Magic for a Year!!! Our adventures with our 1st APs Halloween Party added 5-23

[Goofy_Mom]

Hello all!!!
This is my first ever year-long trip report. Santa gave me and the kid’s annual passes for Disneyland!!! Hubby will come along on one trip, maybe two. There are four trips planned. The first one is for Monkeys 4th birthday: Jan 5-8. The Christmas season will still be going on to include 3 Kings Days. I had never heard of this holiday, it’ll be interesting to see what that’s all about.

The second trip is our big trip. We usually only get 3 day passes once a year, so this is a huge deal for me. The dates for this trip will be June 4-8. This trip DH will be joining us.

The third is my birthday trip: Mid October (dates TBA). Halloween time is my favorite for visiting the parks. The weather is awesome, the crowds are very do-able, and the décor is awesome!!! We will most likely not be doing the Halloween party. The only thing I can’t do is see the little cavalcade and watch the fireworks from the park. If I stay at the HoJo, however, I can see them from my hotel. Also, my Mom will be joining us this trip. She hasn’t been since I was 5 years old.

And the fourth trip is for my Diva’s 12th birthday in early December (dates TBA). We may or may not bring along a friend for her to hang with.

[Goofy_Mom]

So, I got all our pictures uploaded to photobucket from our first trip as AP holders!! This trip was all about the Monkey!! He turned four on January 4th. I knew he wouldn’t do any coasters. And because I was the only adult on this trip, I wasn’t doing coasters either. We still had a blast!! The kids got their faces painted twice and new do’s at Disney 365. For boys, they get a “rock style” do and some drum sticks that light up when they are struck on something. We haven’t tried them on Rock Band, yet, but promises for an interesting show.

I really like to take pictures. I use a HD camcorder/camera from canon. It isn’t a DSL, so don’t expect super stellar pictures. However, because I was the only adult on this trip, most of my attention was focused on making sure my kids didn’t disappear. During this trip (two full days and two half days in the park) I only took 80 pictures. 30 of which are on It’s a Small World Holiday.

Also, because this trip was all about Monkey, we didn’t do very many meet and greets.

This trip we stayed at the Sheraton Garden Grove. I highly recommend it!! OMG, it was fantastic. We bid on priceline and got our room at about $75/night. We did have to pay for parking and the use of their shuttle ($12 per night for a package deal) and they gave us free wifi for bundling our parking and shuttle. The rooms were huge, flat screen TVs, and armwar and separate dresser, a full bath, super comfy beds and soft pillows. It’s Harbor Blvd across from Target.

I have made two reservations, one at Carnation Café and the other at Café Olreans. Well, the Carnation Café went down for refurbishment. Café Olreans was for me and Monkey. Their Pomme Frits are great!! I don’t think we’ll be going back soon though. Their service is getting super slow and the quality has gone downhill.

This trip Monkey went on everything he was tall enough for except the coasters and Splash Mountain. We went on POTC 4 times!! He used to not like it. We went to Bugs Land a couple times, and I lost count on the number of times we went on Winnie the Pooh and IASWH. He even did HMH and LIKED it!!!

So here are some of my favorite pictures of our adventures this trip!!

POTC


DCA after they got thier Do's


3 Kings Celebration


Drew has a major crush on Tink. When I told her that, she looks at him and says "Well hey there handsome"


With Russel


End of first day, he's holding a churro and wouldn't let it go


Duffy is holder Diva's little Duffy in a Stitch costume


Jake!!


All of us with Geppetto


I don't know why, but these tikis dressed as Santa cracked me up

[kaoden39]

Hi there!!


I love their make up. Looks great so far!!

[Goofy_Mom]

Well hello!! Thanks for dropping by!! Kudos for finding it, I haven't made the link yet

[kaoden39]

Originally Posted by Goofy_Mom

Well hello!! Thanks for dropping by!! Kudos for finding it, I haven't made the link yet

[Happy 2 B Me]

I love reading TR where the kids look like they are having a great time. So cute the picture of son holding the churro.

