Kristina & Family - September 2007

Cast of characters: Kristina, 37, aka Momma
Marcel, 40, aka Daddy
Lorien, 2, aka Baby Dodo
Linda, 60, aka Grandma
John, 56, aka Grandpa

Lorien wakes up at 6:00 AM ,which is a little early for her, but since we're leaving for Disneyland today, it's not bad! We rustle her out of bed, get her dressed and all have breakfast.

We leave at 7:20, which thrills me, since I'm hoping to get to the parks before opening time. WRONG! We hit absolutely horrendous LA traffic. Lorien fusses, the car threatens to overheat (thank goodness it doesn't!) and we pull into the Grand Californian Hotel at 9:45 AM.

Luckily, our rooms (3317 and 3319) are all ready! After checking in and getting our 2 day Park Hopper Passes, we go up to our rooms to set up Lorien's crib, where hopefully she will nap today.

Once again, we got a better view than we paid for. The room was about $400, and we asked for a City View becayse it's the least expensive. Instead, we get a pretty view of the hotel landscaping, which is very nice. The monorail glides past as we watch from the small balcony.

Now we're ready to get to Disneyland! We take the Disneyland Railroad to the Mickey's Toontown station. Lorien is very excited about being on a train, or, as she calls it, "Hoo hoo" (the sound of the whistle).

We get off at Toontown and go right on It's A Small World. Lorien is mesmerized. I look at her face instead of the ride, and a wash of wonderful feeling comes over me. This is worth it. The look of joy on her face is worth the expensive hotel and the terrible traffic!

We head into Toontown for lunch. We choose Daisy's Diner and sit down to 2 Diet Cokes, a whole milk, 2 cheese pizza meals, and 1 pepperoni pizza meal, at $24.91. I forgot to ask about a AAA disount!

It's getting close to nap time, so Grandma and I take Lorien out of the park and back to the hotel. About 20 minutes later, we're in the room. Dark room, quiet – perfect. I rock Lorien on the bed and then put her in the crib.

No luck! Rather than nap, she sings at the top of her lungs the entire nap time. Defeated, I get Lorien out of her crib and we call the boys to tell them we'll meet them in the park. Daddy asks for a dry pair of socks – someone went on Splash Mountain! The boys also did the Indiana Jones Adventure and Space Mountain during the Nap Time that Wasn't.

We meet on Main Street, where the Main Street Municipal Band is playing. Lorien is fascinated and says "More" after every song they play. Then we head to Tomorrowland in the hopes of getting on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

HAH! The line is an hour and a half long. Never mind. She doesn't know squat about this ride, and it won't be worth it to try to get her to stay in such a long line! So we head to Adventureland.

We're right on time to catch The Enchanted Tiki Room. We sit near the exit in case she doesn't like it, but she LOVES it. She says "More" after every song. Hey, when did they get rid of the Offencback segment?

Afterwards, we walk right onto the Jungle Cruise. She is fascinated with the animals. Our guide is a good one – he's got a banter going with a visiting Rabbi. After the infamous near miss with the elephants, he tells the Rabbi, "That was close – you almost got baptized!"

We figure we'll give Pirates a try. We tell her that there's 2 drops, kind of like a slide, and we say "Wheeeee!" as we go down the first one. She grabs my arm, but otherwise makes no reaction. We have a blast looking for Captain Jack, and she stares at everything.

We promised her she would meet Mickey, so we head back to Toontown to go to his house. She has a blast exploring his house, sitting on all he seats and touching everything. There is hardly a wait, but apparently it is too long for her. (Did I mention that she didn't nap?)

She starts screaming at the shut door where we have to wait for Mickey. The CM is doing an admirable job of trying to cheer her up. Finally the door opens, and she gives a bloodthirsty howl and runs through. I know it sounds awful, but I can't help but crack up.

Once inside, she stops to a dead halt and just stares at Mickey. She loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Playhouse Disney, but I don't think this is what she expected. I shake Mickey's hand.

Then she does something we do at home a lot – she plays "Got your nose" with Mickey. It's so funny. She she dutifully waves goodbye. As we leave the room, she smiles and says, "Oh! Mitty!" I translate this to mean, "Momma said I'd meet Mickey, and I did!"

