The Wettest, Merriest, and Happiest Birthday/First Visit Nov/Dec 2012 TR! 2/13 FINAL!

[mouseketeer70]

Pennywise...my older brother used to make me watch those movies and between the Clown-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Chucky...yep, scarred for life!
But meeting Jack...seriously cool!
And you're right it would be great if Cinderella's Castle had something more than a resturant.
Glad you were able to get some good Christmas Card photos too!

[lsulindy]

Originally Posted by danimaroo

Oh crazy! I had no idea they even changed it! THAT makes way more sense to me as to what the part was all about. I was just not really getting what the whole outside part was about, haha.

OMG, even then, the photos do it no justice. And thank you! I'm STILL learning my camera, honestly, but in the process of learning I've managed to get a few decent photos here and there! I honestly wish I had more time to learn. What I really need to do is just sit and read my books I had about my camera, yeesh!

Apparently, there was no rail or walkways for maintenance crews, and an OSHA employee commented on it, so they closed the ride that day and added the rail and walkways on either side of the tracks. I read up on it b/c there was a rumor for a while that Alice would be closing for my trip. Apparently the rails and walkways were done quickly and with little time to plan and were "temporary" until a better solution was found. I guess for a few years there's been rumors that it was about to close to install a better solution, but it has yet to happen.

If you read about it, there are a lot of people pretty upset with how it looks now. Both from on the ride and from the exterior.

Here are a few before pics













Sorry for all that. I'm a nerd and intrigued by weird things.

[arbolita]

I've finally finished catching up (you know, once this TR is nearly over, haha)!

One of the things I'm most excited to do on our eventual trip to Disneyland is to go on all the dark rides that either either never or no long exist(ed) in WDW. There's just something so undeniably Disney about them!

And I'm all about that fried green tomato sandwich from Hungry Bear. As soon as I first heard about it, I knew I'd have to order it. Even better that most people really seem to enjoy it!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your time in Disneyland, and to follow along on your WDW trip report!

[danimaroo]

Originally Posted by Fantasyland Mom

I've seen parts of the Alice ride and Canal ride on Disneyland Fun DVD and thought they looked super-cute. I'm sure my kids would love them!

Okay, the clown. I can't even remember what I wanted to write because that darn clown is on my mind. I HATE CLOWNS! And, yes, I was traumatized by IT as a child. Why did my parents even let me watch it?? Did I mention that we're going to the circus next weekend? How do I explain to the kids why Mom is freaking out!?

A fried green tomato sandwich is awesome in my book! Heck, anything with fried green tomatoes would be awesome! Than again, I AM from Georgia. I have to like them. (But really they are just sooooooo yummy!) A nice peppery ranch sauce would probably be yummier than a mango slaw, I think. That's my expert opinion.

Yeah your kids would probably LOVE both of those ride, honestly! They're great for younger kids and won't traumatize them, haha.

Yeah, clowns are the worst. I am still mad I sad that seen with Pennywise, I had nightmares after that point and would worry about there being terrifying clowns down in the sewers. Noooot awesome. Hahaha, that's tough about the circus! I wouldn't even know what to do with myself.

TOTALLY agree about the peppery ranch sauce on the fried green tomato sandwich! That would be SO good! I liked the one Matt had but he is not a fan of mangos so I think that part he didn't like. But the ranch would be tasty!

Originally Posted by mouseketeer70

Pennywise...my older brother used to make me watch those movies and between the Clown-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Chucky...yep, scarred for life!
But meeting Jack...seriously cool!
And you're right it would be great if Cinderella's Castle had something more than a resturant.
Glad you were able to get some good Christmas Card photos too!

OMG, why are older brothers so terrible?! My younger brother was the one who tortured me though, haha.

Jack was fantastic! I am so happy we got to meet him. And yeah, Cinderella Castle should so do the same walkthrough. It would be BEAUTIFUL!

And thanks! Our Christmas card was all Disneyland, all the way.

Originally Posted by lsulindy

Apparently, there was no rail or walkways for maintenance crews, and an OSHA employee commented on it, so they closed the ride that day and added the rail and walkways on either side of the tracks. I read up on it b/c there was a rumor for a while that Alice would be closing for my trip. Apparently the rails and walkways were done quickly and with little time to plan and were "temporary" until a better solution was found. I guess for a few years there's been rumors that it was about to close to install a better solution, but it has yet to happen.

