EPIC June birthday trip to DL Trip Report 5/27-6/4

At 7:45 pm, we staked out a spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade. I found us a spot down near It's A Small World. The parade began at 8:45 pm, but this worked out really well. There were a ton of places to sit right along the parade route with nobody in front of you. In order to kill some time, DH, ODD, YDD, Bob, and Sally went on It's A Small World and I stayed behind with all of our stuff. I brought my sarong with me, which 4 of us can sit on when it's all spread out. It's A Small World was a crazy 5 minute wait.

On the way back, DH bought ODD & YDD each one of those gigantic lollipops, so they were really happy campers. About 20 minutes before the parade began, photopass photographers showed up and were taking Photopass pics of guests holding up a MSEP frame. We took some photos with that and they turned out really well. The week-long photopass+ that I'd purchased came in handy.

Then it was time for the parade to begin! I don't have a fancy camera or anything. I took all of these with my iPhone.


That's ODD waving to Minnie Mouse. She just turned 11 earlier this week and still believes that the characters are real. Although she decided that the reason that characters like Mickey and Minnie can't talk is because Mickey is inside his huge Mickey Mouse suit and it's teeny weeny Mickey Mouse inside it and it's hard for him to work all the controls to move around and everything, so he can't talk, too.





That's ODD & YDD sitting next to each other in the front row.
 
More Main Street Electrical Parade fun!

The kids loved seeing Cinderella in the parade...


I'd forgotten how cool the clock tower float is. The last time I'd seen this was when they look MSEP out of Disneyland ages ago.


We all loved seeing Captain Hook and Peter Pan have sword fights on the ship.


And then it was time for Pinocchio.


 
Then the Pete's Dragon float came up. Pete kept saying something about "razzle dazzle," which nobody really understood. It makes more sense if you've seen the 1970s version of Pete's Dragon.


I somehow can't seem to find the photos of the massive and incredible American flag float at the end of the parade. ODD & YDD were totally blown away by it. I really like that part of the parade.

After MSEP was done, we got up and moved farther down so we were right in front of It's A Small World. CMs were instructing park guests that you could see 90% of the fireworks display right at IASW. And as you can see from the photos, they put projections on IASW during the fireworks.


One thing I really love to do is to watch my kids a little bit during parades and fireworks. The looks on their faces are just priceless. This picture pretty much summarizes why we love Disneyland so much.


I found a MSEP photo of the kids!


And here's a pic that I missed earlier of the kids meeting Chewbacca. They both thought he was pretty awesome. We all spoke Wookie with him.


After the parade was done, everybody was super duper tired! It had been a long but incredibly fun day. OMG, we laughed so much that day. We hugged Bob and Sally good bye since they had a 1 hour drive home. We would see them again the next morning at DCA. Then the 4 of us made the short trek back to Hojo's.

By the end of the day, I'd walked 11.4 miles! HOLY COW!
 
Thursday 6/1

Our original plan was to be up early for the 7-8 am EMH at DL. Was that happening? NOPE! We were SO tired this morning! Definitely did not make it for Magic Morning at all. Maybe we'd try for Saturday? Meh, I don't know...we'll have to see when we get to Saturday!

We did a little bit of breakfast in the room...DH had some oatmeal a la hotel room coffee maker. ODD had a Cup O'Noodles and some yogurt. YDD was being tired and cranky, so I coaxed her out of bed eventually with the promise of pancakes at McDonald's 2 doors down. Once we got to McDonald's, YDD had her pancakes. ODD had a smoothie and DH got some caffeine. I think that I might have had a sausage McMuffin. Total came to maybe ~$15-$20?

We eventually made it to DCA about 8:30 am. DH first stopped by DL Lost and Found for his wallet...OMG, I forgot to tell you guys about the lost wallet!

SO STRESSFUL!

I also forgot to mention that before leaving DL the previous evening, we all went on Autopia together. DH rode with YDD, I rode with ODD, and Bob and Sally rode together. Bob got to drive, which is a rare event since he can't see. :-D Anyway, we got back to our room at Hojo's at 10:30 pm the evening before. We are all getting ready for bed when DH asks me if I have his wallet in my park bag. Um, no...honey, YOU had your wallet with YOU! Well, it appears that DH lost his wallet somewhere in Autopia. His cell phone was in another pocket and he had that at least.