We walk through Minnie's House, but we've already been warned by a CM that she's not there. Lorien loves her kitchen, but keeps calling out, Minnie! Even though we explained to her that she's not home.

She wanders to Donald's Boat and has a blast climbing up and down the stairs, turning the ship's wheel, and accidentally bonking into other kids. Oops. I do a lot of apologizing.

We give her a penny to toss into Mickey;s Fountain, but she says "Money!" and grasps the penny instead. Now we see Pluto so we rush over to see him. She plays "Got your nose" with him as well.

Then we lave toontown to go to King Arthur's Carroussel. She love sriding the "Neigh neigh" as she calls it. Then we backtrack to New Orleans Square for dinner at the French Market.

The food is fabulous. 1 milk, 2 milt juleps, 1 chicken dish with rice and beans, one SPLENDID fettucine, and one Kid's Macaroni dish with a free Jack Skellington coin, for $38.04. Once again, I forgot to ask about a AAA discount.

By sheer luck, the Royal Street Bachelors begin to play on the stage. Lorien, who has finished her dinner, dances around! Then Daddy takes Lorien back to the hotel for bed while I stay in the park with my parents.

After about 2.0 seconds of feeling guilty, I run off to the Indiana Jones Adventure. I'm on a big person ride! WHOO HOO! Then we hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which I haven't ridden since before I was pregnant.

Off to Space Mountain! I still have a stupid gin on my face from this ride. It reopened in 2005 after a huge renovation, and I was pregnant, so I haven't ridden it since. It is so smooth and seems faster, even though I read an article in Amusement businesss magazine that says it's not.

We head over to Star Tours which I love since I'm a big SW fan in general. We walk through the Starcade, but there are no LE toys anywhere. Then we head to the monorail to get off at the Downtown Disney stop. While walking through DD, we stop at Haagen Daaz. We get 2 small ice creams for $7.10. I actually remember to ask about the discount, and there is none.

We go back to the room and bring Marcel his ice cream. He's in my parents room, watching TV, while Lorien is in our adjoining room, sleeping. Apparently, when they first got to the room she started jiggling door handles looking for me, but Daddy explained that I was in the park and he was putting her to bed, and everything went swimmingly after that.

I go to the lobby to get details about Early Entry the next day (in DL only, in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland only) and look for a present for my nephew. He wants a Little Einsteins toy. No luck. The merchandize CM tells me that none of the hotels, nor DL Park, carry any, but suggests I try CA or DD.

I buy Marcel a bottle of water at the Hearthstone Lounge for $3.01. No discount. Then I buy a postcard for Heather Allen (did you get it yet?) post it, and head upstairs to sleep. We're not used to sleeping in the same room with Lorien, so we sleep fitfully, but all in all, I got a good night's sleep.

Lorien wakes up at 6:10 the next morning – agan, a little early for her, but well within Acceptable Standards. My parents are already up so we all get cleaned up (with FAB products from the GC Spa, which are in our room) and dressed.

We go downstairs to the Storyteller's Café for Breakfast with Chip and Dale. Lorien has seen Chip and Dale on the hotel TV, so she's excited. As soon as we walk in the door, Coda is there. So is Kenai, Chip, Dale, and Timoon.

After breakfast ($22.30 per person, except Lorien – and yup, I forgot to ask about the discount AGAIN) we head back to the room to pack up. Daddy and Grandpa pack the car while us girls walk to the monofail station, where we've agreed to meet.

We all meet the boys at the station , where they are motioning for us to move back towards the main DL entrance. Apparently, they're only running one monorail, and even with Early Entry, the CM tells us we'll get in the park faster by walking.

We line up at the early entry gates and very slowly get admitted. Now, I've never done EE at WDW, since we always go off season and have read that EE tends to make that particular park more crowded. But EE here at DL seems rather disorganized. Some lines move fast, others slower.

Anyway, we make a beeline for Finding Nemo. Let me reiterate that this is an EE day., and that only guests of the 3 DL hotels are in the park, and that both Tomorrowland and Fantasyland is open.

The line is already up to an hour and a half. Again, never mind. Not worth it. We move on to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Lorien has a little green guy at home so we figure she's going to enjoy this.

