When Can We Do This Again? May 2018 Finished 2/2 The End

[Jaina]

So glad to "hear" from you again! What a crazy way to start your last day! But how great that you were able to get her some meds right away! Don't you love when your plans are so simple, yet somehow they don't work out? That's okay, hopefully most days at Disney are better than regular days to DO work out. Big Thunder is seriously my happy place and I really love Alice, too! I'm interested to see what turns your day took! Surprisingly, I took two one-day trips to Disney since you lat posted, so if you're bored, you should check out my reports!

 

[AJA55]

WOW...just did a marathon reading.

Good on you all for taking the lemons and making fun lemonade!

 

[BrerMama]

Ehh I'm sorry y'all had such a crazy morning. Poor Ches getting puffy on a Disney vacation, that's no fun, but yay for getting it squared away in the quickest most efficient way possible. Thank goodness for Disneyland being that close to everything (side note: you know you really miss a place when someone mentions an off-property location and you know EXACTLY where that is)!

Glad to hear you still made it for Soarin' and Big Thunder. I also agree that Alice in Wonderland is a really well done dark ride at Disneyland. I think their Peter Pan's Flight is the best or Haunted Mansion (even though I think Magic Kingdom's is superior) but that ride got a nice upgrade with the video element. Also, the outdoor part is quite fun and has a fab view.

So excited to hear about your experience with Magical Map! I'm sure it was AMAZING (I was just looking at my TimeHop and seeing my first experience at Map (my first trip to DLR was a year ago) so I'm very nostalgic for that show atm))

I'm always happy we decided Disneyland rather than WDW, but never more so than that morning when we could just walk to a pharmacy. I miss it so much and there's no trip in the near future which makes me super sad. I just love the getting familiar with the walk, discovering fun places to sit and rest, the hidden gems...

So glad to "hear" from you again! What a crazy way to start your last day! But how great that you were able to get her some meds right away! Don't you love when your plans are so simple, yet somehow they don't work out? That's okay, hopefully most days at Disney are better than regular days to DO work out. Big Thunder is seriously my happy place and I really love Alice, too! I'm interested to see what turns your day took! Surprisingly, I took two one-day trips to Disney since you lat posted, so if you're bored, you should check out my reports!

I will definitely read your reports! We're gearing up for the big KC game here in an hour or so, so maybe this week some night. It's funny because at our old house, I used my laptop twice a day every day and here I can go a whole week without picking it up. And I hate reading anything lengthy on my phone. But I'll make it a priority.

WOW...just did a marathon reading.

Good on you all for taking the lemons and making fun lemonade!

Welcome! We did manage to not let it slow us down too much. Can't let that last day go to waste (although i do wish it would have happen on the day we were already taking off from the parks)...

 

[BrerMama]

We’d decided just to head over to the Fantasyland Theater and find something to eat while watching Mickey and the Magical Map. I’d remembered that there was a place nearby that sold huge baked potatoes, so we got in line for the show, but the food place looked shut up tight and since this was the first day for Magical Map since Sunday, I wasn’t sure if it would open or not. Dan and I decided to leave Ches there to save our spot -- top row right under the tech booth was the spot I’d heard was good -- and we went to find frozen lemonade and pretzels. We did this and were back in time to get into line again and I managed to hand Ches one of the 3 lemonades. Just as we were sitting down, the little food place opened up (I looked it up, it’s Troubador Tavern) and I handed the lemonades to Dan and Ches and I got in line for a broccoli and cheese baked potato for Ches and grabbed a sour cream and bacon baked potato for me. Dan ended up eating the pretzel.

​

Note -- it’s obvious to me now in writing this that at some point I grabbed us Radiator Springs MaxPass and then when I could get another one, Guardians for Ches and Dan, but I didn’t write that down.

The show was just a smidge late due to technical difficulties which worked well for us. It let us get our food mostly eaten and sit back and enjoy the show, which was super fun. As Chesney said, “this trip has really made my love for Tangled grow.” It was a huge bonus that both of Chesney’s favorite characters were in the show -- Stitch and Tiana. Stitch got such a huge cheer it makes me wonder why they don’t have him out more regularly.

