Zip a Dee Doo Dah

After we returned from Europe, there was some discussion around our house (and maybe some mild complaining) that Anna had been to Disneyland twice, and both times, she was too young to remember much (although she did have some vague recollections about me "making" her go on the Matterhorn and Indiana Jones and being petrified of the abominable snowman and the large snake).  I also think we were maybe carrying a twinge of guilt about leaving for Europe for three weeks this summer without her.  So Becky suggested we take a week in the Fall and schedule a family trip to Disneyland.  Calendars for Fall Breaks between the Univ of Utah and the school district were off by a week, and since it would be difficult for Daniel to leave during school, we opted to go the week of Fall Break for the university rather than the UEA for Becky and Anna.

To say Anna was excited, is an understatement.  She used her allowance money to buy some Disney t-shirts, and created a "Mickey Mouse" paper chain that she could count down the days.  (That lasted about 2 days and then she kept forgetting to take off the links.)

Before leaving last Wednesday, there was all of the regular packing stuff to complete, but before we could even do that, Becky had to stay up late the night before to finish the Ward Newsletter, get substitute teacher outlines done, etc.  I had to finish up some things at work and was a bit behind getting home.  I rushed home to get Nacho to the kennel; Becky had to stay after school to file an accident report because a student had fallen and was injured during a Spanish / French soccer match (mostly due to the school district continuing to put too much water on the grass fields and leaving a soppy, slippery mess for them to play on).  And then 45 minutes before we were to leave for the airport, Daniel called to say that his carpool had broken down with a flat tire on I-15 in North Salt Lake and they didn't have a jack to change the tire.  I had to rush out, race down to Salt Lake, turn around to get north on I-15, and let his carpool borrow the jack while I raced Daniel back to his car in Bountiful and get back in time to turn around and rush to the airport.  We didn't have time to get dinner, or get everything packed, and in the process, I stuffed the camera in a pouch in the suitcase and couldn't find it once we got to Disneyland.  So we were stuck with cell phone cameras for the trip.

On Tuesday before we left, Anna asked me to drop her off at the store so she could do some shopping, where she purchased some Disney coloring books and crayons for the plane ride.  It made me happy for her to channel some inner "little girl"....especially for this trip.  Everyone needs to be a little more like a child for a trip to Disneyland (something even I had trouble with).

Anna coloring on the plane

We booked our hotel and ticket package through Costco, which gave us a lot of extras and was less than the cost of booking hotel and tickets separately.  Our package included shuttle transfers from Long Beach Airport to Anaheim, but when we picked up our luggage and went to the designated pick-up point, there were about 25 people (mostly from Utah on the same flight) looking for the same shuttle, and there was no shuttle there.  We tried calling the shuttle company, but mostly got put on hold and/or ignored.  There were a lot of angry people, and even more so when a shuttle finally showed up and all 25 people wanted on.  Eventually, we got our shuttle (after about an hour of standing in the cold).  After that, we blamed everything bad that happened on the trip on SuperShuttle.  We finally got to our hotel around 11:30 pm and went next door to the restaurant to grab some dinner before collapsing in bed.

I'm definitely a trip planner.  If there is one thing I can't stand is getting somewhere and beginning a round of questions like, "Well, what do you want to do?"  "I don't know, what do you want to do?"  If you've taken the time to go somewhere that requires at least a general plan, why would you wait to develop a plan until you got there??!?  That baffles me.  So I came prepared.  I subscribed to an online service that allows you to maximize your riding time and gives you an itinerary for encountering the least amount of waiting based on the rides you want to go on.  We had a ride plan for every day which gave us a starting point, and if we decided to, we could venture off, or skip ahead if we encountered unexpected waits, or found other things that interested us.  (I received a bit of ribbing because of my "plan", but whenever we finished a ride, I was asked, "OK!  What's next?"  and at the end of the plan when we had ridden everything on the list, there was a bit of disappointment that no "plan" was ready for the rest of the day.)

Our RideMax Plan for one day at Disneyland

On Thursday, we planned to spend the day in California Adventure.  The weather forecast was for scattered light showers later in the afternoon, but as we got to the park early and stood in the lines to enter the park, it started a steady drizzle that lasted for about 30 minutes....just enough to drench us.

