We'll Be Back For More!

We were sad to say goodbye to Disneyland and get homesick for our wonderful vacation. The girls keep peeking over my shoulder and we sniff and cry for the "good old days" at Disneyland. (o:

All cozy and ready for the road trip back home.

We stayed in the Dreams building overlooking Downtown Disney during our stay. At night we sometimes left the door open and listened to the outdoor entertainment. It was beautiful weather the whole week - just nice and warm, but never hot.

For the swimming, hot weather would have been nice. I shivered during our whole swim, but it was worth it. The girls had a blast. Sarah loved the bigger waterslide and Angela and Natalie enjoyed the baby waterslide. It was seriously almost horizontal. (o: Just right for those not up for thrills!

Sarah definitely looks like a Disney tourist. And a cute one at that! We even got into the pin collecting fun and let the girls pick one pin to add to their lanyards. (The bigger buttons are from the character breakfasts or parades.)

We love Disneyland at Halloween time!

Sarah was a thrill seeker the whole trip. She went on every roller coaster (except California Screamin') and Space Mountain was one of her top favorites along with Thunder Mountain railroad. She got to go twice as much as Paul* and I because we would wait in line together, Sarah would ride with daddy while I waited with the little girls, then she would get to go right back again with me for a second ride. She loved it! I loved going on these rides with my cute buddy. She is a blast. She didn't even mind the freaky Halloween ghost they added to the Space Mountain ride.

A LOT of Character

Our character experiences during our Disneyland trip were definitely a highlight. I was surprised which characters ended up being our family favorites. On the top of the list was Gepetto. Who would have guessed? I felt like writing a letter to Disneyland to give a raise to whoever was inside this costume. He or she was hilarious and so adorable with the kids. This is one of the characters that can't even talk, yet he had us laughing our heads off.

When I came back from the breakfast buffet at the Plaza Inn/Carnation Cafe I found Natalie sitting next to Gepetto. He was pretending to take her breakfast tray and thanking her as he also pretended to drink her milk. He sat at our table and entertained us by pretending to put ketchup on the pancakes and goofing off with some of the other characters for some time. Hitting them with balloons and surprising them. As he walked away he pointed to me, then to the girls and applauded. That made me smile. Awww.

Natalie was VERY excited for our spontaneous character breakfast on Main Street. One of the best decisions we made on the trip (except for the fact that we did this on the same day as the Princess Lunch at Ariel's Grotto which was way too much food for one day!

Pictures with Minnie! What a treat! The restaurant was slow that morning so we had tons of interaction and good quality time with our new friends. The characters were all goofing off a lot together for us too which was so much fun. (o:

Sarah and Rafiki

Awww - Eeyore has always been one of my favorite Pooh bear characters.

Captain Hook was a top family favorite. What a hoot! He kept tapping on the glass right behind us with his hook and looking menacing.

All the girls making their "hooks" with their fingers.

Max - Goofy's son from A Goofy Movie. Notice Gepetto in the background doing two thumbs up. I'm telling you that guy or girl - was hilarious.

We had a lovely time at the Princess Luncheon. Angela was so excited and in awe of all the royalty coming to our table. The princesses were sweet as can be and so cute with the girls.

Last time we did this, Angela was a year old and slept through the whole thing. Sarah and Natalie were in heaven, but I could Sarah wasn't quite as enthralled as last time. My baby is growing up! She still had lots of fun, but I remember last time she thought she'd died and gone to princess heaven.

This lunch was a lot of fun and the food was really good. Too bad we had such a big breakfast at the Plaza Inn. I still managed to eat my food - I hate to waste yummy food! And it shows on my waistline! (o:

Mulan is my favorite princess - she is not a damsel in distress - she is courageous and does what needs to be done when problems arise. I love the story of Mulan, so I had to get a picture with her! (o:

Aladdin and Jasmine at Goofy's Kitchen. I think the girls had a crush on Aladdin, they were very shy around him.