We really, really enjoyed this show. It's just a super fun little show and you get to see some fun characters and it was a nice thing to see on our last day in the park.​

After the show, we walked right onto the train which had pulled up as the show was letting out. We were towards the top of the theater so it was easy to get out, but I also think most of the families in the theater were heading to Toontown and/or Fantasyland after the show, as were most of the train riders who exited there. It was a nice little break for our feet to take the train to Main Street and see the dioramas, which Ches had no idea were there. She asked me about them, but my voice was pretty much shot by this point in the trip so it was hard to explain. We were a weary group. [In hindsight, while I was having Ches talk to a dr anyway, I maybe should have gone ahead and done so for myself. I was getting by, though, and managed to get to the doctor 3 days after we got home.]

I stopped to take a picture from the train station looking out at Main Street and then we ran down to grab that last spirit jersey for Kiah. We also decided to use the Main Street bathrooms real quick. [Side note -- this is also where we saw Timmy touring with his DCP group. I was being a total adult and recognized him but didn't want to distract him because he seemed to be listening intently to whatever was being said and this didn't seem like the time to interrupt, so I just sent him an Insta message saying hi... but I had lots of plans for the rest of the day and so did he so it didn't work out to meet. Still it was very cool to be ending our trip and then follow him on Insta knowing we briefly crossed paths.]

​

Freshly ready to go, we crossed over to California Adventure. We had some time before our MaxPass for Racers, so we got ice cream at the Cozy Cone. I’m not a cone eater, so Dan and I went with the dishes of twist ice cream and then Ches got a twist cone.

​

We walked onto Luigi’s after this -- because I needed one last ride -- and then as we came off Ches saw Redd out and we ran over and got pictures with him really quickly. And hey, Dan posed for this one too. For some reason, no problem posing with the Cars characters, but he didn’t want in any pictures with actual characters.

​

After Redd, we rode Racers and as soon as we were scanned in, I got us a Racers MaxPass for that evening.

Up next: our late afternoon and into our last evening in the parks.... and is there any better thing than an evening in the parks?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Very fun trip report! I'm going in March and reading this made me super excited for my trip.

I just moved to Kansas City with my boyfriend last year, we came from Austin. Kansas is a bit too cold for me, I think. Especially lately.

Can't wait to read about your last night!

 

[Jaina]

Man, that makes me really want to try to see Mickey and the Magical Map on our upcoming trip! I'm sure my littles would love it! I wonder if it will still be playing. We wanted to catch it on the LAST trip, but it didn't work out... Maybe we can work it out if it's playing while the big kids ride a few things... How was the ice cream as far as soft serve goes? It surprises me how many people aren't aware of that diorama, since it's one of my stronger early memories of Disneyland when I was 3/6.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

As I was reading this I was just thinking about how we never got to meet and was like "Yeah, didn't she see me while I was in my Traditions class?" Then there I read your little note about it. It's too bad we never met but I had way too many plans with friends that evening (and too many not sober lol). No way would we have been able to meet up.

That baked potato looks delish. Wish I had known they sold that at the place next to Map. So glad to hear you enjoyed it. It's such a lovely fun show that is so perfectly Disneyland. And I agree it's crazy with how crazy the crowd goes for Stitch (it makes me cry it's so sweet tbh) he only meets at the Visa meet. He's so loved in Florida, formerly his own ride (terrible ride though), meeting at MK regularly than his own breakfast at 'Ohana... I'd love to see him more at Disneyland, he's so much fun.

I'm amazed that y'all got those cones so quickly. That line at Cozy Cone is always the worst and the longest.

Adorable photo with Red! Y'all seem in such good spirits despite your crazy morning.

 

[BrerMama]

Very fun trip report! I'm going in March and reading this made me super excited for my trip.

I just moved to Kansas City with my boyfriend last year, we came from Austin. Kansas is a bit too cold for me, I think. Especially lately.

Can't wait to read about your last night!

Oh, have a magical trip! Sorry about the weather in KC. They've gotten hit harder than we have down here. We had planned to come to KC this past Saturday but the snow forecast made us cancel those plans. I'm still bummed. KC is just perfect for a little getaway for us. Plus, you have IKEA.

Man, that makes me really want to try to see Mickey and the Magical Map on our upcoming trip! I'm sure my littles would love it! I wonder if it will still be playing. We wanted to catch it on the LAST trip, but it didn't work out... Maybe we can work it out if it's playing while the big kids ride a few things... How was the ice cream as far as soft serve goes? It surprises me how many people aren't aware of that diorama, since it's one of my stronger early memories of Disneyland when I was 3/6.