If you read about it, there are a lot of people pretty upset with how it looks now. Both from on the ride and from the exterior.

Here are a few before pics

*snipped the pics*

Sorry for all that. I'm a nerd and intrigued by weird things.

WHOA! That looks COMPLETELY different and honestly WAY cooler! I mean, seeing that CM clean it, I can understand why they were probably concerned about someone being hurt but it also looked WAY better. I hope they find a way to make it closer to what it was because that would be way more fun to go on when it comes to being outside!

Originally Posted by arbolita

I've finally finished catching up (you know, once this TR is nearly over, haha)!

One of the things I'm most excited to do on our eventual trip to Disneyland is to go on all the dark rides that either either never or no long exist(ed) in WDW. There's just something so undeniably Disney about them!

And I'm all about that fried green tomato sandwich from Hungry Bear. As soon as I first heard about it, I knew I'd have to order it. Even better that most people really seem to enjoy it!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your time in Disneyland, and to follow along on your WDW trip report!

Oh hey girl!! Glad you are here and you are caught up! Hahaha, and don't even worry about it. I've been trying to finish this TR but it's taking awhile! Still a few more updates left, so that's good!

You are going to love all of the dark rides! Some of them are a bit wonkier than the others, but I have to say I've found a new love for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! That is one I will definitely go on every trip to Disneyland.

That sandwich I thought was really good! Matt doesn't enjoy mango very much so I think that was the only part he didn't love, but I thought overall it was great with the sweet potato fries!

Thanks! I'm excited to finish this TR up and get started on my WDW TR, too!

[danimaroo]

Chapter Twenty-Two: "Ready... Set... GO!": Our first experience on Radiator Springs Riders!
Day 3: December 1st, 2013

We left off as we were heading over to California Adventure to use our Radiator Springs Racers FPs!

Fortunately when we arrived, it was actually up and running, yay! But we also noticed crazy wait times; OVER TWO HOURS for standby, and I heard a CM tell a woman that single rider was 45 minutes! HOLY COW. I was very happy we had FPs, but had a feeling we’d end up having to wait a little bit.

Unfortunately we had a slight wait, which I wouldn't have minded except for the women and their children behind us. HOLY COW I've never run into such awful women.

What’s funny is it was the same woman I’d seen earlier in front of me with her double stroller nearly running people over! She wouldn't budge or move for anyone with her stroller while she was on her phone.

Anyway, her and her kids and her friend were behind us and the kids were climbing all over, running ahead, and basically just running wild. Don't get me wrong, kids are kids, but the mother was not paying attention at all.

The woman was just focused on her phone and at one point she dropped her phone and literally screamed so loud that everyone in line was staring at her.

I finally put my arm on the railing so the kids would stop climbing all over next to us and wouldn't fall and crack their heads open, and that at least helped alleviate their obnoxiousness.

Awesome parent of the year aside, we did end up striking up a conversation with a man in front of us who was there with his two kids. I think we talked about Seattle because he had family that lived there or something. He was pleasant but was asking me tons of questions about iPhones, haha. I think he had a Blackberry or something? I don’t know, but he was pleasant enough.



We finally made it to the front and got ready to hop into our car!



The cars are pretty much the same seating as you see in the Test Track vehicles.

We got in and we were off. Driving through this area was really neat, and you really felt like you were in the movie.







The animatronics were INSANE. I mean, I couldn't believe that these weren't real cars talking to us. Okay well I could but they were pretty amazing to see.

Before we knew it, we were outside and ready to race!





Aaaand our car lost, WOMPWOMP.

So, my thoughts? It was a super neat ride, and overall was extremely impressive. However, it’s very similar to Test Track and in terms of the outside part of the ride, I’d say I most definitely prefer Test Track and the speed you gain on that ride. RSR is way more of a hilly/slower ride until the very end. I did love the racing aspect of it though, I thought it was fun since I'm a competitive person, haha.

This is something I would wait in line for 15-20 minutes for, but anything longer and I’d pass. If I had a little girl or boy that was a Cars fan though, oh my goodness, I’m sure his or her mind would be blown by it. Definitely a fun time!

