Impromptu visits are the BEST! **COMPLETE 7/20** About This Page:

[HeatherD]

I just knew we couldn't be this close to Disneyland and not go! We've been in Newport Beach this whole week and on Tuesday, DH wondered if we should maybe go to Disneyland? Heh, like I'm going to say no to that! So, yesterday we went for a single fun-filled day!

To start out, we didn't tell the kids. That's how we got them up early on Wednesday morning - and it worked like a charm with DS (age 4 and a bit cranky when he's woken up)! Since we only had one day, after looking at the prices, we decided to get a single-park ticket ($30/adult difference), rather than a hopper. We also made a happy discovery - DS was (literally) JUST 40 inches tall. This meant Space Mountain, Star Tours, Big Thunder and Splash Mt! It also meant multiple measurements....

We arrived at about 7:30. DH got in line for the tickets (first time we've done that in about - well, I can't remember the last time we purchased tickets there), while I took the kids and got in line for entrance into the park and applied sunscreen to all parties. At about 7:50, DH joined us and we didn't have too much time to wait to start the fun! Since we are Dave Avanzino fans, DH planned to go to the art store while I took the kids to the restroom, before hitting Tomorrowland. We were out of luck getting Haunted Mansion, but lucked upon a TikiRoom (which we had on backorder with DelivEars). After getting that all settled we headed into Tomorrowland.

I don't do motion simulators, so while DH took the kidlets on Star Tours, I headed over to SM for some FPs. Now that the kids are older, we are seriously going to have to master the "art of the Fastpass". (And don't get me started on the lack of a FP for Nemo!) With 4 tix in my pocket, I waited for the family in the gift shop, declining to have my face pasted on Queen Amidalah.

Next up: Space Mountain and the quest for the end of the Nemo line.

[DyanKJ130]

Great start, Heather!! How awesome to be able to plan an impromptu visit!! DS being tall enough to ride!! Can't wait to hear more

[chezp]

How cool to do an impromtu visit like that. I can't wait to read more.

[Colexis Mom]

How great you got to visit!! More please

[HeatherD]

Once the family came out of Star Tours (DS: "That was awesome!"), we headed over to Space Mountain. My fear - will he be tall enough? I mean, he just barely scraped the bottom of the height bar and if he tilted his head or arched his back, then he wouldn't make it. Luckily, most of the CMs are great about it and they know how to position him and check it out. They also laughed when he would bound up to it and go up on tiptoe to show he could make it.

DD wasn't "happy" with our decision, but we decided that DS could decide, for each new ride, who he rode with (to make sure we didn't have any freakouts - like when they made me take him off of Matterhorn last summer, since he was crying so hard). So, of course, what did he want to do? Ride with Dad. Every. Time. And DD wanted to ride with Dad. So, I felt a little like the red-headed stepchild. Anyway, DS went with DH while DS went with me. And DS, again, loved it. He commented, however, on his stomach feeling funny, but we haven't determined whether it was because of the lap bar or the ride itself.

After Space Mountain, we decided to check out the wait for Nemo. So, we followed the line, and followed the line and followed the line. About halfway through, we decided to go to Matterhorn, instead, but since we were going that direction, we checked out the wait (when we finally saw the end of the line) – it was 90 minutes! At 9:00! You know, all of the rides that regularly have 45-60 minute waits (plus) have FastPasses. Nemo has consistently logged hour-long waits within minutes of the park opening. Why, in heaven’s name, haven’t they put a FastPass in for it? I just don’t understand. And since we refuse to wait in a line longer than 30 minutes (principal of the matter, you know), we STILL haven’t tried it. So, onto Matterhorn. And this time, DS did great!

We then circled back to finish up Tomorrowland, riding on Buzz Lightyear (DH kicked my butt in points ) and emailing the photo home. Since we’d done this ride previously, we allowed DD to go with Dad, so DS was with me on this ride. Our photo didn’t turn out, but DH/DD did. We didn’t quite finish with Tomorrowland, though, saving Autopia for later, and headed to the other side of the park.

