Birthday Celebration 1/24-1/25

[Skawt]

We just completed the second of four trips to Disneyland this year to celebrate each birthday in our family (My wife and I are combining our trip in May since we both have May birthdays). You can read about my trip with my duaghter earlier this month here: 1/7-1/8 Birthday Celebration

It was my son’s 16th birthday on Saturday and we were able to catch an early flight out of Seattle. We have yet to fly on one of the Disney decorated Alaska planes but always see them on the ground, here is Tink (Note: this shot was taken at LAX not Seattle!)



We got a rate of $10/day for a car so it ended up being cheaper than the bus so we drove down through the rain and arrived at the Disneyland Hotel around 10:00am.



They had a room ready which was great, 3rd floor in the Dreams tower with a pool view, of course the pool is being refurbished but the view was still nice.



There were ponchos everywhere and there were some pretty deep puddles so I assume it was really coming down early Saturday morning. We were fortunate enough to avoid getting rained on even though it rained more during the night before starting to clear up later Sunday.

We thought we would pick up our Birthday Fun Card but the ticket booths had some long lines so we decided to come back later, good idea as when we went over to California Adventure in the afternoon we were able to walk right up to the window.



Crowds were not too bad and we did not experience nearly as many attractions being down as we did earlier in the month. I guess since it was the weekend the Matterhorn had both sides up and running which kept lines short there.




After making the rounds at Disneyland we headed over to California Adventure and just happened to walk up to the start of the ‘Drawn to Animation’ show. It is great to just be walking along and just stumble into something great like this.



After the show, a stay at the ToT, and a trip through Monstropolis we decided to grab a FP for Screamin and play TSMM, this is a nice combo as they are really the only two attractions we do back there and it seems like it always takes about as long to get through TSMM as thewait for the FP return time.

Along the way we stumbled across the next unexpected surprise, Push was out and we watched for quite a while. In this shot the guy on the left (In the black shirt) was a pastor and he was renewing Push and Shiela’s wedding vows.



We then went back to the hotel to rest for a while before dinner. Due to the rain the walkways around the waterfalls at the hotel were not open.



My sister lives in LA and she dropped off her husband and boys at the monster truck show in Anaheim and then picked us up for dinner at Bubba Gump. After dinner she came back to the park for an hour or so before having to leave to retrieve her family. Must be nice to be able to just pop by Disneyland for an hour without a 2 hour flight to get there.









It was magic morning the next day and we entered arounf 10 after 8. There was no line and as you can see by the photo below it was pretty empty. I wish I had gotten a picture of Peter Pan with nobdy in line, nobody getting on the rde, or even in the vicinty looking like they might want to get on the ride.



We pretty much ran through the attactions in Disneyland in less than two hours and ended up with a HUGE cinamon roll at California Adventure waiting for it to open. We were waiting for the rope to drop over by GRR and he though he could be the rush by hanging a right and going the long way around to TSMM, he did a prettty good job and we were on with just a 5 minute wait or so.




That about wraps it up. He was not able to find anything to spend his birthdfay fun card on (except a $4 disneyand pen) so I went ahead and used it to get the new 2009 WDCC membership kit and paid him the cash. I also bought a Vinylmation PARK figure. I wanted Figment, didn't want the red and green one (What is that anyways), got Kermit. Oh well.

The next birthday is in March, can’t wait.

[DonDuck]

Great pics and TR! What a way to celebrate a birthday.

[royaldisneyfan]

Happy 16th Birthday to your son! Great pics Skawt. Especially that Castle/ Partners shot.

[WheresMickey]

Great report!

[Skawt]

Just re-read the post and looking at the picture of the Tinkerbell airplane you might think it was from when we were leaving Seattle.

This picture was taken at LAX not SEA!!!

[Kritter]

Great TR!

Thanks for sharing!

[Micoofy Duck]

Super Fun trip report! Thanks!

[TheGrimGrinner]

Oh! I just got Figment and love it! Was lucky to get it the first time around. Better luck on the next birthday!

[dmomof4]

Sounds like a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing!

[pratt55]

Great pictures. I had no clue Push was married I'll have to make sure and give him my congrats next time I see him.

[HelloKimmie]

Happy 16th to your son!
What a great way to spend it!

[richboi117]

Well I hope you all had a good time! BTW, those ALaska planes are pretty cool, I rode on one to and from Seattle this summer. I was so happy!

[Disney Liz]

Great pics and report altogether!

As for the Vinylmation, the red and green one is supposed to represent the poisonous apple from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and it's actually my favorite one too. I hope you manage to find the Figment one soon enough.