The trip when Grandma stole somebody's scooter (3/9-3/12/2019)

At some point during those couple of hours, we also went on POTC and Winnie the Pooh. Hm ok, so no IASW right now and we didn't want to wait around, so what to do? How about Matterhorn again? Sure!
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And as we were going through the FP line for Matterhorn, the fireworks went off. It's definitely a smaller fireworks show now than before. I'm glad that we hadn't devoted time to it, to be honest. Our family would have been disappointed.
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But it WAS pretty cool to be riding Matterhorn while the fireworks were going off overhead.

After Matterhorn, I looked at the wait times and everything in Fantasyland was low wait times. Like 10 min each, except for Peter Pan (he was 20 min). We settled on Mr Toad...

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After Mr Toad, I needed the ladies room, so we went to the bathrooms by the Red Rose Taverne quick service restaurant. Fantasyland was TOTALLY EMPTY! It was lovely with all of the lights and the light reflecting off the wet pavement. Seriously, so magical. I really wish that YDD had felt up to joining us that evening because she would have loved it. Monday evening was, hands down, some of THE best experiences I've ever had at DL. Hardly waited for a thing.

Oh! I forgot! When we were in Tomorrowland, in addition to going on Buzz Lightyear, we also went on Star Tours with a FP. So pretty much all evening long, I was able to snag 1 FP after another and our return times were almost immediate.

IT WAS SO GREAT, YOU GUYS! Disneyland in the rain is AWESOME! And it wasn't so wet that your feet were getting soggy. Wasn't wet enough that you needed rain boots. We were fine in our sneakers. All of the families with young kids had basically left by 7 pm.

Up next was Splash Mtn!
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ODD & I were nervous & excited about Splash Mtn. We'd seen what had happened already to other people on Splash Mtn. sometimes people got SOAKED! Well, ODD & I had our ponchos, so we decided to go for it. There was NO line for Splash Mtn. So we technically didn't need the FP at all. It was a walk on. In fact, we even got our own log! Just the 2 of us. The CM had us sit in the middle...rows 3 and 4. It was a blast. Every time the log went down a flume, I'd shout out "HELP ME, JESUS!" followed by hysterical laughter. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun. We really missed not having YDD with us. She would have loved it. The ride photo is hilarious, but I can't seem to find it at the moment.

And what's even better is that we did NOT get soaking wet! Other people after us did, though.

We still had time before the park closed. Park closing was midnight. I got us a FP again for Matterhorn. So we went back toward Fantasyland, but first went on POTC again. Literally walked right onto Pirates. NO LINE! This is what New Orleans Square looked like. Isn't it beautiful?
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There was no Fantasmic that night, so the Mark Twain riverboat was making rounds on the Rivers of America well into the evening. Around 8 pm-ish, it was taking park guests around Rivers of America. It looked so pretty all lit up with lights on it at night.

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That's the French Market over there in that picture.

OK! Back to Fantasyland! We went on Pinocchio and Snow White, then Matterhorn. So Matterhorn was 3 times that day, I think?
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The carousel really was gorgeous at night...

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See how few people are riding on it? The carousel was a walk on, too! We had time probably for ONE more ride if we hustled. It was ODD's pick. Stay tuned to find out which one!
 
Oh my goodness! What a fabulous night! I'm so glad that that happened to you, and what a great way to end things! And I'm so happy that Grandma didn't injure herself or anyone else... :-o
 
And about 10 min before we were going to head back to the parks, YDD finally fell asleep. She was totally tuckered out & had fought sleep all afternoon in the hotel room. I mean, looking at the kid, you could TELL she was tired and she was like "No! I'm fine!" :-)

In my experience, it is so common for kids her age to refuse naps even when they are clearly tired, because it probably feels like a "little kid's" thing to them. And too many parents just believe them when they say they're not tired. Did ODD have a nap too before the long night?
 
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Oh my goodness. This was a wild trip to read. Once I started I couldn't stop! You are a saint for dealing with her for that entire trip. I'm glad you put your foot down regarding future trips. It's really a shame she wasn't more appreciative. Thank you for sharing!
 
