California Adventure!!
10:30 PM Posted In disneyland 10 Comments »
This is out of place but I forgot to mention it on my last DL post and it's super important for those of you with children with Ds or any other special needs. I had heard from a couple of friends that I could obtain this Guest Assistance Card due to Gabby having Down syndrome and so I capitalized on it.
The pass basically acts as a "SUPER FAST pass" and saved us many hours of waiting in long lines. All I had to do was take Gabby with me to Disneyland's Town Hall where they asked me how many were in my party and simply handed me the pass. It was that easy. No questions asked and it was a life saver! We either got right to the front of the line or waited five minutes TOPS for all rides. It was awesome!
Back to the original content of this post...
"Look Mom! It's Daisy Duck...can you believe it?!"
Cameron had a cough that wouldn't quit on this particular morning so he really wasn't feeling too hot when I took this but he mustered up a smile.
The pass basically acts as a "SUPER FAST pass" and saved us many hours of waiting in long lines. All I had to do was take Gabby with me to Disneyland's Town Hall where they asked me how many were in my party and simply handed me the pass. It was that easy. No questions asked and it was a life saver! We either got right to the front of the line or waited five minutes TOPS for all rides. It was awesome!
Back to the original content of this post...Day two at the park was dedicated to tackling California Adventure but first up was another breakfast with the Characters. Gabby absolutely adored Daisy Duck!
I was so impressed with the Characters. Many of them knew basic sign language and it was so cute to see them using it with Gabalicious.
"love"
"Look Mom! It's Daisy Duck...can you believe it?!"
Cameron had a cough that wouldn't quit on this particular morning so he really wasn't feeling too hot when I took this but he mustered up a smile.
And then look who showed up!!
Gabby wasn't too fond of this "creature" and she made sure to tell him so.
We made it to "Hollywood" and posed for some more photos.
Nguyen and I rode the Tower of Terror pre-Cameron and from that day forward, I vowed to NEVER ride it EVER again. So we made Dani ride it by herself. Haha.
But no one was ever more excited than this guys when Stitch came over to say hello.
Check out that cheeser!
Gabby wasn't too fond of this "creature" and she made sure to tell him so.
Almost done with breakfast but first...
And one last photo op with our favorite pup:
Finally we made it to the park and the first awesome thing we came upon were two of Cam's favorite characters, straight outta Radiator Springs, Mater and Lightening McQueen.
He was in awe. We all sat back and watched him as he nervously attempted to kiss Lightening McQueen's fender. Dork.
We made it to "Hollywood" and posed for some more photos.
Nguyen and I rode the Tower of Terror pre-Cameron and from that day forward, I vowed to NEVER ride it EVER again. So we made Dani ride it by herself. Haha.
Nguyen and Cameron enjoyed this little ride in "It's a Bug's Life."
Weeee!
Bumper bugs: Nguyen took his job a little too seriously.
I don't think either of them got out of this one little section of the arena...they were too busy attacking each other.
Next we hopped on the "Golden Zephyr" which was actually silver? Whatever. Mom and I decided that ride was a little much. We are definitely the biggest weenies on the planet.
A view of the scary Ferris wheel from the Golden Zephyr.
Cam and Dani took a ride on the "Jumping Jelly Fish!"
The night prior to this, one of my facebook friends alerted me that another one of my mommy friends was also at Disneyland so we planned to meet up quickly and say hi. I have "known" Kristin since I was pregnant with Cam and she was pregnant with her sweet little man, E. It was so nice to finally meet her in person. She is just as sweet as I thought she'd be!
We decided after lunch that California Adventure kinda sucks so we opted for some time by the pool instead. It was so nice and Cameron had a ball!
Nguyen was grumpy, tired, and sunburned and later took a nice little snooze right there on the lounge chair.
And my bathing beauty hung out with the rest of us gals.
We told jokes...
and rested.
After a couple of hours by the pool we made our way back to our room. Just as were about to head out again we heard a knock on our door. It seems that Aunt Nutty caught wind of what room we were in and had a beautiful fruit basket sent to us. What a nice Aunt Nutty!
After enjoying our yummy treats, we made our way down to Downtown Disney where we stumbled across the Lego store:
Sadly, this was probably the highlight of Cameron's trip...forget Disneyland!
While walking around, Nguyen saw this sign and decided he needed a cup of coffee because it was:
He agreed.
With nothing much left to do and know leaf left unturned, we decided all there was left to do was sit by the fire in our hotel lobby.
And we even got to meet some characters that we hadn't seen before!
Can you believe that?!
and rested.
After a couple of hours by the pool we made our way back to our room. Just as were about to head out again we heard a knock on our door. It seems that Aunt Nutty caught wind of what room we were in and had a beautiful fruit basket sent to us. What a nice Aunt Nutty!