She hates it. She cries the minute the ride starts, while Marcel brags that he's getting a higher score than me. HELLO – dealing with a crying toddler! We get off the ride and she's calmed down.

We go to Fantasyland and take her on Peter Pan's Flight. Marcel has never been on this ride and comments on how beautiful it is. Lorien shakes her head, says "no" and says "all done" a lot.

We get off the ride and head towards Dumbo. Now she's in her element! She likes to make Dumbo go down. Then we head towards It's A Small World. The second she sees the ride, she exclaims "YEAH!" The second ride is even better than the first, with her singing along to the music.

Now we're getting hungry, so we head to the Tomorrowland Terrace. 1 bottle of water, 2 cheeseburger combos, 1 lemonade, 1 PBJ sandwich with milk, at $26.81. Yes, sigh, I forgot to ask about the AAA discount.

Just at that moment, the Jedi Training Academy begins on the stage. It is so entertaining. Those little kids who picked to be Padawan are beside themselves with glee. Then we head over to the train station.

Lorien is really tired and cranky now, but she refuses to go in her stroller, saying "Up Momma" instead, so I carry her the entire time. She watches the diorama from the train, but seems too tired to enjoy it.

At the Main Street Station, we put her in the stroller in the semi reclined position, put her Dolly in with her, and drape a blanket over it. We get our hands stamped and head across the plaza to California Adventure.

Miracle of miracles, she falls asleep in her stroller! I am so happy and amazed by this fact! We enter CA and Marcel pulls her aside to a relatively quiet place while I go looking for my nephew's gift.

There is no Little Einsteins merchandize anywhere in the park, I am told. I call the 800 DL Merchandize number and they tell me that there's Cds and DVDs at World of Disney, but no toys at all.

I buy Cole a toy monorail, complain to the CM (very nicely, of course) that they really should stock Playhouse Disney toys, and head back to find my family. My little angel is still napping.

We all head to Condor Flats so that the boys can ride Soarin' Over California while the girls stay with Lorien. She wakes up while they're still on the ride, in a good mood and apparently well rested.

Then the boys watch her while the gals ride. We agree to meet at Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. I have almost forgotten how much I love Soarin'. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

We get off the ride and find our party waiting for Playhouse Disney to start. Lorien is in a great mood and loves the show, dancing and trying to pop bubbles and picking up all the streamers.

We head over to Paradise Pier so that she can ride the Sun Wheel. She loves this ride and has ever sine she first went on last year. We are in a stationary car, by the way! Afterwards, we go on King Triton's Carrousel. She gets a kick out of watching Grandpa ride a fish.

We all head towards a Bug's Land, with Grandma and I stopping for ice cream. (No discount – about $3.40 for a large cone with a swirl.) By the time we get to A Bug's Land, Lorien has already discovered the water park known as bountiful Harvest Farm, and is soaked to the skin.

I can't help but laugh and say, "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about a bath tonight!" Then we wander into Flik's Fun Fair, and she runs onto the queue for Flik's Fearless Fliers. There is no line whatsoever so we ride it.

After this, Marcel and I take her to change her outfit. In the family restroom, we come to the startling conclusion that somehow, inexplicably, there are no clean diapers in the diaper bag! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? No time for the blame game - we've got what we call a Situation.

I see a "diaper changing kit" machine, but we only have 3 quarters. I run to where my parents are sitting and practically screech, "Quick! Give me a quarter!" The poor lady sitting next to them starts looking in her purse before I apologize for being so loud and panicky.

The diaper from the machine is a bit small, but will do. Then we head to the Wine Country Trattoria for dinner. Lorien is thrilled that Minnie Strone soup is on the menu (Any Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fans out there?) and she also has milk, and I have the vegetable lasagna with a split of champagne. Marcel gets a Tuscan salad with a beer, and it comes to about $40 – and YES, I remember to ask about the AAA discount and they have one! Hallelujah! If only I had remembered the rest of the trip!

Now it's time to say goodbye. We leave the park and head to the car, and during this stroll, Lorien has her big major meltdown, screaming and refusing to sit still in her stroller. Sigh. It was still worth it. :-)