen. I thought I had booked a seat with extra legroom for him but while nobody could push a seat in to his knees he also couldn't watch movies during the 5 hour fligh
it helped pass the time.

When we arrived, I had a text from our next driver. He ended up meeting us and our baggage right outside the door. I was a little late in noticing the test or he would have helped us with all of that.

The drive to Anaheim was uneventful. After dropping coworker off at the Disneyland hotel (Where the conference is being held) we were taken to our hotel, Grand Californian. It is swanky. Check in took some time because he wanted to tell us all sorts of tips, etc... And he had a room ready for us - despite it being no where near 4pm. We dropped our stuff off and headed out for food. Our room had a bunk bed!

Disneyland resort is all packed together. Our hotel actually has an entrance directly in to California Adventure. And California Adventure is directly across from Disneyland. When we walk out the main entrance of the hotel we are in the middle of Downtown Disney. Talk about convenient.

We had lunch at La Brea bakery. Good avocado!

Then we argued with customer service about our tickets. They changed ticket styles recently (eliminated the 8 day park hopper) but I had bought one of the discontinued tickets so that had to do extra work. And they weren't thrilled about it. Disney World wouldn't have given me that attitude. But, things got done and so we went on in to Disneyland.

Our first ride - Pirates of the Caribbean - awesome! Then we got Fast Passes for Indiana Jones. Went on Haunted Mansion - pretty much the same as the Magic Kingdom.

Then we walked into Critter Country and actually walked on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. This ride is better at Disneyland than Magic Kingdom. We wandered around a bit and ended up at Main Street for ice-cream. Got it at Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor and ended up seated outside the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe. And then the parade happened and we had decent seats! Yeah us!
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It was time for our Fast Pass so we went over to Indiana Jones. The que theming was exceptional. The ride, a bit less so. Mainly because the ride suddenly stopped and we were stuck for about 10 minutes. Although we did get to see some behind the scene stuff. The ride restarted and it took some time before the lights went back down. Luckily, they let us ride it again to get the full effect. Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?

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We went back to the hotel so that DH could get everything organized for conference day. The kid and I went to the pool. She had a blast. Loved the slide! After an hour or so, we went back in. Because hubby was still going over notes she and I went out to find him a drink.

Somehow we ended up in California Adventure (seriously, made a wrong turn and went out the hotel entrance into the park). We walked around and went on the Silly Symphony Swings. And then we looked for something for her to eat. Really, we just scoped the park. Ended up back in Downtown Disney where I finally got her a Wetzel dog. She didn't really eat it. And we found hubby a Powerade for the morning. We went back to the hotel and jammied up. After all it was 8:30 p.m. Which would be 11:30 at home!
 
Day Two

We were up bright and early on Monday morning. DH headed off to the conference around 7:30am. So, kid and I went to California Adventure.

We headed for Carsland and looked at the 1.5 hour wait to get fast passes for the Radiator Springs ride. We decided to wait 20 minutes to ride it then instead. By the time we were getting off the ride the wait was 120 minutes. It was pretty awesome.

We waited 10 minutes to ride Mater's Junkyard Jamboree - reminded me of the teacup ride. Then, we headed over to Paradise Pier. We went on The Little Mermaid (walk on), Golden Zephyr (walk on), Jumpin' Jellyfish (walk on), Goofy's Sky School (2 minutes - and awful). We went on Mickey's Fun Wheel which both the kid and I hated - because we chose the one where the gondola moves around and it is not the best. They even provided air sickness bags which is never a good thing. Then, we went on King Triton's Carousel.

We were going to get fast passes for California Screamin' but someone had a fast pass that was good for 6 people so they asked us to join them. We did. We shouldn't have. Hailey was fine. I was not. It is a good thing that I had not had breakfast.

So, we had breakfast. At Ghirardelli's. Ice-cream is the breakfast of champions. We then went on Grizzly River Run (someone gave us a fast pass) and went back to the hotel. It was not quite 11am.

We spent hours at the pool. I even ordered food there. Not that she ate any of it. Finally I called an end to the pool and we went to Disneyland.

We walked through Sleeping Beauty Castle and Tarzan's Treehouse. Then we had a snack/drink at Jolly Holiday Bakery. Cherry Lemonade, Orange soda and a giant cinnamon roll that kid devoured. It was stupid busy so we went back to the hotel for a rest. DH came back at 5:15 and we went for dinner.

At at a yummy Mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney and then went to Disneyland. It was packed so we checked out Innovations, lined up for It's a Small World for a good 30 minutes. But the ride was fantastic!!!! We then rode the Disneyland Railroad to the front of the park and went back to the hotel. We were in our room before 9 pm. Gave the kid a bath and waited for her to pass out. By 10 they were asleep.

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Day Three

The three hour time change has worked in our favour. Hubby's conference starts at 8 and the parks open at 7 for hotel guests. So, as soon as he heads off to the conference centre, the kid and I go to the parks.

On Tuesday we got to Disneyland around 7:20 or so. We headed through Sleeping Beauty's miniature castle and promptly rode
  • Peter Pan's Flight
  • Snow White's Scary Adventures
  • Pinocchio's Daring Journey
  • Dumbo the Flying Elephant
  • Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
  • Mad Tea Party
  • Alice in Wonderland
  • Storybook Land Canal Boats
We then lined up for 30 minutes so that the kid could met the newest Princess, Merida from Brave. She even got to practice her archery skills. Yup, hit the target dead centre.
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We then rode It's a Small World before visiting Mickey's Toontown. In Toontown we rode both rides: Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin and Gadget's Go Coaster. The kid decided that adults must prefer the coaster to the kids because she bumped her head. I think she is crazy.