Seeing Magical Map was a challenge for us. It only shows on the weekend I think and we didn't catch it our first day so the last day was our only chance. It's pretty cute. And Ches knows everything about Disneyland (obsessive YouTuber, especially college program people) and it was fun to surprise her with it. The ice cream was just OK. I mean... if I had to chose ice cream, I'd got for a Mickey bar or one of those hand dipped bars. I'm not a huge fan of soft serve.

As I was reading this I was just thinking about how we never got to meet and was like "Yeah, didn't she see me while I was in my Traditions class?" Then there I read your little note about it. It's too bad we never met but I had way too many plans with friends that evening (and too many not sober lol). No way would we have been able to meet up.

That baked potato looks delish. Wish I had known they sold that at the place next to Map. So glad to hear you enjoyed it. It's such a lovely fun show that is so perfectly Disneyland. And I agree it's crazy with how crazy the crowd goes for Stitch (it makes me cry it's so sweet tbh) he only meets at the Visa meet. He's so loved in Florida, formerly his own ride (terrible ride though), meeting at MK regularly than his own breakfast at 'Ohana... I'd love to see him more at Disneyland, he's so much fun.

I'm amazed that y'all got those cones so quickly. That line at Cozy Cone is always the worst and the longest.

Adorable photo with Red! Y'all seem in such good spirits despite your crazy morning.

The baked potato was delish. We were heading to Jason's Deli today for lunch and I was going to get a baked potato, too. If I'd read this first I would have. (We ended up getting burgers.) Pretty sure I read about it in a trip report and it was just perfect for what we needed.

Stitch is such a strange thing... we didn't go to the Visa thing, even though we have a card, but we did do Surf's Up (which I'm pretty sure has changed since our visit... is Stitch still there?). Still, Ohana's breakfast is far superior to Surf's Up and we do that every trip on our last day at WDW. Ches gets to see her favorite and I get the yummy food. I super loved him at Disenyland, though, and I still have the selfie he took on my phone as my phone background. Love him.

I will be back next weekend to post more. We had a truly magical ending to our trip so I hope you'll all stay with me just a little longer. In the meantime, my daughter decided to do a planned elopement next month vs. having a huge wedding in June and guess who's planning it all?!? And thus why we're not planning any Disney trips at the moment...

 

[Jaina]

Oh, have a magical trip! Sorry about the weather in KC. They've gotten hit harder than we have down here. We had planned to come to KC this past Saturday but the snow forecast made us cancel those plans. I'm still bummed. KC is just perfect for a little getaway for us. Plus, you have IKEA.



Seeing Magical Map was a challenge for us. It only shows on the weekend I think and we didn't catch it our first day so the last day was our only chance. It's pretty cute. And Ches knows everything about Disneyland (obsessive YouTuber, especially college program people) and it was fun to surprise her with it. The ice cream was just OK. I mean... if I had to chose ice cream, I'd got for a Mickey bar or one of those hand dipped bars. I'm not a huge fan of soft serve.



The baked potato was delish. We were heading to Jason's Deli today for lunch and I was going to get a baked potato, too. If I'd read this first I would have. (We ended up getting burgers.) Pretty sure I read about it in a trip report and it was just perfect for what we needed.

Stitch is such a strange thing... we didn't go to the Visa thing, even though we have a card, but we did do Surf's Up (which I'm pretty sure has changed since our visit... is Stitch still there?). Still, Ohana's breakfast is far superior to Surf's Up and we do that every trip on our last day at WDW. Ches gets to see her favorite and I get the yummy food. I super loved him at Disneyland, though, and I still have the selfie he took on my phone as my phone background. Love him.

I will be back next weekend to post more. We had a truly magical ending to our trip so I hope you'll all stay with me just a little longer. In the meantime, my daughter decided to do a planned elopement next month vs. having a huge wedding in June and guess who's planning it all?!? And thus why we're not planning any Disney trips at the moment...

Congrats on the marriage! So... how does one plan an elopement? I've never heard of that, but it does sound like a better option than the complicated expensive mess many people make weddings into sometimes! I'm intrigued... And good to know about the soft-serve.

 

[BrerMama]

Congrats on the marriage! So... how does one plan an elopement? I've never heard of that, but it does sound like a better option than the complicated expensive mess many people make weddings into sometimes! I'm intrigued... And good to know about the soft-serve.