For some reason Angela really really really was excited for Dale to come to our table and thank goodness he did. She was waving him down.

If you ever go to Goofy's Kitchen, try the peanut butter and jelly pizza. They have all sorts of fun stuff like that and I was very pleasantly surprised! It was good! (o:

Goofy's Kitchen was our grand finale on the day we headed back home. Kind of a tradition. We went there on our last day three years ago too. It's at the hotel, not in the park, and is a great way to get nice and full so we can get further on our drive before stopping. Plus, seeing the characters and experiencing that Disney magic one more time is wonderful.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Four days of Disneyland was perfect! We loved having plenty of time to do everything at our own pace!

Like trying on lots of silly hats and taking pictures.

Eating at the Blue Bayou restaurant and waving at the people riding Pirates of the Caribbean.

Going on Toy Story Mania two times - we loved it and bought the Wii game when we got home.

Angela and Natalie LOVED the more tame rides like Alice in Wonderland and It's a Small World.

The Teacups were hilarious and no one got sick, not even daddy! (o:

We LOVED the Disney entertainment like the Celebrate! parade.

Hi Mickey!

Buzz Lightyear was one of our top favorite rides. I think Wyatt* went on it almost 10 times. And with the use of his Blackberry and Internet searching while in line - he figured out several tips to scoring high on the ride. I believe his high score was around 600,000! I got up to 300,000 if I remember right. There is a secret target (not lit) on Zurg worth 50,000 points!

Disneyland at Halloween time is awesome!

Candy Corn Acres at California Adventure - the decorations were adorable.
The highlight of our trip was going to the Trick or Treat party one night at California Adventure. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my regular camera so we only have video and a few low res still shots that I haven't retrieved off the video camera yet. The kids got to dress up in their Halloween costumes, go trick or treating, ride on several rides with MUCH shorter lines, Wyatt* and I got to ride California Screamin' at night - the most intense roller coaster I've ever been on. It was awesome to ride at night. (Usually, Cali.Adventure closes before dark.) There were also mini parties and dancing all over the park. We had a blast dancing with the girls and tons of Pixar characters at a dance by the Monsters, Inc. ride. Angela was a little intimidated doing the YMCA by the HUGE Sulley! (o: The Halloween parade was also tons of fun. Disney really knows how to host a cool Halloween party! It was worth every penny - it ended up being one of our favorite memories of the whole trip!

A Unique Way to Tour Disneyland

Before going to Disneyland, I checked out several travel guides to Disneyland.

There were travel guides for taking small children, older children, no children,

travel guides for visiting all the southern California attractions,

travel guides with guides to finding the hidden Mickey's,

travel guides for being most efficient and reducing wait time in lines,

guides to eating in Disneyland,

guides to shopping in Disneyland,

but I found a niche that hasn't been covered by any book - that I know of.

What about a guide to Disneyland's bathrooms?

This idea hit me about halfway through our vacation, when I calculated that I had taken (mostly Angela) to the bathroom about twice as many times as we went on actual rides.

This was EXTREMELY annoying - especially because the reason was because she was terrified of the automatic flushing toilets flushing while she was sitting on the potty.

It NEVER happened (the potty flushing while sitting) until the end of our trip, but she was so scared of this happening that she would NOT empty her bladder completely. She would let out about a teaspoon and then either refused or could not physically relax enough to finish.

This meant about 137 trips to the bathroom in four days.

I know, you are thinking of all kinds of things I could have done to avoid this problem.

I tried them ALL.

I tried being very patient and waiting for a long time for her to relax.

I tried reasoning.

I tried bribing.

I tried tickling her tummy on the toilet.

I tried getting really mad and threatening.

I tried making her drink lots and lots.

I tried making her wait so she couldn't 'hold back'.

I tried going into detail about what would happen if the toilet did flush while sitting on it.

I tried letting her see Natalie go and having the toilet flush while she was on it so she could see that Natalie just thought it was funny and did NOT go whirling down the hole with the water.