I will be following along with your report. Looks like I am going to have a wonderful time .

Patty

[mvf-m11c]

Hello Kirsten

It's nice to see that you and your family got to do a birthday trip with your DS. Can't wait to hear more from your January trip and its great to hear that you have other trips planned later this year.

[nataliakristine]

I will follow along too! Looks fun! Also, our June trips will be overlapping. We'll be there June 2-6!

Bummed about Cafe Orleans though. That was the one TS restaurant we had planned for our June trip.

[Goofy_Mom]

Originally Posted by nataliakristine

I will follow along too! Looks fun! Also, our June trips will be overlapping. We'll be there June 2-6!

Bummed about Cafe Orleans though. That was the one TS restaurant we had planned for our June trip.

The Pomme Frits are still very fantastic!! And I hear the Gumbo is wonderfull, too. You could make a meal of appitizers!! I haven't tried the Monte Cristo. I can't bring myself to it, a deep fried sandwich just doesn't sound appitizing to me.

[kaoden39]

I love the atmosphere of Cafe Orleans. When I ate there last February we had a good meal. It is a little chilly at night though to eat outdoors. What surprised me was that it is one of the few places that did not have heaters outside.

[nataliakristine]

One of the only things my Father-In-Law has requested that we do on our trip is eat gumbo. So we will probably still go and just hope for good service. Also, I have had the Monte Cristo at the Blue Bayou before and enjoyed it, but I've never had the pomme frites. Pretty excited about trying those!

[kaoden39]

Originally Posted by nataliakristine

One of the only things my Father-In-Law has requested that we do on our trip is eat gumbo. So we will probably still go and just hope for good service. Also, I have had the Monte Cristo at the Blue Bayou before and enjoyed it, but I've never had the pomme frites. Pretty excited about trying those!

We had wonderful service. Our waiter was so nice and he treated us wonderfully.

[Goofy_Mom]

Hurray for Uncle Sam!!! If the hypothetical numbers we've been punching into Turbo Tax are close to accurate, we get a bonus Spring time trip!! So, I added another ticker to celebrate. The dates are also hypothetical and subject to change. But always fun to make new tickers!!

About Cafe Orleans. The food is still good!! But when we went last it was very busy. Mousewait had the crowds at 80/100. Our server was nice and did his best with all the people there. If you want gumbo and don't want to be a a schedule (of sorts), there is a window/counter service next to Pieces of Eight that sells the delish goodness.

Hello to all my followers!! Thanks for sharing the magic with us Here are some more pictures from our January trip. I must add that the quality has imporved throught the DL parks. I noticed that the F! images and soundtrack were crisper than I remember. Murphy (the dragon) was awesome!! Since she debued a couple summers ago, everytime we went the show got cancelled or she wasn't working properly. Monkey loved the show. I think I still like it better than WOC. I think it's because of the hassle it takes to get a descent seat at WOC that turns me off. I like being able to walk up to our special secret spot 30min before show time with a churro and hot cocoa in hand ready to watch. WOC takes a bit of running around and a lot of sit and wait unless you do the pinic/dinner package.

Winnie the Pooh was another attraction that I felt was improved. The sound was clear and some of the special effect sounds in the hephelump/woozels room I hadn't heard before. Like the fart sound and the boing sound. HMH still had a cookie smell in the ballroom scene, but it didn't quite smell like gingerbread. I thought maybe they ran out of that smell and substituted a sugar cookie till next year. Even IASWH still had it's cookie and peppermint smell. There was another room that smelled (for lack of a better word) Christmas. I couldn't quite put the name to the smell, but I liked it.

Gotta love Toontown




A few from IASWH




The Jake and Izzy puppets from the Disney Junior show


I miss Bear and the Big Blue House, but this is fun, too.

Until next time

[kaoden39]

Cute pictures. I think all of the places on a busy day are like that.

[Goofy_Mom]

Originally Posted by kaoden39

Cute pictures. I think all of the places on a busy day are like that.

Thanks, you're probably right. I forget that the world doesn't revolve around me and my family sometimes