In my experience, it is so common for kids her age to refuse naps even when they are clearly tired, because it probably feels like a "little kid's" thing to them. And too many parents just believe them when they say they're not tired. Did ODD have a nap too before the long night?

ODD did NOT have a nap that day. She was able to power through!
 


Ok, campers! When we last left off from our trip report, ODD & I had walked past a very lovely King Arthur's Carousel in a VERY empty Fantasyland. Seriously, it was a ghost town! When we went to WDW last summer, on a couple of evenings, the kids & I stayed until closing and we got in an attraction standby line with about 5-10 min to spare before closing. We did it one night at Magic Kingdom and went on Splash Mountain as a walk on. That was SO much fun! What was just as fun was getting to walk through a totally empty Adventureland in MK! And on another evening, we got in line for Flight of Passage with 10 min left before closing. Posted wait time was 90 minutes and we ended up waiting 45 before getting on the ride.

That is, by far, THE best theme park attraction we've ever been on.

And what do you want to bet that the 2 SWGE rides will be EVEN BETTER THAN THAT?! I'm so totally stoked about SWGE opening. We won't be going to see SWGE this calendar year...probably March of 2020.

Alrighty, ODD got to pick which ride would be the last one of the night. She wanted to go on BTMRR. We REALLY missed not having YDD w/us. Going on BTMRR w/both kids is really a lot of fun. They both throw their hands up in the air and yell & squeal with delight. Just hearing their laughter makes me so happy. I think we got on this about 15 min before park closing.

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The ride was almost a walk on. We had to wait for 1 train to load & depart and then we got on the train right after that. We were in the 2nd to last "car." ODD really likes the part where you go through the mine. YDD likes that part, too. Going on BTMRR is a different experience at night compared to during the day. We love both, of course! One day, we'll manage to ride on it during fireworks. That would be pretty awesome.

After we exited BTMRR, there were 3 minutes left before midnight (official park closing). ODD decided she was done and didn't want to go on it again. She asked if we had enough time to get over to Peter Pan in 3 minutes. Honestly, with the wet pavement, there's no way we would have been able to get over to Peter Pan from BTMRR in 3 minutes. :-( Oh well, better luck next time! But it was still a really wonderful evening. We walked through Frontierland on our way out of the park. Here's what it looked like right at midnight! This is looking through part of Frontierland over to Rivers of America & New Orleans Square in the background.

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We stopped in the Candy Palace on our way out in order to get YDD one of those gigantic Mickey Mouse birthday celebration cupcakes (the frosting was taller than the cake!). I think in total, we went on 12-13 attractions that evening from ~ 6:30 pm - 12:00 am. That was a lot of fun. Later on when we got home, ODD said that Monday evening made up for a lot of the Grandma frustration earlier in the trip. The next day at breakfast, YDD said that she & DH watched iRobot on TV in the hotel room and that she enjoyed spending some 1-on-1 time with Daddy. :-)

The 4 of us slept in a bit on Tuesday morning since we didn't have to be up for rope drop or anything like that. I think we went to the breakfast room around 8:00 am. Then after breakfast, did the sad routine of packing up our luggage and getting ready to leave. Since I have a tendency to leave stuff behind (it's become a family joke now), DH did a 'once over' in the hotel room before we left. I packed all of our & Grandma's luggage in the back of the car. Oh my goodness, you guys should have seen the size of her suitcase. And it was so heavy! We joked w/her about it and asked her if she was planning on moving in to Disneyland instead of just going for 3 days.