Now, this is unprecedented in our family. It was now somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00 and we still hadn’t set foot in Fantasyland! Ahhhhh, the kids are getting bigger! So, we headed over to Big Thunder Mt Railroad. It was not open and they were not doing FastPasses at that point. So, onto Splash Mountain, which I have not ridden since before the kids were born (I think it’s been over 10 years….). The wait was only about 30 minutes, so we figured we’d jump on it now and not worry about a second ride later.

The wait went pretty quickly, especially since we emailed MIL a picture of the kids in line at Matterhorn and she called us. So, we measured DS again and got on the ride, with DH and DS in the back “shared” seat. Amazingly enough, we made it through the ride with a minimum of splash. We had some water marks, but none of us got “wet” in any places. As we left the ride, DS was being very cute with a CM (Julie), talking about his first time on these rides and he’s just now 40 inches. She high-fived him and as we turned to leave, she came back up to us and asked DS if he had the chance, would he want to ride again? Duh! So, we waited at the exit and she got us another log – after giving DS an “Honorary Citizen of Disneyland” button.

This time, we weren’t so lucky in the splash department. At one point, a wave came over the side (I was in the back with DS) and soaked my entire left hip/leg and my sandals. Luckily, the Space Mountain FPs were in my right pocket and were left completely dry. Looking on the bright side, my hair was dry! Looking on the not-so-bright side, I now had to work with wet denim for a large portion of the day! At this point, we now had ridden several E-ticket rides and managed to ride Splash Mountain TWICE in 30 minutes. Upon exiting SM, we tossed the kids on the Pooh ride, planning to work our way back through New Orleans Square to Frontierland.

Next up: Will DS ride Haunted Mansion, when we can’t get him to watch “Grim Grinning Ghosts” on Disneyland Fun???

[DyanKJ130]

Great update!! Glad DS is enjoying all the new rides!! it left you feeling like the red-headed stepchild, that they wanted to ride with DH! I know what you mean about no FP for Nemo, but I would imagine they would be gone pretty fast and that the stand-by line would be even longer! Can't wait to hear how DS does on HM!

[chezp]

I must admit I've wondered the same thing about Nemo as well. Guess where we're going to be heading as soon as we enter the park in October?

[HeatherD]

Sorry I didn't get this wrapped up yesterday - we were heading home from Newport and with stops, it ended up taking a good portion of the day. But, now we're home and getting back into the swing of "real life". Here's the next bit of my report:

After we left Pooh, we took a quick potty break (with my wet denim – Fun!). When DS and DH joined us, DS said that we were going to Haunted Mansion! DH explained that they had a “talk” while they were in the restroom. So, we got in line and let DD read the tomb markers (is that what they’re called?) and figure out which ones were actually funny. We also wondered when they got rid of the tombstones and why we didn’t notice? I just asked DS what he thought of Haunted Mansion and he said, “Good.” The kids bonded with a young boy in line (around 5) to the extent where he wanted DD to sit with them on the ride! Again, DS went with DH and DD went with me. We got stopped just as we entered the graveyard, as we all know that the Doombuggies stop for any assisted entry/exit, but for some reason, DD started getting a bit freaked out (well, for an 8 year old). Though she is fine with HM, she prefers the Nightmare version (she also couldn’t watch Grim Grinning Ghosts when she was younger). Otherwise, it was an uneventful ride that DS liked – this was when we told him he needed to start trusting us because he’d like everything we “made” him ride!

Now, onto Pirates! Nothing much to report on this one, except to say it’s a “have to do” on our list. We skipped it one year, right after the movie came out and they had a temporary FP for it. I like the additions from the movie and just noticed on this ride that they use the movie’s music during the ship battle. I don’t know if I was especially vigilant this time or just really didn’t pay attention to all the rides on the last few trips we took!