We headed out of Carsland towards the front of the park, and we ran right into Pluto looking all adorable in his Christmas getup! We waited a few minutes and I got to meet my favorite little pup in Disneyland!





At this point we needed a break from the park crowds and wanted to get our final bits of shopping done, so we headed over to Downtown Disney!

I can’t remember where this was, but we came across this awesome Hatbox Ghost statue! I had a hard time not getting it for Matt..



I also traded Vinylmation, and got this one from the Disneyland Paris Park series!



On our way out, I took a photo of this hanging outside, because I thought it was kind of hilarious that there was a Disney World banner there.



We decided to go to World of Disney to do some shopping for my niece, my sister, and our co-workers. We ended up getting my niece, in addition to her cute Minnie Mouse, this ADORABLE little jacket for her to wear!



And obviously, I’m going to post the photo my brother sent to me after they got their Christmas package of little Melina, looking adorable.



We picked up some fun gifts for my sister, including Jack Skellington earrings and a stuffed Eeyore:





We bought a cute Mickey Santa Vinylmation for my collection:



And then we bought our friend Brian, who was dog/house-sitting, a fun Disneyland t-shirt!



We couldn’t forget our co-workers, so we bought them cute rice krispy treats, and grabbed ourselves some for later!





After we got all of our gifts for everyone, we decided to stop by Jazz Kitchen Express for some tasty beignets!! We decided to eat them outside, and they were SO GOOD.





Like, I wish I could be eating them right now. Yum. I highly suggest trying them from Jazz Kitchen!

After we finished up, we started to head back to our room to drop everything off and take a mid-day break! Along the way, we were looking down at those memory stones and came across one of someone from our town! So weird and random that we happened to randomly stumble across this one in particular!



Due to how much our feet had been hurting the previous day, we decided to take a longer break today and really get ourselves refreshed for the rest of our night! I’m pretty sure we also took the opportunity to do a lot of our packing so we wouldn’t have to worry about it later that evening.

A little while later, I got myself all ready to roll for more fun!



(Keep on readin'!)
Continued in next post

[danimaroo]

Chapter Twenty-Three: Heading back into Disneyland... and things are gettin' cray cray!
Day 3: December 1st, 2012

At this point we headed right back into Disneyland and the crowds were pretty insane, especially with the first night of the Candlelight Processional happening in a few hours.

As some of you know, Candlelight Processional is a big deal in Disney World and they have tons of showings for it, etc. In Disneyland, they’ve only historically had 2 nights of the CP, both during the first weekend of December.

This year, they decided to expand it to 20 nights, but still decided to have it in by the train station on Main Street. That being said, it was a total nightmare getting through that area when we arrived!

We weaved our way through the groups of people standing around and headed back towards Big Thunder Mountain. The line was 40 minutes, so we opted for Fast Passes!



We decided to head towards Fantasyland to see what the wait times were for IASW, and went around Big Thunder, which seemed weird since there is no “back” side of Big Thunder that you can walk around in Disney World!



Matt really had to go to the bathroom, but there was a huge line, so while he went to the bathroom, I took it as an opportunity to go check out Big Thunder Ranch, which they completely changed for the holidays into the Jingle Jangle Jamboree!



There was a little stage towards the back where there was fun live music going on, which you can sort of see here..



I really loved all of the pretty lights and awesome decorations they put up in this area.







Matt found me and we decided to stop by Santa’s cabin to see what was in there! It was too cute for words!











Santa wasn’t home, but it was wonderful checking out his little cabin… even though I guess we were kind of technically breaking in? Haha not really, but hopefully Santa was cool with us taking photos of the inside of his cabin.

We headed out of the Jamboree area, and had to take a photo of this sign. It made us both laugh and think of our boss at work, who more often than not says BAH HUMBUG (even though we know he secretly likes Christmas):



By the time we left the area, it was starting to get dark! I love the carousel at night..



We headed over to IASW because we really wanted to marvel at it more. It was just too pretty not to when you’re so close to it!



Unfortunately the line was crazy long, so we just opted to take some photos instead..





We were both kind of hungry, so we headed back towards Frontierland and decided to split a Mickey Mouse pretzel.



We sat down on a bench right near BTMRR and ate our pretzel, commenting on how insane the crowds had gotten to be. It was BUMPING.