As you read earlier in this trip report, we later learned when we got home that Grandma had been up since 4:00 am on Tuesday because of muscle spasms/pain in her neck. It took several days for her neck to feel back to normal. In the days since we got back home from the trip, we've talked a couple of times (the 4 of us - me, DH, ODD, YDD) about what we'd want to do differently for our next Disneyland trip. Here's what we've learned about ourselves on this trip:

  • We don't enjoy DL when there's a super high needs/super high maintenance adult that needs constant 1-on-1 attention & handling.
  • We enjoy going to DL w/friends & family who will speak up for themselves & communicate their needs. If you make us guess, then everybody ends up cranky.
  • We REALLY liked staying at Park Vue Inn. DH even said, "I don't care if it costs a little more than BW Stovall's or Pavilions. I'd rather pay extra for how close it is. We need to stay here next time." So I think that we just found our 1st choice "go to" hotel for future trips.
  • DH & the kids need more afternoon down time. I think that 3 hr is the minimum, but 4 hr is the sweet spot.
  • In order to make YDD more apt to take an afternoon nap, I need to make everybody turn off the TV and turn off all their electronics for 30 min. If there's any stimuli going on in the room (somebody watching TV, somebody else watching a YouTube video), it's distracting and YDD won't nap.
  • The kids & I never want to go to DL with Grandma ever again. We love her dearly, but going on any trips with Grandma in the future? No way. There are some family members that we're just better off not traveling with.
 
BTMR is one of my all-time favorite "last-ride-of-the-night"s. It is so much fun in the dark! I'm glad you all ended the trip on a good note!
 
BTMR is one of my all-time favorite "last-ride-of-the-night"s. It is so much fun in the dark! I'm glad you all ended the trip on a good note!
One great thing about MMM is that it makes it very easy to time rides on BTMRR during fireworks. :) The show is the perfect length to hit the fireworks just as the ride begins, and exit with enough time to find a spot to watch the finale. :)
 
We had the same issue a few years ago where we invited my husbands grandmother and offered to pay for the main parts of the trip (hotel, flights, tickets, car, and a set of ears). I didn't expect her to pay for anything but I also ASSUMED she would offer to pay for a snack/cheap meal at least because thats why my family would do. Nope she literally threw a fit because I told her to buy her own snack one day because we just ate breakfast. She wasn't broke either because she had plenty of money to buy herself souvenirs and plenty of stuff for other people in the family too. We decided after that besides taking my dad on 1 trip with us (which was DL in November) we would never take a family member again. To much trouble and not even a thank you. Luckily you were able to enjoy your trip though and enjoy DL.
 
What a magical trip! I’m so glad you enjoyed the last night with ODD, and sounds like YDD had a good time with dad so win-win.

I wish we’d done Monday night at DL. I wanted to hop that night but everyone in my group was tired, wet and cranky and needed me to get them home, so we left DCA and headed back. DCA was a zoo even with the rain that evening!

I really relate to your experience with having more fun when you stopped worrying if grandma was having a good time. I didn’t come to that realization myself until our last day, and boy did I enjoy myself that day. I stopped asking anyone else what they wanted to do and just told them what I was doing and where they needed to be and it was glorious ;)

I wish I had the discipline to do downtime in the afternoon. Your plans sound great and I think I’m going to totally copy you! I’m considering an October trip 2020 to WDW - if you have some trip reports for WDW I’d love to read them so I can mimic it :)
 
What a magical trip! I’m so glad you enjoyed the last night with ODD, and sounds like YDD had a good time with dad so win-win.

I wish we’d done Monday night at DL. I wanted to hop that night but everyone in my group was tired, wet and cranky and needed me to get them home, so we left DCA and headed back. DCA was a zoo even with the rain that evening!

I really relate to your experience with having more fun when you stopped worrying if grandma was having a good time. I didn’t come to that realization myself until our last day, and boy did I enjoy myself that day. I stopped asking anyone else what they wanted to do and just told them what I was doing and where they needed to be and it was glorious ;)

I wish I had the discipline to do downtime in the afternoon. Your plans sound great and I think I’m going to totally copy you! I’m considering an October trip 2020 to WDW - if you have some trip reports for WDW I’d love to read them so I can mimic it :)

We went to WDW last summer in June. It was as hot as the dickens. We're from Arizona and we're used to hot, but not used to crock pot sort of hot. Stuff that we did...or learned about doing next time...at WDW was:

  1. Didn't park hop. Getting places just took so much longer there. Especially getting to/from MK.
  2. We did 3 park days in a row then a rest day. At max, we should have done 2 park days in a row and then a rest day. Ideally, it really should have been 1 park day, then rest day. And by rest day, truly a rest day. Not "let's go to Universal Studios or Cape Canaveral" sort of day.
  3. We took an afternoon break at WDW every day. By noon, we were all sweaty as heck and hated being there and needed the break.
  4. Tried to get there for rope drop daily.
  5. Tried to get our FP+ reservations for the mornings so we could schedule more at that same park for later in the day.
  6. Pretty much entirely skipped all character meet & greets except for meeting Stitch, Donald, & Goofy on a whim (short wait times) because we didn't want to devote FP+ to any meet & greets.
  7. Went to Hoop Dee Doo Review one evening for dinner. $$ well spent. A lot of fun. Everybody should do this once in their lifetime.
  8. Disney Springs was a stupid waste of time with the exception of The Void, but you can do The Void in Anaheim.
  9. Spent $$ on the MK fireworks dessert party with garden area viewing location. That was worth the money spent on that.
  10. Aladdin's flying carpet ride was...meh. Just didn't feel it. We went on it first thing in the morning, so we didn't wait to ride it. I wouldn't want to wait more than 10 min to go on it.
  11. POTC felt ~5 min shorter. It was fun, but found ourselves missing the DL version.
  12. Splash Mtn & BTMRR were pretty fabulous.
  13. Wish we'd spent more time on Tom Sawyer's Island. Just got too dang hot to enjoy it a lot.
  14. We did NOT enjoy Epcot with the exception of the Italian TS restaurant...the food there was amazing. Future World felt like a 1980s Silicon Valley office park. I don't understand why people love Epcot so much. The international section was basically all about food & shopping.
  15. Would have loved to spend more time in Animal Kingdom, but it was so oppressively hot there that we were feeling unwell so we left around lunch time. Lucked out and rode Flight of Passage twice that day by getting a FP for it for the morning and then getting in line for it at the end of the night with 5 min before park closing. Waited in the standby line for 45 min before we rode it the 2nd time. That ride was pretty darn epic.
  16. The quick service restaurants, generally speaking, are worse at WDW than DL. So adjust your expectations accordingly.
  17. The CMs were, in our experience, much grumpier than at DL. Nobody acknowledged our First Visit buttons. Our check in experience at All Star Music was pretty bad. CMs at Animal Kingdom Lodge made up for it, though. They were awesome there.
  18. You have to plan a lot more there than at a DL trip. Harder at WDW to "wing it." If you do "wing it," be prepared to wait 30-60 min to go on each ride. Avoid the park that has EMH that day. Go to basically any park but that one.
 
Thank you for the list! If we do go, it'll be October 2020, so hopefully weather cools down by then, but isn't icky. The only time I've been (in my old life before kids.... seems like another lifetime some days) was in December between Xmas and New Years before that was a super busy time of year, and it was so damn cold the first day in park I froze in my shorts and teeshirt and everyone in our group ended up buying heaving sweatshirts :D I have been to South Carolina in August, and it was oppressively hot and muggy, so I have always imagined Florida to be like that only worse.

Sad to hear Epcot wasn't that great - it is one of DH's big focuses. My main debate is given we can spend at most a week there (really just 6 days), and given my oldest would REALLY REALLY like to do Universal Studios and I've heard that is a 2-day commitment, is it worthwhile to do 1 day in each park and not have any rest days? I don't think we'd hop at all - save some $$ on tickets but also save the stress of dealing with the logistics. I'm so spoiled by the easy walk across the esplanade I think I might die of frustration trying to park hop our first trip, with all the kids and DH looking to me to be the expert at everything. This last trip is the first time I've done a rest day at all, and it was kind of nice for everyone else (I was not thrilled with it).