After Pirates, we started getting hungry. We flirted with going to Blue Bayou, as it’s been years and years since we went (BK – Before Kids), but since this was an unplanned trip, I wanted to stick to counter service (budget-wise). So, we planned on the Mexican place by Big Thunder (I can never remember the name of it). A quick trip past Big Thunder to confirm it had reopened and a quick trip for DH through the FP line and we were off. I was in the mood for Mexican food, so it’s sort of funny that I ended up getting roast chicken! DD had a chicken taco, but didn’t like it too much. I gave her the drumstick off of my half-chicken. DS had the bean/cheese burrito. Both kids meals came with rice and mixed fruit (instead of applesauce – nice change for DS, but DD hates pineapple). DH had beef tacos. Pretty good meal and thanks to my fine PassPorter friends, I knew this was one of the places we could get refills!

DS had been spending most of the morning asking if we could go on the Mark Twain, which he’s ridden twice (I’d never been on it before taking him on it last summer). While we were eating, the Columbia pulled in, so we figured he’d get his boat ride and we’d kill a bit more time so our FPs would be good for Big Thunder. We went to the front of the ship and had a discussion with DD about how we all get to do things we want to do – at this point she was pouting about being on a boring boat and DS getting to go on the rides with DH and generally this trip wasn’t “all about her”. But she perked up when DH took her below deck for a tour (and then returned her and took DS).

Once we returned to land, we rode on Big Thunder – one of my faves in the park. We’d been hearing a lot from DD about Indiana Jones, which we told her we might not do – since we could do the rest of the park as a family. I had to throw that in now, as it comes into play in a bit. Nothing big to report on Big Thunder, except that we let DD and DS go together on this one! Yikes! We spent the entire ride telling DS to put his hands down. The one thing is, the lap bar goes down further when he’s with DD, so that’s what I told myself. Leaving Big Thunder conveniently put us on the back path to Fantasyland, so we headed there. The kids had been told we might only do one or two rides, so they had to think about what they wanted to do. First up, Teacups. DH does this one without me. I have to be in the right mood for it, because it sets my stomach in a whirl. DS wanted to do SmallWorld, so we headed around the corner and wow! It was completely covered up, as they do rehab to the channel. DH remembered reading about it (the boats were bottoming out) but had forgotten that it was closed. So, onto Toontown.

Ugh! We got in line for Roger Rabbit’s CarToon Spin. The wait wasn’t bad, so we decided to go ahead (we’d only be doing this and Gadget Go Coaster). The line moved. So. Slowly! After a bit, you could tell something was wrong – there’d be periods where we didn’t move at all and then we’d move a bit. While we were in line, DH ran into someone he knew from work. Consider that we live in Las Vegas – so it was funny. A little bit further, we came to a complete stop. At this point, we’d been in line for more than a half hour and weren’t far from the front. We also had kids behind us who were not taught about personal space! Of course, there shortly came an announcement that the ride was down and people could choose to stay or turn around and walk in reverse all the way out (we chose the latter). So, onto the 15 second roller coaster with a 20 minute wait! Aside from the CM who didn’t understand that DH and I didn’t want to ride in one car (NOT gonna fit), it was normal and fun for the kids, something to “endure” for the adults.

After another potty stop (we take them frequently to avoid the “I have to go real bad!” after having been in line for 20 minutes), we decided to take the train around to Tomorrowland to finish up what we missed (Autopia, etc). At this point, DD was truly doing a great pout. We were hot and getting tired and she wasn’t getting to do what she wanted. We had planned on actually doing the entire train ride, stopping at Tomorrowland on the second pass, but I mentioned to DH that maybe we could get off at Main Street or New Orleans Square and head over to Adventureland. While we were there, we could see what the line/FPs looked like for Indiana Jones…it would perk DD up and make the afternoon a lot better. When we pulled into Main Street, we noticed that a parade was about to start – so we stayed on to New Orleans Square. The kids were flummoxed that we were getting off, but tend to do that to them – go to do something without telling them, to make it a mini-surprise.

Next up: Will DD finally get to ride Indiana Jones?

[chezp]

I hope you are able to get DD on to Indiana Jones - it sounds as if you've accomplished a lot so far.