Standing drenched waiting for the park to open

As we entered the park, we were about 5 rows back from the rope and were well positioned to be one of the first groups on the new Radiator Springs Racers (a brand new ride in the newly opened Cars Land, with a potential for huge lines if you don't catch it early).  As we got up to the queue, they announced that the ride was having technical difficulties and wouldn't be opened for several more hours because of the rain.

Since this was the first item on our ride plan, we immediately switched course and went to the next most popular ride (Toy Story Midway Mania) and walked right on with no line.  The other rides in our plan were also perfect and we walked on to nearly most of them.  (Except for the Flying Tires which turned out to be a dud of a ride and wasn't worth a fraction of the time we spent in line for it).

Tower of Terror before the drop

A late flight and early rising led to a few sleepy heads standing in the Flying Tire ride

Skip this ride unless there is no wait.  Totally boring.

The rest of the early afternoon was uneventful as we rode nearly everything we wanted to (and was scheduled on our plan).  About 3 pm, they finally opened the racers, and there was a mad dash by everyone in the park to ride it.  We were in the Aladdin Show when it opened back up, so we didn't make it over until much later after it had opened.  When we finally did arrive, the posted wait time was approximately 105 minutes.  Since we had ridden almost everything else, we decided we better take the chance while we had it.  About 30 min into the line, they announced it had broken down, but we stayed in line and about 10 min later, it was back up and running.  About an hour and 30 min into the line, they announced that it had broken down again, but we stayed in line.  The line kept moving because people kept leaving the line, so we made it almost to within sight of the loading area.  Now, after having stood in line for over 2 hours, we were left with a dilemma: do we wait it out, and give up our 2 hour wait?  or do we hang in there.  We could hear the announcements from the cast members about resetting various sections of the ride and watched as they pushed cars to certain points along the track, so there was a dim hope that something was happening.  In the end, after 3 hours and 10 min of waiting, we finally got onto the ride.  It was fun, but not worth 3 hours and 10 min of waiting.  We blamed the delays and technical difficulties on SuperShuttle.  They were out to get us the whole trip.

Becky and Anna in the front seat of our car

The rest of the afternoon and evening, we spent using up the FastPasses we had accumulated throughout the day.  I didn't go on the big roller coaster since those kinds of upside down loops with high centrifugal force do a number on my shunt and head pressure.

Anna, Becky & Daniel on the California Screamin' Coaster

In the evening, we went on Soarin' over California one more time and then got some spots for the World of Color show.  On our way back to the hotel around 9 pm, we picked up some hot dogs and went back to the hotel to crash for the evening.

Friday morning, we got up went over to Disneyland at 7 am to be one of the first in line.  We had a ride plan to maximize our riding and minimizing our wait, and for the most part, it worked flawlessly.

Waiting for the main gates to open.  Becky was trying to hide, unsuccessfully.

We went on Splash Mountain and Pirates and got soaked on both.  In the picture below, you can see how wet we were near the end of the ride.

We rode nearly all of the big rides by noon and even had some time to ride some more than once.  We got some hamburgers in the park, and made contact with Becky's brother Greg and his family.  (They recently moved to So. Cal. for grad school.)  They have season passes and brought their girls to the park for the day.

After we ate, I stepped away for a minute and walked to City Hall on Main Street.  I explained to them about my shunt and how standing for long periods of time sometimes made me light-headed and dizzy.  They gave me a Guest Assistance Card that would enable me (and the rest of us) to enter through the exit of some rides.  It worked out very well for some rides, although for most of the big rides, you also had to have a fast pass.  So unless you had a fast pass (where wait times are low any way) it didn't make any difference.  We mostly used it on Star Tours, Jungle River Cruise, and on Pirates of the Caribbean (and both got us through the line very quickly).  All of the rides at California Adventure are HC accessible, so you had to have a wheel chair and go through the actual line any way.  Becky and Daniel were appalled by me getting card, but I had to keep reminding what a difficult path I tread living with Pseudotumor Cerebri!

Waiting for the parade with Becky's brother Greg and his family

The girls waving to the princesses (or was it vice versa?)

Before leaving home, Anna made a notebook for gathering character signatures at the park.  (Of course, I was the one who had to keep it in my pocket all day.)  Our first encounter was accidental as we got off the railroad and were walking toward Innoventions and we ran into Minnie.

One of the perks of our Costco package was an included character dinner.  We chose Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel and went there after Disneyland closed early at 7 pm for an extra cost Halloween Party (I couldn't justify spending an extra $250 for Halloween Candy!). Anna found quite an assortment of characters and started collecting her character signatures.