I'm a little intimidated by the WDW boards here, but I'll start up a pre-trip report thread somewhere so I can stop hijacking your awesome DLR trip report :D

We went to WDW last summer in June. It was as hot as the dickens. We're from Arizona and we're used to hot, but not used to crock pot sort of hot. Stuff that we did...or learned about doing next time...at WDW was:

  1. Didn't park hop. Getting places just took so much longer there. Especially getting to/from MK.
  2. We did 3 park days in a row then a rest day. At max, we should have done 2 park days in a row and then a rest day. Ideally, it really should have been 1 park day, then rest day. And by rest day, truly a rest day. Not "let's go to Universal Studios or Cape Canaveral" sort of day.
  3. We took an afternoon break at WDW every day. By noon, we were all sweaty as heck and hated being there and needed the break.
  4. Tried to get there for rope drop daily.
  5. Tried to get our FP+ reservations for the mornings so we could schedule more at that same park for later in the day.
  6. Pretty much entirely skipped all character meet & greets except for meeting Stitch, Donald, & Goofy on a whim (short wait times) because we didn't want to devote FP+ to any meet & greets.
  7. Went to Hoop Dee Doo Review one evening for dinner. $$ well spent. A lot of fun. Everybody should do this once in their lifetime.
  8. Disney Springs was a stupid waste of time with the exception of The Void, but you can do The Void in Anaheim.
  9. Spent $$ on the MK fireworks dessert party with garden area viewing location. That was worth the money spent on that.
  10. Aladdin's flying carpet ride was...meh. Just didn't feel it. We went on it first thing in the morning, so we didn't wait to ride it. I wouldn't want to wait more than 10 min to go on it.
  11. POTC felt ~5 min shorter. It was fun, but found ourselves missing the DL version.
  12. Splash Mtn & BTMRR were pretty fabulous.
  13. Wish we'd spent more time on Tom Sawyer's Island. Just got too dang hot to enjoy it a lot.
  14. We did NOT enjoy Epcot with the exception of the Italian TS restaurant...the food there was amazing. Future World felt like a 1980s Silicon Valley office park. I don't understand why people love Epcot so much. The international section was basically all about food & shopping.
  15. Would have loved to spend more time in Animal Kingdom, but it was so oppressively hot there that we were feeling unwell so we left around lunch time. Lucked out and rode Flight of Passage twice that day by getting a FP for it for the morning and then getting in line for it at the end of the night with 5 min before park closing. Waited in the standby line for 45 min before we rode it the 2nd time. That ride was pretty darn epic.
  16. The quick service restaurants, generally speaking, are worse at WDW than DL. So adjust your expectations accordingly.
  17. The CMs were, in our experience, much grumpier than at DL. Nobody acknowledged our First Visit buttons. Our check in experience at All Star Music was pretty bad. CMs at Animal Kingdom Lodge made up for it, though. They were awesome there.
  18. You have to plan a lot more there than at a DL trip. Harder at WDW to "wing it." If you do "wing it," be prepared to wait 30-60 min to go on each ride. Avoid the park that has EMH that day. Go to basically any park but that one.
 
I, too, found the WDW boards overwhelming and intimidating at first. But I also went to the WDW Prep School web site and that was really helpful in explaining things from an overall point of view. It CAN still be pretty hot in FL in October. So if you're going to do a theme park every day, you will probably burn out after a few days. Just do 1 day at Universal instead of 2 and go into it expecting and knowing that you won't be able to see and experience everything. You probably need to have the same attitude at WDW also. We spent 3 days at MK last summer and didn't experience everything there. And we skipped HS altogether. A lot of people really love Epcot...it just wasn't for us. So just because we really didn't enjoy it doesn't mean that your family won't!
 
I'm a little intimidated by the WDW boards here, but I'll start up a pre-trip report thread somewhere so I can stop hijacking your awesome DLR trip report :D

Hey VandV. I'm hijacking too! Sorry you didn't like Epcot. It's not a "ride" park. We go in Fall during the Food and Wine festival. Eat, watch people, eat, drink, and then eat. haha

Feisty, can't say if you will love WDW or hate it or just meh it. Remember, apple and oranges, they are two different things, but they are both Disney. We'll just miss you as we will be going in September 2020.
 