We got french toast from the Tomorrowland Terrace and snagged Fast Passes for Space Mountain. We then went back to the hotel because the kid had a tummy ache. It was 10:30 am.

We rested until noon and then went out to the pool. The kid didn't eat any of the tuna salad sandwich she insisted on ordering. But she did play in the pool with some kids for four hours.

The kid and I then spent a few hours watching the Disney Channel. Her dad came back from the conference to get ready for the banquet. We walked him back to the conference centre for the banquet, talked to his coworkers and headed back to Disneyland.

Our fast passes worked on Space Mountain so we went on it. And then Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Then, we decided to go get food from Downtown Disney (we may have popped in some shops along the way). The kid decided she "needed" kettle corn. So we got some of that. We also picked up chips, guacamole, salsa and nacho cheese from the quick service place next to the restaurant we had eaten at the day before. The kid thought that was the best food option. We sat on the hotel room floor, watching Disney shows and eating our dinner until the husband came back around 8:30. We late found out that he had left early and skipped out on prime seating for World of Colour. Idiot. :)
 
Day Four

On Wednesday, the kid and I headed to California Adventure in the morning. We walked on to Toy Story Midway Mania. We decided to wait the 50 minutes to ride Luigi's Flying Tires and then headed in to "a bug's land". We went on all the little rides at Flik's Fun Fair. They really were meant for the 3 and under crowd. We saw It's Tough to Be a Bug and then wandered around a bit before stumbling in to Disney Junior - live on Stage! After the show it was almost 11 and we were peckish so we had lunch at Cathay Circle Restaurant.
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The kid wanted to eat there because they had pot roast on the menu. Alas, that was the dinner menu. She ended up with sloppy joes and ate some of my pasta. We wrapped up the leftovers for Daddy and went back to the hotel where she watched a tv show and then hubby came back for lunch. He ate our leftovers and a rice krispie drumstick! When he went back to the conference, we headed to the pool.

After our trip to the pool, he was back from the conference. But, he was tired so the kid and I wandered around Downtown Disney for a little while so he could nap. We were trying to decide what one unpractical souvenir we would like to buy. We still haven't figured that out.

We returned to the hotel and took hubby to California Adventure. We rode Ariel and wandered around Cars Town. We then decided to go back to the hotel and send the kid to Pinocchio's Workshop for a couple of hours. She loved it! We spent those hours quickly walking around Downtown Disney. After we picked her up, it was time for bed.

It took her some time to fall asleep which might explain why at 8 am on Thursday morning she is still fast asleep. :D
 
Day Five

On our 5th day in California, the kid decided she did not want to go to the parks. In fact, she did not want to get out of bed. Hubby headed off to the conference for 8 am and we lazed around the hotel room until he came back at 12:30 for a lunch break. The kid actually wanted me to just take her to Pinocchio’s Workshop for the day. They don’t open until 5 pm.

We walked him back to the conference at Disneyland hotel and decided to stop for lunch at ESPN Zone. We enjoyed watching the Olympics on the big screens but the food was “meh.” She also played a few arcade games after lunch.

We wandered around the stores of Downtown Disney and ended up taking the monorail in to Disneyland and right back out again. It wasn’t thrilling. I’m sure it will come as no surprise that we spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool.

When Hubby came back he had made plans for us to meet his colleagues in California Adventure. After much pleading from the kid that “4 adults is too many!” we agreed to enroll her in Pinocchio’s for the evening.

We ended up walking around the park and riding Radiator Springs, Tower of Terror and Soarin’. We ate dinner at the Pacific Wharf Cafe - soup, sandwiches or clam chowder. We also got to experience part of World of Color. At the same time, the kid got to watch the Disneyland fireworks on a private balcony through the club. She was the only kid there at the time.

We then went to bed. Hubby’s big presentation was the next day – at 8:10 am!
 
Day Six

Hubby was very happy to have his presentation done early on Friday morning. And the conference wrapped up at noon so he got to spend a lot of time with us!

The kid and I spent the morning being lazy and considering our shopping purchases. We also went to a character breakfast at the hotel. Once, hubby was done we headed to the parks.

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We had a very expensive lunch at Blue Bayou which is located in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. After lunch we went on the following rides.

We also went on
  • Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
  • Enchanted Tiki Room – and had Dole Whip
  • Indiana Jones Adventure
  • Jungle Cruise
  • Matterhorn Bobsleds
  • Star Tours
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We ended up having a light dinner back at our hotel before calling it a night. We also walked around Downtown Disney and let the kid make her own Customized Big Wheel Remote Control Sally car as her "silly souvenir".

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Last Disney Day

Saturday was our last Disney day so we got up bright and early to make the most of it. We wanted Hubby to get to see everything
  • Alice in Wonderland
  • Big Thunder Mountain
  • Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes
  • Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
  • Mad Tea Party
  • Matterhorn Bobsleds
  • Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
  • Peter Pan’s Flight
  • Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
  • Snow White’s Scary Adventure
  • Space Mountain
  • Splash Mountain
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We spent some time poking around the stores. We even ended up eating at a character breakfast in Disneyland at the Plaza Inn. Quite overpriced but tasty.

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Hubby and kid spent a few hours at the pool while I got our car rental organized. And had a nap. :D

We then went to California Adventure. We went on Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue. We also had dinner at Flo’s V8 Cafe which was very good. And then we staked out our spot to watch World of Color. After the show, we tried to go on Soarin’ but the ride broke down so we didn’t get to go on it again. We returned to the hotel, packed and went to bed.

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I knew that we were all finished with Disney when the kid said, "Mommy, do we have to go to Disney World for my birthday?" It seems we may be changing our vacation plans for the Fall. Spoiler alert - we didn't change our plans. She was just Disneyed out at that moment.
 

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