It's sort of a cross between a destination wedding and a very intimate ceremony. The venue calls it their "elopement package" but of course in order to get flowers, cake and photographer set up, it has to be planned somewhat in advance. The invite list went from 150+ to less than 40. It's going to be at a beautiful nature preserve in March, so everyone think happy weather thoughts....

 

[BrerMama]

Day Seven, Part Three​

It’s not really on our way out of the park, but I wanted to ride the Monsters Inc ride one more time so we all walked over to do that, and then we split ways outside of the ride so they could get one more drop on Guardians. I was heading back to the hotel to start packing and take a break.

​

On the way out, I wandered through Elias & Co because Ches had been talking about the super cute Sully I wanted and saying if I got that, she could get the Stitch in the same line because they had a sale when you bought two. I went in and looked at them and decided I really didn’t need another Sully -- because I don’t -- but she was such a trooper through all the swollen face thing that I ended up buying her a smaller, even cuter Stitch.

​

When I got back to the room, our maid had done this really cute thing with our extra blanket on Chesney’s bed and then I placed Stitch on top of it for her. I got to packing, which… blah. It’s not nearly as fun to pack to go home as it is to pack to go on vacation. I had used packing cubes really well for the packing a week before, but today I just threw all the dirty clothes into suitcases (which Dan had actually done with our biggest suitcase on Wednesday so there wasn’t a whole lot). I packed up all our extra shoes and hoodies and things and pulled out the extra bag I’d brought knowing we’d be buying souvenirs. Last time we went on a trip we came home with a whole bag full of stuffed animals, but this time it was all extra long sleeve shirts. The difference between having kids and having young adults when it’s cold.

Dan and Ches were only about 20 minutes behind me and Ches started packing up some of her stuff. Dan ignored the packing and played Emoji Blitz… because he knew I’d pack for him and he likes to deny things are happening.

Around four, everyone was pretty hungry because pretzels and baked potatoes don’t last long, so I ordered Panera via app and Dan ran down to pick it up. I swear app ordering is the best thing ever when you’ve got picky eaters and need to tell them no tomato or change the bread.

Since we were planning a late night, and my previous attempts at late nights had sort of been ambushed by having too much free time in the parks, we didn’t leave the room until around 6:15. As we were going through bag check, I got a phone notification that our Racers MaxPass had been converted to a Multi Experience Pass, which was kind of odd because it wasn’t even time for our pass. Because of this, we took our time shopping on Buena Vista Street. Ches bought herself a shirt and a couple of stuffed animals for yet more friends. I went across the street and into the candy store where I bought a box of chocolate dipped Mickey pretzels and a box of Mickey Rice Krispie treats because you know that post-Disney trip depression? It goes down a little easier when you’ve got a Mickey shaped treat to eat.

​

When we came out of the shops, there was a Photopass guy taking pictures in front of Carthay Circle. I asked if he could take some fun pictures of us and he asked what I wanted. I said we’d been at Disneyland for a week and this was our last night and he just had fun with it and even managed to get the streetcar going by in the background.

That one is a canvas in our bedroom.
​

We eventually ended up in Carsland, where Racers was back up and running so we took one last ride. While we were getting on, Dan was saying we were 6 wins - 2 losses, but now he swears we only rode it 8 times, so I don’t know. We had way more wins than loses.

We were trying to be cute and do hearts but only Ches knows to throw it to the side...
​

On our way back out of Carsland, the Photopass guy we’d watched at Flo’s earlier that week was taking pictures on Route 66, so of course Ches and I had to stop. I love the Flo’s picture he took, especially since it was one of my favorite places to eat.

And this one was taken by Dan...


​

Sigh. I only have 10 more photos left to post, so I'll finish this up next week. It was so magical. I just want that "last night at Disneyland doing our favorite things" mood back...

 

[Jaina]

Aw, I love all those pics! That last day is so bittersweet. I really love Ches' blue jersey. It's so pretty!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Awww that tiny Stitch is presh. I want one and I think I know which Sulley you're talking about and omg so many cute things I need but actually don't lol I love all your Photopass photos from this round in the parks. Also we're photo twinning as I am currently wearing my Millennial Pink spirit jersey (tear-stained thanks to RENT live), best spirit jersey, am I right? hehe

 

[BrerMama]

The End​

Back in front of Carthay Circle on the way out of the park, Daisy was meeting with guests and the line was fairly short, so of course we had to hop in that line, too.

​

Did I mention that Daisy can POSE?

So I know I’d grabbed an Indy MaxPass during the evening because as we went to use it after crossing into Disneyland, they announced that Indy had just gone down. Again.