Oh MY what a trip! You'll never forget it, that's for sure! It's bringing back memories when I was 9 and my mother, her brother and father, and I drove from Victoria to San Fransisco. O boy! What a trip that was! I'm older now than my mum was then, and I couldn't even FATHOM doing a road trip with her and my family. There'd be a murder. And my MIL... well... let's just say I know how to make it look like a natural death (KIDDING :rolleyes1)

I too love BTMRR and have to give DH some warning time before going on it. He's not crazy about coasters anyway, so asking him to go on just prior to breakfast was probably not my best situation. After that, the kids and I did all the coaster rides and let him sit at the exits.

I also hear you about the entitlement. Some people are just like that though, and while unfortunate, it's a good learning tool for the kids. I point stuff out to mine all the time and try to have us think 'me to we' as opposed to 'just me'.

I usually stay at the Desert Inn, right beside the Park Vue. I'm glad to hear your breakfast is more full of protein than ours usually is.

I too took the trip from hell with my MIL when my son was 6. We drove from Tacoma to San Francisco. When my husband drove 85 mph, she said nothing. When I drove 60 mph, she yelled at me for going too fast. She criticized everything I planned a (Golden Gate Bridge - too windy, Candlestick Park - our team is better, yadayada…). We told her to stay close, but she didn't listen and we lost her in Chinatown! A cranky Korean woman who insulted Chinese people and only spoke broken English. It was nerve-wracking! 3.5 hours later, my husband got a call from the police who found her. Luckily, she had written down his cell number.

The funniest thing about the trip is when we got home, I overheard my son tell his other grandma, "I always had to hold Mom or Dad's hand, but we lost GRANDMA" and then he chortled. OMG - loved his sense of humor and irony then. Yet, he did not say a word during the trip.

Never took her anywhere again. The other grandma travels with us all the time - just got back from Portugal on 4/7.

~ Marci
 
I too took the trip from hell with my MIL when my son was 6. We drove from Tacoma to San Francisco. When my husband drove 85 mph, she said nothing. When I drove 60 mph, she yelled at me for going too fast. She criticized everything I planned a (Golden Gate Bridge - too windy, Candlestick Park - our team is better, yadayada…). We told her to stay close, but she didn't listen and we lost her in Chinatown! A cranky Korean woman who insulted Chinese people and only spoke broken English. It was nerve-wracking! 3.5 hours later, my husband got a call from the police who found her. Luckily, she had written down his cell number.

The funniest thing about the trip is when we got home, I overheard my son tell his other grandma, "I always had to hold Mom or Dad's hand, but we lost GRANDMA" and then he chortled. OMG - loved his sense of humor and irony then. Yet, he did not say a word during the trip.

Never took her anywhere again. The other grandma travels with us all the time - just got back from Portugal on 4/7.

~ Marci
This totally made me laugh out loud! Yeah, never again. We aren't taking Grandma to Disneyland again! We will definitely be going again...just not with her in tow!
 
O M G...your MIL sounds a lot like my future MIL so this is just giving me a peek at what I have to look forward to... :eek:

We just got back from DL this past weekend and she begged for us to invite her next time. I'm going to need a LOT of mental prep for this.
 
O M G...your MIL sounds a lot like my future MIL so this is just giving me a peek at what I have to look forward to... :eek:

We just got back from DL this past weekend and she begged for us to invite her next time. I'm going to need a LOT of mental prep for this.

I'll say some prayers for you. :rotfl2:

You want to hear something funny? I'm already planning our next DL trip and we won't even be going until March of next year (going with good friends this next time who are very easy to travel with). I found a good room rate at the Desert Inn & Suites (next door to Park Vue Inn, where we stayed on this year's trip)...$149/night before taxes, parking & such. MIL is staying with us for a few days right now and DH & I had to talk about the March 2020 trip in secret out of Grandma's ear shot (which isn't hard since she refuses to get hearing aids) so she wouldn't get wind of this trip next year. :rotfl:
 

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