DH went BACK to DL to report his lost wallet. He needed his park ticket in order to go into Lost & Found inside DL and I gave it to him before he left Hojo's (because I'd been the keeper of the tickets). Between Hojo's and the DL park entrance, he LOST THE TICKET!

OH MY GOODNESS, SERIOUSLY?! I had to take a picture of the rest of our tickets and send those photos to him so the DL people could look up his ticket and issue him a new one. Well, luckily they were able to issue him a replacement ticket and void the one that he lost somewhere along Harbor Blvd.

He returned back to Hojo's with no wallet. Needless to say, we were both pretty stressed out and pretty cranky with each other. Frustrated words were exchanged! DH put a hold on the cards...didn't cancel them yet in case the wallet turned up.

So fast forward to Thursday morning. Nobody had turned in the wallet yet at 8:30 am that morning. The Lost & Found CM said that another gentleman from Mexico lost his passport and was supposed to return back to Mexico that day, so he was pretty stressed out. Ok, I suppose that our situation could be a lot worse. The Lost & Found CM said that if anything of value is turned in, all of the CMs will return it to the Lost & Found in the Esplanade right away. She said to check in later in the day.

So off we went into DCA. The kids wanted to spend some of their money on some pins, so we stopped in at a pin store on Buena Vista Street. This was inside one of the stores on Buena Vista Street.


Today was primarily a DCA day since Bob & Sally had 1 park-per-day tickets. We got to meet Molly Messenger while we were sitting on a bench on Buena Vista Street! The kids got telegrams from her. And ODD and I took some pics with dapper Goofy.





Since we were still tired from the day before, we took it pretty slow until Bob and Sally arrived. I must tell you guys...it was really nice. Both parks just ooze with atmosphere. It's really great! Once Bob and Sally arrived, we ventured into Bugs Land. That's YDD in the purple shirt.


I love the lights in Bugs Land!


Then we went on Tuck & Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies!


Then we went on Heimlich's Chew Chew Train...or as Sally called it, "Slow Choo Choo!" HAHAHA!






That's ODD in the pink shirt.


 


Then we went on Francis' Ladybug Boogie! We'd never ridden on this attraction before. It was SO MUCH FUN! YDD said it reminded her of the Mad Tea Party at DL and she loved it.


After that, we went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure.



They even put sea shells in the walkway!



 
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The Little Mermaid ride is really well done.




At this point in the morning, it was still pretty quiet in DCA!



But we heard some music a little off in the distance, so we decided to go check it out. The Green Army Men were putting on a show!





Time for some more fun adventures elsewhere, so we walked over to Monsters, Inc! ODD bought YDD the BB-8 Mickey Ears for YDD's birthday. :-)



They even theme the GARBAGE CANS!



 
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Peter Pan was just roaming around Fantasyland.

Snow White and the Evil Queen seemed to be stationed there temporarily and they had a handler with them. But in neither instance were there any photopass photographers with them. Disneyland has a mixture of both roaming around characters and characters stationed at certain locations.

** Edited to add **
Captain Jack Sparrow was also roaming around New Orleans Square. We saw him a couple of days in a row and he seemed to hang out a lot around the French Market, Royal Street, etc.

That is cool that some characters are just roaming around...and then you have the organised meeting locations if you want someone specific.
 
Monsters, Inc was a lot of fun. Bob and Sally loved it. LOVED it!

Then it was time for us to try Guardians of the Galaxy.

DH was the only smart one and he decided not to go on it. SMART MAN! The ONLY reason I agreed to go on this attraction was because YDD likes Baby Groot and she declared that because she likes Baby Groot, she wanted to go on GOTG. And because her little sister was going on it, ODD declared that she would try it, too. Bob and Sally are up for just about anything. Sally had gotten a DAS return time for all of us 2 hours earlier at 10:00 am for GOTG with a return time of 12:00 pm.

FYI - DAS return location at GOTG is the FP line.

Didn't get to see a whole lot of the GOTG queue, but what we did see, it was really well done. Saw this cool looking thing...

These were up on the wall...



And then we went into the Collector's Office. I don't have any photos of this. The audio-animatronic Rocket in the collector's office was really well done. After the office doors opened, it was time to get into the elevator. I wish that I'd known ahead of time that there are no baskets to store your stuff in on this ride otherwise I would have had DH hold one of our bags while we went on GOTG.

We never went on Tower of Terror when it was in operation. I hate drop rides. I pretty much knew that I'd hate this ride, too, but my kids wanted to try it, so I was willing to give it a go just this one time.