I tried E V E R Y T H I N G. Heaven knows I had plenty of times to come up with a new angle.

On the last day of our 4 days at Disneyland, she finally went all the way, but it was mostly on the floor. By some MIRACLE it completely missed her clothes.

I am so surprised she didn't get a UTI from holding it in continuously for four days.

It became a huge joke on our trip, but I refused to let it ruin our fun time.

So I decided to make lemons into lemonade. I would use my many hours of time in the bathrooms to photograph and document the many bathrooms for my new book:

"Backstage Pass: The Complete Guide to Skipping to Disneyland's Loo's" (I am naming it after our nickname for Angela (Loo), which is very appropriate nickname after this trip.)

Our tour begins with one of my favorites...

The bathrooms in Sleeping Beauty's castle.

It is next door to the Alice in Wonderland ride, thus the Queen of Hearts motif.

Angela a little impatient as she heads in to try and get an Ace in the hole. HA!

The details in this lavatory are exquisite.

Love the tile. And just in my defense. I was actually not the only one taking pictures in this bathroom. It is a highlight for any bathroom connoisseur.

It's a five star 5*****, which is my highest rating.

I have given each bathroom a star rating on a scale of 1 to 5.

1 star - hold it and find the next nearest bathroom

2 star - if you've got to go bad, it's better than an outhouse.

3 star - nice and clean, nothing exciting

4 star - nice ambiance, clean, worth a visit

5 star - Don't miss, even if you don't have to actually use the "facilities". Go in to powder your nose, you won't regret it!

This lovely bathroom is tucked away near Pinnochio's ride. I love the curves and ironwork on the exterior.

A sign that matches the Pinnochio theme.

3 stars ***

This bathroom is next door to the Toy Story Mania ride.

3 stars ***

This beautiful archway leads into the commode just off of main street.

4 stars ****

Aliens greet you on the bathroom door in Tomorrowland near Star Tours and Space Mountain. I believe the doors inside this bathroom looked like the doors you see in Star Wars on their spaceships, however, this bathroom had a huge line and I was a little self-conscious taking pictures of people in the bathroom.
4 stars ****

These are a little messed up (I hate the way you have to upload pictures on Blogger).

This is a little princess dancing her way to the powder room at Ariel's Grotto.

In Critter Country - the old fashioned bath tissue advertisement was fun.

4 stars ****

A shot of the beautiful interior at the Ariel's Grotto latrine.

5 stars *****

The entrance to a throne room in Fantasyland.

3 stars ***

The Frontierland "johns" were beyond traditional outhouses of the old west.

Beautiful lighting and rustic woodwork. Another favorite of mine.

5 stars *****

If I would have had this inspiration at the beginning of our trip, I believe I would have a pretty complete guide of every single public restroom. I will work on either helping Angela get over this fear of automatic flushing toilets for next time, or I will continue working on a more complete guide to all of Disneyland's commodes.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed this lovely backstage tour of Disneyland's "informal facilities".

A Few Favorites

These are a few favorite photographs from our trip. I brought my backup SLR Canon Rebel along a couple of the days so I could get a few nicer shots of the trip. I think the picture above was actual my little point and shoot, but it ended up being a favorite. (o:

A shot of each of the girls in their Minnie hats while waiting to ride It's a Small World.

A fun action shot - I think this was running back to the hotel because the girls were so excited to go swimming in the Peter Pan pool.

The view of the fireworks from New Orleans Square.

Angela was often apprehensive when waiting in line for a new ride. Even Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Princess Natalie

Sarah's cute Mickey picture after a lesson in animation at California Adventure. Being the perfectionist that she is, she was upset and thought it didn't look perfect. It stinks to always be aiming for perfection. I thought it was pretty darn good!

Sarah with some flare and her trendy Mickey hat.

Man, she looks grown up in this picture.

Nattie's cute fuzzy ears as we enter It's a Small World.