awesomemama's March 9-12 trip report

[awesomemama]

Okay, let me first say, somehow I left the camera sitting on the counter in Vegas, so there are no pictures. But, I had a great time!
Day 1:
Got up, and left Vegas at 6:30 am for the 4 1/2 hour drive. Kids were great, and were were inside the park by 11:00 am. Mickey and Friends tram area was teeming with people, so I was a little worried about crowds. The crowds never seemed to materialize during the day though, so maybe they didn't have enough trams running?
We have a tradition of starting every day at Star tours, so that's what we did. (I think we counted steps once and this was the closest ride?) Anyway, then we got fastpasses for Buzz. We met up with my cousin, her DD, and my aunt. The DD had never before been to the park, so at 6 she was a little nervous. We started her out easy, and rode Storybook land, then IASW--kids singing at the top of their lungs--my favorite part of the ride. She was loving it, so we moved on to Alice, then had lunch at the Village Haus. We rode Mr. Toad, Peter Pan (where we ran into the only grumpy CM at the entire park) We decided to do some outside rides, and save the indoor ones for the next couple of days when it was rainy. On to: BTMRR, and the Jungle cruise--Gloria was the "skipper" and she was awesome! Great delivery of her lines. We caught the Aladdin Storytime, then had dole whips....mmmmmmm...even though it was cold. Rode the horse carriage up Main st, then crossed over to catch Monsters Inc. (somewhere in there we did use our buzz fp, but can't remember now when...) We saw and/or talked to: Alice, wendy, aladdin, Jasmine, pluto, goofy (he grabbed by 10 yr. old dd and danced around out front of the 50 years place for about 10 minutes--a highlight of her trip) eyeore, tigger, piglet, Mickey and minnie. Wow! Light crowds the whole day, sunny, and happy CM's! Couldn't ask for a better day at the park! We left at 5 pm, and drove the 10 minutes to Costa Mesa (okay, not 10 min. at 5 pm, but usually.. ) to check in to our priceline hotel. We were at the Marriott Suites just down from the south coast plaza. What an amazing hotel! I would definitely recommend this place to anyone! They were great with my kids, front desk was helpful, gave me a room with a pull-out couch, a queen, and a twin. And a view! Perfect. At $48 a night, a steal! Especially compared to the Red roof inn on Disney Way that my cousin stayed in--at $56 a night! Dinner at Claim Jumper where because there were 8 of us, and 3 who had never been we were given free appetizers, and seated quickly. A great end to the day. All in all a very fun day at the park! ---more days to come later....

[karamie]

Sounds like a great first day at the park. Can't wait to hear more!

[BFJen]

It's always good to hear about someone's fun experience! I'm jealous - I sat here in Idaho in the snow.

[awesomemama]

Day 2:
Got to the park at 8:30, so we shopped on Main street for 1/2 hour, buying gifts for the kids teachers. we went straight to star tours (remember that weird tradition we have...) the wait was 5 min. Then over to autopia--only a 10 minute line. I usually won't wait for this one because of the line, so my DD was excited as she if finally tall enough to drive herself. On to the Matterhorn (5 min. line) small world, Alice, Mr. Toad, Pinnochio, Snow White, the a little rest and eat our dole whips for lunch. The kids did the Jr. Chef so we could have cookies for dessert (after the dole whip lunch you know?) I talked to my DH in Vegas, and it was snowing! We headed over to CA and did the bread tour and the tortilla tou (okay, this was a better lunch huh?) Rode: Mulholand Madness--6 yr. old DD's first time She said "I love that ride, I love that ride, I hate that ride and I'm not going on it again until I'm 10! Then over to Jumpin' Jellyfish, screamin' 2 times, and King triton's carousel. Then we decided to head over to Soarin' to get FP (never did use those--they weren't good until really late, and we left...) on the way we stopped and hung out with the Miner 49ers (love those guys!) and did GRR a couple times. Then we met up with my cousin, and went to Turtle talk (if you sit in the very front of the left--when looking at it from the back of the theatre--they will talk to you --kids--almost every time.) We then headed back over to DL for the parade. I have NEVER seen the parade route so uncrowded. Even when it started there were still curb seats open. I love the parade! Can't wait for EP to get back, it is my all time favorite. I was exhausted after 2 full days, so we headed back to the hotel early, stopped at panda express for dinner, and just hung out and watch tv in our wonderful hotel room all evening. Another great day at the DLR!