OMG IT WAS TERRIFYING! ODD cried more than half of the time. I think that I must have crushed my kids' hands. I had my eyes closed for about half of it. The music was really great. Everybody else in the elevator seemed to be having a great time! ODD, YDD, Sally, and I all screamed our heads off. I seriously almost threw up about halfway through the ride and the constant screaming at the top of my lungs is the only thing that stood between me and puking all over everyone! It felt like the drops just wouldn't stop. And I couldn't tell when it would be a short drop or a long drop.

It was awful. NEVER AGAIN! ODD and YDD gave it 2 thumbs down. ODD and I didn't stop shaking for about 20 minutes after the ride was over. We were in such a daze after getting off the ride that we started walking down the wrong corridor and heard somebody on an intercom tell us that we were going the wrong way!

Thankfully, we had RSR FP to use after that, so we had some RSR therapy to shake off the bad ju ju from GOTG. I'm an idiot and I don't have any photos of that queue! Bob, Sally, ODD, and YDD went on it using FP. DH and I went on it Single Rider line because I'd grabbed 4 FP for it when we first arrived in DCA and Bob and Sally hadn't gotten there yet. Bob and Sally LOVED RSR! I just love this ride. DH loves it, too. Our whole family just loves it. It's our favorite in all of DCA.

After RSR, it was about 1:00-1:15 or so and we were all starving, so we had lunch at Flo's V-8 Cafe. I can happily report that Flo's does have gluten free options for those with celiac disease. I just can't remember what the gluten free option is off the top of my head. Sally said that her meal was very tasty.

Here's the ordering/food pick up station:

They even had freeway guard rails to separate the lines!

We found the perfect spot inside (in air conditioning!). This was an amazing view. And I just love the light fixture!

 
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Correction...we didn't have lunch until 2 pm.

Lunch turned out to be more expensive than I'd planned because DH, ODD, and YDD all wanted milk shakes. ODD and YDD definitely had earned those milk shakes after being willing to try out a scary ride! I'm really proud of them. I had the citrus turkey salad. This is $11.99 according to www.allears.net. It tasted really good and it was very satisfying! I would definitely order this again.



ODD and YDD both ordered the ribs. YDD just ate the ribs. DH polished off YDD's mashed potatoes. He ordered the roast beef & cheddar sandwich and said it was really good. YDD licked the bones clean!


When our meal was done, this awesome CM offered to clear our plates for us! She was so nice and so kind. I put in a thank you for her at the Chamber of Commerce later that evening before we left.
 
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After filling up on lunch, DH said that he was totally pooped. As in...he was out of gas, no more energy, couldn't power through the afternoon. He needed a nap. Bob and Sally were in for the long haul. I asked the kids what they wanted to do...go back to the hotel, rest, swim and meet up with Bob and Sally later or stay at the park.

Of course, the kids wanted to stay! So ODD, YDD, and I stayed. DH headed to Hojo's and had a long and very restful nap. He slept for almost 2 hours I think! The rest of us stayed. Earlier, I'd grabbed Toy Story FP for the 6 of us. I knew that DH was really tired when he said that he wanted to pass up on Toy Story in favor of sleeping.



Bob and Sally had never been to DCA so it was really fun to experience the park through their fresh and new point of view. After Toy Story, the kids played some Boardwalk games. Bob got a corn dog and I think Sally got one of those corn on a stick things. They both looked pretty yummy!



Here's YDD playing one of the Boardwalk games...she didn't win. :-(



After the Boardwalk games, we went for a spin on King Triton's Carousel.



Bob and Sally and I laughed our fool heads off afterwards because we were commiserating about how nice it would have been to just stay on that carousel for about 20 minutes since there was a lovely breeze blowing and it was so restful and relaxing. ROFL!
 
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Earlier in the day on Thursday, Disneyland Lost & Found called DH to report that someone had turned in his wallet! YAY!!!! He went and picked it up and it still had all of the cash in it!

HOW AWESOME IS THAT! Disneyland is really amazing, isn't it? People are better versions of themselves when they are there. It's so awesome!!

Bob, Sally, the girls and I were then ready for a break, so we headed back to Cars Land and got some ice cream at the Cozy Cone Motel. A lot of other people had the same idea we did, but luckily we were able to snag a place to sit and enjoy our treats.


While we were sitting there chilling out, Fire Engine Red showed up!


I really love this sign.