After we finished our delightful pretzel, we decided to use our Haunted Mansion fast passes we’d grabbed earlier. Oh my word, the line was ginormous, even to get into the FP line!



When we got towards the front where they check FPs, the CMs wished me a Happy Birthday, and then as soon as they saw our FPs were “good” from hours ago, I’m pretty sure we got an eye roll, and a knowing smile, hahaha. But they still let us through, so whatever!



We really enjoyed our final ride on Haunted Mansion Holiday! I still think that’s something ANY NBC fan has to see at least once in their life, it’s that impressive, I promise.

Next, we finish hanging out in Disneyland, then escape the crowds for some Adventuring!

Continued in next post

[GrandCalifornian]

Another great set of updates! It is so fun to read your take on DLR stuff that we do frequently. We love Hungry Bear and eating overlooking the water. It is great, and I'm glad you finally got to ride RSR and park hop back and forth. We couldn't believe the crowds for the processional either. We went on one of the last nights this year and it was the most crowded we have seen Disneyland ever.

[DisneytheKid]

Awesome updates!

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Ahhhhhhhh that is the coolest thing ever that you met Jack!!!! Too bad Sally wasn't there too, but still AWESOME!!!

The Cars ride looks really cute! I can see how a Cars fan (my niece in particular!) would go nuts over that!

Those beignets look so good!

[Fantasyland Mom]

I can totally see how the Radiator Springs ride is like Test Track. Totally. And if they bring it to WDW, it'll be like having two Test Tracks (baby...zoom!).

I love that little Minnie jacket! I want one in my size!

Not gonna lie, pictures of those crowds make me a little claustrophobic. I love September at WDW for a reason. Too bad IASW had a horrible line. I'd hate to miss it being so close!

I'm jealous that you not only got to meet Jack (how cool is that!?), but that you just got to hop on HM Holiday pretty much anytime you wanted. Awesome! I need to make it there one day. I know I keep saying that.

Santa's cottage is TOO CUTE, even if you were breaking and entering! Love the kids' notes in their wonderful big handwriting.

[Malroy]

I love your trip report!!! You and your hubby appear to be around the age of me and my BF (I am 24, he is 25) and i love seeing people our age enjoying disney! It also makes me think about when we will be able to go just the two of us for the first time!!!

[Aurora1972]

WOW! Disneyland looks like it has gotten super busy! Adorable picture of your niece in the jacket. That Mickey Mouse pretzel looks so yum. You take such great pictures! I'm hoping for a better camera by my next visit.Can't believe we are already close to the end of this trip. But that just means you'll start your new TR soon I hope!

[marDgreen88]

Sleeping Beauty is, in my opinion, one of the most BEAUTIFULLY animated movies... just, ever. It's just beyond gorgeous. That walk-thru does sound awesome.

Did you know that the Snow White fountain had forced prospective, too? I forgot where I heard it, but they made the statues of the dwarves and Snow White all the same height, so they put her up higher to mask it, because obviously she is much taller than them in the movie!

I'm sorry, I don't usually go out and say that I hate a lot of things, but I cannot stand rude guests, and I cannot stand clueless parents. When you combine those two things... HATE. Just no.

RSR LOOKS AMAZING!!! It's funny that you said that about it being similar to Test Track, because I always thought that too! (From pictures, of course.) I love the outdoor part of Test Track (in fact, it's the only part I really care about if I'm being honest) so I think I would like this ride better because of the entire ride experience! It just looks awesome. And I love Cars! It's just too cute.

Okay, this is a super random/Disnerdy thing to say, but I always think the Disneyland FPs look so funny with all the open space under the return times! Why aren't they just shorter? The things I notice.

MICKEY PRETZEL. THAT'S LIKE A FOOD DREAM OF MINE.

[Aussiesalad]

Totally followed you on instagram haha

Yikes how did I get behind by 4 updates!! You're churning them out at lightning speed girl!!

The castle looks so flippin beautiful when its all christmassy!! And I LOVE that you can walk through it!!

Disney rules at forced perspective forever and always!!!

I can always appreciate an EXTREME CLOSE UP!!!!

That is such a cute photo of you two in front of the castle, you both look so happy!!

EEK not a fan of the creepy popcorn churner at all!! Clowns are just not right!