After enjoying our yummy treats, we made our way down to Downtown Disney where we stumbled across the Lego store:
Sadly, this was probably the highlight of Cameron's trip...forget Disneyland!(note to self: next time, take a trip to Lego Land and save a few bucks)
While walking around, Nguyen saw this sign and decided he needed a cup of coffee because it was:
He agreed.With nothing much left to do and know leaf left unturned, we decided all there was left to do was sit by the fire in our hotel lobby.
And with that, we made our way back to our room for our last sleep in Disneyland.
The next morning we all got up and got our things organized and packed nicely back into our bags. The bellhop came to take our bags down and loaded them in our car as we finished getting ready for our long drive home. Finally, we made it down to the lobby and began to load the kids in the car only to realize...our backseats were missing? At first I was calm and thought surely the seats were just sitting somewhere in valet storage for whatever reason but after a few minutes of blank stares, it was apparent that no one in valet knew where our seats were and that they most definitely were not going to turn up anytime soon. And just like that a big black cloud came and rained all over our fun-filled Disneyland vacation. Boo.
Nguyen raised quite a fuss (rightfully so) and Disneyland offered us food and park vouchers while they called in their "investigation team" to go over the video tapes from their parking lot. They informed us that this process was going to take "quite some time," so we opted to have one last breakfast with the characters while we waited.
Gabby practiced her audition for the next Froot Loops commercial:
And we even got to meet some characters that we hadn't seen before!
After breakfast we went back to check on our "situation." We found Nguyen still sitting in the valet area, still looking quite upset. No progress had occurred and while we were away. They (Disneyland) actually told Nguyen they were "not responsible for lost or stolen property." Hubs was not a happy dude and neither was I. How were we going to get everyone home?!!
Disneyland actually offered to rent us a car for our trip home but that would mean we would have to split up so one person could drive our car back home. After we filed our police report (and made sure our attending officer was out of sight) Nguyen and Dani set up shop right there on the naked floor of my car and off we went on our six hour journey back home.
Can you believe that?!
.
We're still quite upset that Disneyland was so shady regarding this entire fiasco but there's nothing we can do about it and luckily our insurance is handling it but still!! I am just thankful they didn't take my middle row with the baby seats (which we believe they intended on doing as gabby's carseat was completely unhooked!)
All in all, we had a great trip and we are already planning our next visit!
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!
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10 comments:
What a FUN trip to Disney...minus the missing seats! I still can't believe that!? Well, yes I guess living in CA...anything can happen...but still??? Hey, love the FAST pass thingy too! lITTLE PERKS LIKE THAT ARE GREAT! Love all the pics and glad you had a fabulous time!
OMG about the seats!!! Are you kidding me?!?! It's a Disney parking lot...you used Valet and had no idea where they were parking it...do they patrol their lot?!?!? How does someone walk away with a bunch of seats? WOW! I'm totally shocked!
Awesome photos! I actually got teary seeing Gabby w/ Daisy Duck and knowing that some characters can sign. Wow! The Cars exhibit looks fun... we haven't been to DLand and Calif Adventure since 2004, so it's been a while... I love the pass idea, but Doug says he would feel guilty using it since John Michael is more like a "typical" child than one with "special needs". I'm with you on that one, though. :-) As for the seats... that's just absolutely ridiculous... I can't imagine why that would be hot on the black market. And didn't you say they left your iPod in the car? Another example of (not so) smart criminals.
Um, yeah, did anybody notice the guy CARRYING A WHOLE BACK SEAT through the parking lot???
Other than that fiasco, loved the story. and the pics. I think Nguyen was the happiest Pham to see Stitch :)
So glad you had a great vacation... minus the grand larsony.
Sounds like you guys had a great time! When we went to Disney in years past we used the same pass because we had my mom with us. (she was undergoing cancer treatment) They really are great. We had a little taste again on our last trip it was a super fast pass because we did the volunteer give a day get a day and we opted for the fast pass.
I would be pissed about the seats!! What a crapy way to end the trip! But at least it can be fixed. :)
Looks like you guys had a great time! Note the basket was supposed to be in your hotel room when you arrived! Aaargh can't Disneyland get anything right!
See you soon!
Fun, fun! (except the stolen seat, of course)
Love that pic of Gabby laughing in the deck chair!
Great pictures of your trip minus the fact of the missing seats in the car when checking out. I am glad that you and your family was able to enjoy so much while there. You will have to email me and tell me what parts to hit up when we go since we are only making our Disneyland visit a 1 day event. Thanks for sharing!!
Argh on the seats - but what a fantastic trip! Love all of the pictures - wonderful memories for your sweet family!!!
I still can't believe that whole seat thing. WTF?!
I'm so, so glad that, otherwise, you all had such a great time. We are total Stitch lovers over here, too!
Also, we used the pass on our trip. I went back and forth about it, but hey. It's there for a reason.
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