Which, on the bright side, meant we had a MultiExperience Pass. And you know what ride I had ended up loving during our trip? We walked over and scanned onto Big Thunder and got to ride it at dusk, which I think is one of the prettiest times we rode it.

​

By this time I was close to 7:45 - 8 pm and I wanted to look for a fireworks spot. Already all the curb spots on Main Street were taken. There was about 6 inches of curb right by the Photo Center at the end of Main St and I asked a nice lady with twins if I could sit there for a little bit. She said she still had a husband and kids coming (she was with toddlers) and I said I wouldn’t be there long as I planned to stand in the middle of the street because I had been there for fireworks the night before and that was the best view. She asked if that meant she couldn’t sit on the curb. I said I didn’t think she’d be able to see anything because the night before the street was literally wall to wall standing people.

​

Anyway, I sat in the little inch and Dan and Ches went to grab bakery goodies. When they got back, Ches sat in the street and Dan just behind me. We talked and they played on their phones until Main Street started to fill up with people waiting for fireworks. We were just at the front corner of Main Street, closest to the castle and where I knew they’d be putting a rope across Main Street to create a walkway for through traffic. We ended up sitting in the street just 3-4 people back from that line and I finally started playing Emoji Blitz. I hadn’t played it in days and had like 14 lives saved up, so it really helped pass the time until the cast members working crowd control came around and told everyone we had to stand up at 9:15. As we stood up, we could hear Fantasmic ending. It was a little late…

​

But then Together Forever started.

​

And what a way to end a trip to Disneyland.

 

[BrerMama]

And with that, I'm done writing. We had a pretty nice trip back home, I slept like a rock the night we got home and we were so happy to see our puppy again. Ches just applied to DCP (College Program) for the fall thinking that if she doesn't get it this time, she can always try again next fall. If that all works out, maybe I'll get a Florida trip in sometime in the next year or so. In the meantime, it will be a Branson year for us. Hope everyone enjoyed reading, even though it's way late getting finished. I loved writing this and sharing our memories. Hopefully maybe some bits of it entertained you and helped plan your trips. Kim

 

[BrerMama]

Aw, I love all those pics! That last day is so bittersweet. I really love Ches' blue jersey. It's so pretty!

She loves wearing her spirit jersey at home. I also got her a black sequin version for Christmas. They're in heavy rotation.

Awww that tiny Stitch is presh. I want one and I think I know which Sulley you're talking about and omg so many cute things I need but actually don't lol I love all your Photopass photos from this round in the parks. Also we're photo twinning as I am currently wearing my Millennial Pink spirit jersey (tear-stained thanks to RENT live), best spirit jersey, am I right? hehe

I love my pink spirit jersey and unlike Ches, I'm afraid to wear it at home. Wearing it to work is not an option -- I'm not wearing light pink around my students -- and I like to go sloppy when I'm just at home. But I wore that thing to death in California. Didn't the Photopass photographers do an amazing job capturing how much fun we were having?

 

[PlutosRHM55]

No one poses like Daisy that's for sure. Photoshoots with her are my favorite, second to Cruella. Glad to hear you ended your trip on a good note with great viewing for fireworks. And that's so exciting Ches is applying for Fall! Is she applying for DLR or WDW? Best of luck to her!

Thank you for sharing all your stories from this summer and finishing it out! I really enjoyed it. Hopefully whenever you return to a Disney park, we can actually say hey to each other lol

 

[BrerMama]

No one poses like Daisy that's for sure. Photoshoots with her are my favorite, second to Cruella. Glad to hear you ended your trip on a good note with great viewing for fireworks. And that's so exciting Ches is applying for Fall! Is she applying for DLR or WDW? Best of luck to her!

Thank you for sharing all your stories from this summer and finishing it out! I really enjoyed it. Hopefully whenever you return to a Disney park, we can actually say hey to each other lol

She's applying to WDW but heard they're swamped with applications so she's trying to be patient and not get her hopes up.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I loved your report and have every intention of catching up with your DCP report now that I'm done!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

She's applying to WDW but heard they're swamped with applications so she's trying to be patient and not get her hopes up.

Awww, is she stuck in progress? That's the worst. Happened to me first time I applied (and I was NLIC'd). It's nothing to lose your head over though so she has the right attitude. It's just bad luck, nothing to do with the application.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

What a storybook ending! I am so glad you got to see the fireworks