I’m sorry but I would never do the canoeing. It looks like so much work, and I’m sure with my luck some person would splash water all over me/in my mouth, but whatever floats your boat! (haha, get it? Bad joke.)

I laughed at your terrible joke BUT I completely agree with you. Those are my thoughts exactly when I see people doing that!

Your niece looks SO cute in the jacket!! Such a great buy!!

[danimaroo]

Originally Posted by GrandCalifornian

Another great set of updates! It is so fun to read your take on DLR stuff that we do frequently. We love Hungry Bear and eating overlooking the water. It is great, and I'm glad you finally got to ride RSR and park hop back and forth. We couldn't believe the crowds for the processional either. We went on one of the last nights this year and it was the most crowded we have seen Disneyland ever.

Thank you very much! I'm so happy that you are enjoying my TR and the views of someone who is new to it all, haha. Hungry Bear was delightful and I'm sure we wil return!!

RSR was super fun, though I just couldn't believe the amount of people in that line who were waiting for over 2 hours! Crazy.

Glad to know I'm not alone in thinking those crowds were insane! Good lord, I couldn't believe them all! I think next DL trip during the holiday season will be in early-mid November.

Originally Posted by DisneytheKid

Awesome updates!

Thanks! I know I'm cruising through them but I have to get this darn TR done so I can start my WDW TR!

Originally Posted by Stringbean&Wingnut

Ahhhhhhhh that is the coolest thing ever that you met Jack!!!! Too bad Sally wasn't there too, but still AWESOME!!!

The Cars ride looks really cute! I can see how a Cars fan (my niece in particular!) would go nuts over that!

Those beignets look so good!

I was so excited to run into him! He was seriously so awesome to meet. I was bummed about Sally not being there, but Jack more than made up for it!

OMG a Cars fan would go NUTS over it! It was pretty impressive, much like the rest of CarsLand.

Beignets were delicious! I would most definitely eat those all up again, haha.

Originally Posted by Fantasyland Mom

I can totally see how the Radiator Springs ride is like Test Track. Totally. And if they bring it to WDW, it'll be like having two Test Tracks (baby...zoom!).

I love that little Minnie jacket! I want one in my size!

Not gonna lie, pictures of those crowds make me a little claustrophobic. I love September at WDW for a reason. Too bad IASW had a horrible line. I'd hate to miss it being so close!

I'm jealous that you not only got to meet Jack (how cool is that!?), but that you just got to hop on HM Holiday pretty much anytime you wanted. Awesome! I need to make it there one day. I know I keep saying that.

Santa's cottage is TOO CUTE, even if you were breaking and entering! Love the kids' notes in their wonderful big handwriting.

It pretty much IS TT, just different theming and then the outside is different. I mean, theming-wise, it's better than TT in my mind. But actual ride, I prefer TT, especially the outside park and how fast you go. I have to be honest, I REALLY don't understand why they would bring CarsLand to WDW. It just seems pointless to me, especially since Test Track already is at WDW. RSR is way too similar. I'd much rather see a Star Wars Land! I mean, they already have Star Wars Weekends, why not make a darn land since it's so popular!

Haha she looked adorable in her little Minnie jacket, I won't lie.

OMG, those crowds were bonkers. Like, Christmas time bonkers. It wasn't ideal at all, but fortunately that was the only time we dealt with crappy crowds. I was a little sad about not going on IASW but we also got to ride it a lot so I was okay with it.

Haha, yeah, that HM Holiday is just so darn neat. I can't wait to see it again! You WILL make it there one day, darn it!

I loved all of the little touches in Santa's little cabin! It was adorable.

Originally Posted by Malroy

I love your trip report!!! You and your hubby appear to be around the age of me and my BF (I am 24, he is 25) and i love seeing people our age enjoying disney! It also makes me think about when we will be able to go just the two of us for the first time!!!

Thank you so much! We are slightly old than you two, but close enough, right?! And I'm totally with you! I love seeing people our age enjoying the parks, too. Going by yourselves is AMAZING! I love visiting the parks just Matt and me. Our honeymoon in Disney World was really our first actual REAL vacation together, and it was awesome!

Originally Posted by Aurora1972

WOW! Disneyland looks like it has gotten super busy! Adorable picture of your niece in the jacket. That Mickey Mouse pretzel looks so yum. You take such great pictures! I'm hoping for a better camera by my next visit.Can't believe we are already close to the end of this trip. But that just means you'll start your new TR soon I hope!