Everybody's in line for ice cream!



With our feet rested and bellies happy, it was time to head over to the Hyperion Theater to see the Frozen musical!



I wasn't so sure about seeing this at first. However, it was really well done. We got good seats down near the front. And it was really really nice to sit in an air conditioned space for over an hour. The kids really enjoyed it. Would I consider it a "must do" for every trip? No. Would I use it as a way to relax, rest, and be entertained while doing so? Absolutely.




 
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I forgot to include this picture earlier. 2 thumbs down on GOTG!:rotfl2:


Once the Frozen show ended, I called DH and we made plans for DH to meet back up with us at DCA. We ended up in Cars Land again! Everybody needed a bathroom break, so we followed the signs to our destination.




It was time to go on another ride, so we headed over to Mater's Junkyard Jamboree!




 
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Then we went over to Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters. This was a first for all of us. DH hadn't come over yet to DCA. Everybody loved it. One thing that I really appreciate about Disneyland is that there are attractions which everyone can enjoy together. And this is one of them. At so many theme parks, it's full of roller coasters and thrill rides which go upside down and all sorts of every which way...those theme parks do have rides for younger kids, but there tends to be not much for everyone in the whole family to do together....multiple generations...kids, parents, grandparents. Disneyland is really good at that.



YDD waiting her turn!



I forgot to mention that we went on this ride with Bob's DAS card. There was a kiosk at the entrance to Cars Land. Sally linked all of our tickets with a plaid CM.



The scenery in Cars Land was so well done!
 
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After a very enjoyable ride on Luigi's, we stopped to rest and hang out for awhile and wait for DH to meet up with us outside Flo's V-8 Cafe. The sun was gradually starting to go down and I just have to say how wonderful Cars Land is at this time of day!

DH found us and I got the kids some milk shakes and a soda for DH.




Outside Flo's....



I also picked up one of these sipper cups as a surprise for a coworker who is a huge Disneyland and Cars Land fan.



And then....we heard the Sh-boom song and they turned on all of the neon lights! I've never seen this before. It's SO NEAT! The song only lasts a couple of minutes, but the vibe in Cars Land right at that time of day is so wonderful.
 
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So they turned on all the neon lights and it was so awesome!




Everything looked so great in the twilight. And I never noticed that "Cross St" sign before. So funny!





Ramones looked really cool all lit up.


 
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Dinner on Thursday was a bit of a mish mash of various options. DH, ODD, Bob, and Sally all got some Mexican food from Cocina Cucamonga on Pacific Wharf. YDD wanted a hot dog, so she and I got her one from Award Weiners and then we met up with everyone else in Pacific Wharf. Then I got a sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder and joined everybody else. We all laughed ourselves silly during dinner. We had all reached the point of being so tired that everything was funny. It was really hysterical.

After dinner, we all went on RSR because Sally had gotten us RSR return times with Bob's DAS card. It was awesome the second time around, too! We all just love Cars Land so much. Here's a ride photo!



After RSR, we said our goodbyes with Bob and Sally. We'd be seeing them again on Saturday evening since we were going to be staying with them on Saturday night before driving back home on Sunday. On our way out of the park, we stopped at the Chamber of Commerce to put in a thank you for CM Ana who had helped us earlier in the day at Flo's V-8 Cafe. This beauty was parked outside.





It was a great end to a wonderful day. We were SO tired! After a short walk back to Hojo's, we arrived back at our hotel room. Everybody quickly changed into PJs and the kids were fast asleep about 5 minutes after their heads hit the pillow.





 
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Photobucket has messed up your pictures. Is there any way you can fix them?
 
Photobucket has messed up your pictures. Is there any way you can fix them?
Nope.

Fixing them requires me to pay money to Photobucket and I'm choosing not to do that. My pics are too large in size to upload directly to the DIS website. So unfortunately, the trip report will be ending here.
 
Nope.

Fixing them requires me to pay money to Photobucket and I'm choosing not to do that. My pics are too large in size to upload directly to the DIS website. So unfortunately, the trip report will be ending here.
Nope.

Fixing them requires me to pay money to Photobucket and I'm choosing not to do that. My pics are too large in size to upload directly to the DIS website. So unfortunately, the trip report will be ending here.

I totally understand. Stupid Photobucket! OTOH, I am not sure what the difference is but at work sometimes I can see pictures in trip reports and sometimes I can't. It has to do with whether or not photobucket was used, but this was before the changes.
 

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