[DyanKJ130]

Great update!! Sounds like you are getting a lot accomplished! Glad to hear DS decided to try HM I agree, POTC is definitely a 'must do' at DL!!! you weren't able to ride Roger Rabbit's. Hope DD is able to ride Indiana Jones. Can't wait to hear more

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates Heather

[HeatherD]

So, we had just gotten off the train at New Orleans Square. As we head over to Adventureland, DD starts realizing where we're headed and that alone perks her up. However, when we got there, they had just shut down the ride! And they weren't doing FPs! So, we headed next door and got on Jungle Cruise. I think everyone had that idea, because there was actually a wait for the ride. But, it wasn't too bad and we got on pretty quickly. Our guide was interesting - he didn't stick to the normal script, but he also wasn't that funny...

When we got off, we checked again and nope - no Indy yet. So, we stuck to our original plan and headed over to Autopia ( I think we actually hit Astro Orbiter first, in lieu of Dumbo). It was HOT and the Autopia line was long. But we stuck with it and I drove with DD while DH took DS (this is a switch from what we normally do on this ride). It's always fun to look at the signs and make fun of the kids' crazy steering (neither is tall enough to work the gas). After Autopia, we went ahead and used the FPs I had gotten that morning for Space Mountain.

As it normally goes, lines got longer in the afternoon, so at this point it was already dinnertime. We decided to eat at the Plaza Inn, but first we checked the status board to see if Indiana Jones was open. They had a time posted, so I sent DH over to get some FPs, hoping we could ride it after dinner. He came back and sadly informed us that it had broken down...again. It had just happened (DH told me in response to my frustration that they had a time up on the board).

So, we went in the Plaza Inn and got one kids' meal of pasta with meat sauce (with half piece of garlic bread, carrot sticks and apple slices). Our plan was for the kids to split that and a corn dog from the cart outside (by the photo store). We got an adult place of pasta bolognese, which was plenty for us to split as well. At this point, we were starting to get tired. We headed over to Adventureland and we attempted to use the restroom (the one between Frontierland and Adventureland) while DH ran over, one more time , to Indy. Well, I wasn't able to go into the restroom because a child got sick (?) and there were male CMs and a nurse in there, wheeling him out in a wheelchair. So, I waited for DH and then went in with the kids. He also shared the bad news - Indy was open, but the wait was 75 minutes and they were so behind on FPs that were distributed earlier that they weren't giving them out. We weren't going to go on it.

We headed over to Fantasyland to ride "the whale ride" (Storybookland), jumping on the carousel along the way, but the parade was going and they close Storybookland for that. We jumped on Alice in Wonderland and watched some of the parade from the line. After finishing that, we looked to see that apparently every person who watched the parade decided to go on Storybookland. So that was out.

The kids wanted Matterhorn one more time, so I let DH take them on while I sat on a bench out front. What was really weird is that they only had one side open for queueing, but both sides were going. The CM had to keep telling people they could go across to the other queue (one they reached the railing portion). She wasn't very vigilant nor very courteous about it. But, I chatted with my sis on the phone, who was leaving to move to Michigan the next day, so I didn't overly concern myself with the CM.

We left Fantasyland and went into Tomorrowland - which apparently is our favorite land since we kept on going back! We knew we were wrapping things up , so we jumped on Buzz Lightyear and the kids went on Star Tours one last time. We wanted to look in the shops a little, so we wandered out via the shops (on the left side as you leave), getting the kids a little snack at the candy store on the other side of the street. There were some cute things, but nothing I couldn't live without knowing we were taking our annual trip in December.

One last thing I had to do was check with the hat store up by the Walt Disney Theater (where Donald Duck and Steve Martin are performing). I wanted to check out the "make your own" ears I've been reading about. But, the only place at Disneyland that sells them is in Toontown (not even the Mad Hatter in Fantasyland, just the one in Toontown). So, that'll have to wait until December, too.

And thus ends our impromptu day at Disneyland. How fun it was to just go and not "plan" it. And now, I am SO looking forward to going in December, when we'll have the in-laws with us and DD will go on everything and DS gets to try California Screamin' for the first time (she is SO excited about it).

Thanks for reading and for being a great board. And thanks to my DH for filling in the gaps in my memory (and that was just for a single day...sheesh!)

[chezp]

What a great day you had. What a shame though that you didn't get to go on Indy.