It was SO busy! Agh, I wasn't prepared for THAT many people I guess... but we still managed around everyone!

Thanks, I thought that photo was pretty adorable. She's such a cute peanut!

The pretzel was very tasty!

Thank you so much for the compliments on my photos! I'm still learning but I'm getting there. I love my new camera though!

And yes, sad this one is coming to a close... but I am BEYOND excited to start my WDW TR here soon. It is going to be such a fun trip report! I've already edited all of my photos for that one, so I'm ready to roll! Just gotta finish this one and then I can start writing! I hope I'll see you over there!

Originally Posted by marDgreen88

Sleeping Beauty is, in my opinion, one of the most BEAUTIFULLY animated movies... just, ever. It's just beyond gorgeous. That walk-thru does sound awesome.

Did you know that the Snow White fountain had forced prospective, too? I forgot where I heard it, but they made the statues of the dwarves and Snow White all the same height, so they put her up higher to mask it, because obviously she is much taller than them in the movie!

I'm sorry, I don't usually go out and say that I hate a lot of things, but I cannot stand rude guests, and I cannot stand clueless parents. When you combine those two things... HATE. Just no.

RSR LOOKS AMAZING!!! It's funny that you said that about it being similar to Test Track, because I always thought that too! (From pictures, of course.) I love the outdoor part of Test Track (in fact, it's the only part I really care about if I'm being honest) so I think I would like this ride better because of the entire ride experience! It just looks awesome. And I love Cars! It's just too cute.

Okay, this is a super random/Disnerdy thing to say, but I always think the Disneyland FPs look so funny with all the open space under the return times! Why aren't they just shorter? The things I notice.

MICKEY PRETZEL. THAT'S LIKE A FOOD DREAM OF MINE.

The walk-through was gorgeous! I was just in awe the whole time I was walking through it.

I didn't know that, but Disney and their trickery! I love that fountain, it's a wonderful place to kind of hide out for a bit and just take in the scenery, and offers wonderful views of the castle, too!

OMG, same here. These women WERE TERRIBLE. I just can't even deal. Glad you understand, hahaha.

You would love RSR, honestly! It's a really fabulous attraction and the scenery is really impressive. I'd definitely go on it again, just hopefully with less insane lines/waiting!

Hahaha you know what's funny, I was thinking the same thing when looking at my photos! There's just so much random space! BUT I think it's because they are going to start enforcing return times there, like in WDW, so it'll probably start printing that little note about having to return during that hour. I just heard somewhere they were starting that next week, but who the heck knows!

The pretzel was tasty... AND adorable, what more could a girl ask for?!

Originally Posted by Aussiesalad

Totally followed you on instagram haha

Yikes how did I get behind by 4 updates!! You're churning them out at lightning speed girl!!

The castle looks so flippin beautiful when its all christmassy!! And I LOVE that you can walk through it!!

Disney rules at forced perspective forever and always!!!

I can always appreciate an EXTREME CLOSE UP!!!!

That is such a cute photo of you two in front of the castle, you both look so happy!!

EEK not a fan of the creepy popcorn churner at all!! Clowns are just not right!

I laughed at your terrible joke BUT I completely agree with you. Those are my thoughts exactly when I see people doing that!

Your niece looks SO cute in the jacket!! Such a great buy!!

Heck yes, and I followed you back!

Hahaha it's not you, it's me! No, it really is! I am trying to get through this TR so I can start writing my WDW one. I mean, I could probably start it now but I really want to make sure I put in 100% time for each TR, making sure I keep up with the details. I know if I had 2 going on at the same time I would get confused to probably write them too quickly.

I know! I loved it with all of the lights on it. It's just beautiful. I can't wait to go back and see it again...

Bahaha, I'm the queen of extreme close ups on poor Matt. He tends to be the victim!

Thank you! I liked it, too... and enough to put it on our Christmas card!

Clowns are evil. Just evil.

Bad joke and all, no thanks on the canoeing! I've heard of people getting that swamp water on them and I really just don't need that happening in my life. Splash Mountain was more than enough for me, hahaha.

Thanks, she looks so cute. Such a little Minnie Mouse.