The food at Goofy's Kitchen was actually pretty good.  It was a buffet service with everything from PB&J Pizza to New York Strip and fried shrimp (of which I had several plates full!) and I finished it off with several creme brulees.  We were full, but not quite "Duff's full".

Also included as part of our Costco package was one day of early entry (one hour earlier than general public) to one of the parks.  We chose to use it at Disneyland on Saturday morning.  That sounds great, but it also means you have to BE at the park an hour earlier.  And when you've been going for a couple of days at hyperspeed, its kind of daunting to try and get up even earlier.  To get in the park at 7 am, we would need to be at the gate by 6:30 am to get through security and arrive at the entrance gates.  That meant leaving our hotel shortly after 6 am.  Our plan was good, but the alarm didn't go off at 5 am and I woke up at 5:40 am and nobody had time to shower.  We got up, got dressed and ran out the door.  We were just the second group at the main gate when it opened and we were able to ride nearly all of the Fantasyland rides (Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Alice and the Matterhorn) in a little less than an hour (and virtually all were walk-on with no waiting because we followed our plan....as we left rides, we could see the lines lengthening substantially).

Our travel package also included an early entry into Mickey's Toon Town where we got in an hour before it opened to the general public, and gave Anna access to all of the main Disney Characters without huge lines.

Becky and Anna having tea at Minnie's House

Anna was set on spending the morning meeting characters, so Daniel and I parted company with Anna and Becky and went off to ride some of our favorites.  We also began a systematic collection of fast passes when they became available and ended up with over 16 fast passes to Space Mountain and Star Tours.  We rode all of the coasters, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates and Spash Mountain.  We met back up with Becky and Anna for lunch after their morning of meet and greets.

Anna at the Brave meet and greet.  They had a bow for kids to shoot toy arrows and Anna stood up and pulled the bow back like a pro, resulting in screams from the cast members who were afraid she would break the small bow.

Becky made reservations for Carnation Cafe on Main Street where we started out with fried dill pickles as our appetizer.  Anything with deep-fried breadcrumb crust can taste good.

Our lunches consisted of meatloaf and green chile burgers.  Very good, but very big and messy burgers.

Anna's artwork on the children's menu at Carnation Cafe. She has a bit more work to do before she becomes a full-time animator.

We stopped in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (where I had a post lunch nap), rode the train around Disneyland, then hopped over to California Adventure to ride Soarin' over California and go to the Animation Building where we talked with Crush in Turtle Talk, and sat in on the Animation Academy twice, where we learned to draw Tigger and Pooh.  We went back to Disneyland around 6 pm and stopped in Innoventions (where the Asimo robot show was cancelled after it started--thanks SuperShuttle), we tried to ride Space Mountain (but it broke down---thanks SuperShuttle), and finally used our fast passes and handicap card to ride Star Tours and got Dole Whips at the Tiki Room.  Around 8 pm, we found a spot to sit for the fireworks, while Anna and Daniel went to ride Space Mountain but ended up watching Captain EO instead ("Awesome" said Daniel, "He turned the bad guys into his backup dancers through the power of music!")  About 15 min before the fireworks, they made everyone stand up and scoot in closer and we stood almost in front of the castle for the fireworks.

As everyone was leaving the park after fireworks, we turned around and headed back for one more stop at Space Mountain for Anna and Daniel to use up some of our 16 fast passes, but Becky and I went to Captain EO instead (my head pressure and equilibrium had taken a beating over the past couple of days).  We finished up by going Pirates of the Caribbean one last time before heading back to the hotel about 15 minutes before the park closed for the day.  Yes, that would be nearly 17 hours at Disneyland.

Our flight back to Utah was scheduled to take off at 7:30 am (so we could get back for Church), so the SuperShuttle picked us up at 4:45 am.  Yes, that would be after about 4 hours of sleep.  Let's just say that sitting through Sacrament Meeting after arriving home probably wasn't the most spiritual experience for any of us.

All in all (despite SuperShuttle), we had a great trip.  But I'm afraid I may be done with Disney.  My head REALLY hurt after all of those rides and took 4-5 days to really get back to normal (at least what normal is for me these days).  I think we'll need to consider taking Anna to a real Bavarian Castle instead next time, and I'll be happy to sign her notebook.  I'm quite a character.