
'twas my mother's birthday yesterday. and we took her to Disneyland. :)
okay okay, so. morning. left Walnut at around 9:15, got to the park at 10ish - we wanted to be there earlier 'cause we had priority seating scheduled for 9:50 at the Plaza Inn, the violently pink, really delicious chicken place near Main Street. we got in even if we were a little late, which was cool because duuuuude breakfast there was awesome! characters everywhere!!
so first we see Eeyore on our way in... he didn't see us just then, but yeah, we saw him. he's so adorable, lemme tell you. then we saw Captain Hook, but he was like, talking to other people. i had half a mind to stand and just salute at him until he noticed and came over to greet us... but i'm shy. :P but Dale attacked us while we were eating. he came up from behind and started ruffling me and my sister's hair up like crazy and we were both like "WAAAAH WHO'S DOING THAT?!" but we love Dale, and we took a picture with him, our hair all messed up as it was. and we told him that it was our mom's birthday, so he goes over and sits next to her and... they started playing. or something. it was cute, because it was our mom, and we've never seen her more like a little kid. XD
after Dale, i believe Tigger came over and attacked us in a similar manner. but we have the nicest picture with him, and i totally adore that stuffed tiger now. he started trying to put my sister's sunglasses back on over her face, which resulted in her hair getting all over the place but was really funny to watch. XD after Tigger was Minnie, who didn't do anything like that, but she was really sweet to us and took a nice pic with my mom. then we assaulted Capt Hook, since he wouldn't come over to our table. me and my sister each took a picture with him, making hook gestures with our fingers, and that was fun. one of the servers nearby seemed to be very amused by our antics. ^_^
and then there was Eeyore. okay. i need to get more Eeyore stuff. he comes over, and he's so cute with his sad little face and his long ears and just - just - *squeal*. and... well, since i was advertising the DVD release of Meet the Robinsons and had all this MTR gear all over me (hat, shirt, bag)... it was amazing, because he recognized it. Eeyore pointed at the logo on my shirt, and the logo on my hat and bag, and clapped!! i was so excited!! XD but then he pointed at himself and gave us this questioning look (funny as that sounds, believe me, it was a questioning look on that big face of his), and we were just like "awww, i'm sorry, we don't have any Eeyore stuff." almost immediately we felt bad because, well, he started crying. i blame my sister - she has Eeyore stuff, she just didn't wear/bring any of it with us. then again, we never imagined we'd meet Eeyore. but we promised him that next time we'd come with Eeyore stuff, hugged him, took more pictures, and then adored him some more as he left.
so that was brunch. oh yeah, the food was good, too. :P
and oh, just as a note: my mom made me grab her a pink balloon before we left the Plaza Inn. she tied it to the handle of her purse and... it pretty much stayed with her all day. the Balloon was surprisingly durable. i actually think it's still alive somewhere in our apartment...
but anyways, we didn't go on too many rides (this is my mom we're taking, after all). we passed by the Finding Nemo lake, just to see what it looked like. it's nice not having to bump into that long Finding Nemo "Coming Summer 2007" wall of DOOM there... i'd almost forgotten what that area looked like. ^_^ then we took our mom to the princess fair, just to check out because she loves the princesses. stayed there for a while and then headed over to Frontierland. we hopped onto the Mark Twain and gaped at Pirate Island from afar - managed to sneak a peek at the great Capt Jack Sparrow, caught him on film and everything, and that was exciting. then we went to go watch Billy Hill & the Hillbillies perform (such a funny show, for those of you who've never seen it. it's in the Golden Horseshoe, we went to the 1pm showing) and thoroughly enjoyed that, clapping and singing and laughing our hearts out. :D from there we went on Pirates, since my mom hadn't seen Jack in there until then, and after that we managed to convince her to let us go on Indy. that was just... a must. honestly. and the fact that the Balloon survived Indy and Pirates continues to amaze us.
after Indy we sorta rushed to get back to Main Street to watch the Parade of Dreams (amazingly, that all lasted until 3:15 precisely). my mom loved the parade, me and my sister beamed happily. and then i saw the Ratatouille window. it's a really cute window, with Linguini teetering around the room, blindfolded, Remy on his head and pulling at his hair. but... it's just that...
*sigh* okay. i know i shouldn't feel like it's a competition or anything, 'cause Pixar and Disney are allies. but still... it made me really sad to realize that... Meet the Robinsons didn't get a window like that. i looked around some more.. not even a tiny little time machine hovering in the corner of one of the older displays!
Meet the Robinsons kinda got the short end of the stick, when i stopped to think about it. i saw Emile, Remy the Rat's brother, over in New Orleans Square from the Pirates line, which my sister and i immediately decided made total sense. and Ratatouille's been getting a lot of great publicity, which i'm glad for. it's #1 on the charts! i mean, it beat Die Hard, of all things. but i just felt so horrible for Meet the Robinsons. they don't even get to be in Tomorrowland, WHERE THEY BELONG. i mean.. WHAT?! WHY NOT?!?! it just makes me so sad to see Ratatouille everywhere, all over the park, all over the stores... and where had Meet the Robinsons gone? TT_TT i weep. i, in my Wilbur T-shirt, weep.
though it does mean that MTR gets this great little cult following. XD
back on track. we went to California Adventure after the parade, 'cause we wanted to take our mom to the Aladdin musical, but that had... well, something happened to it, so we couldn't. that made us sad... so we just went into the animation building to see if we could find any MTR displays. 'lo and behold, we did! next to one for Ratatouille and another for Wall-E (Pixar 2008, looks really cute), but ah well. took pictures with that, and also of the little Carl concept art that had found a place between Abbi from Chicken Little and the Genie. that was exciting. :P then we went over to Soarin' Over California, 'cause everyone loves that ride in all its simplicity and wonder (and it was highly entertaining watching my mom stuff the Balloon into the pouch under the seat XP). saw Lightning McQueen and Mater (GAH?! once again, where are my MTR boys at?!) on the way there. i had no idea you could see them at all... but anyways, very nearly missed the Block Party, which we had every intention of letting our mom see because she loves dancing and music and stuff. but we made it there somehow, and that was lots of fun times.
after that we sorta just.. chilled for a while, waiting, because we had priority seating at the... Vineyard Tor-something or other, restaurant place. ... we don't know the DCA that well, we have yet to explore it in its entirety. :P but anyways, that food was yummy too, and then from there we went on these little tours of a bakery (Colin Mochrie and Rosie O'Donnel were the video tour guides for some reason!) and a tortilla factory ("MESACAAA..."), which were pretty cool in themselves. :P and after that, we found our spot facing the pier and just.. relaxed.
we stared across the water at what we could see of Ariel's Grotto and sort of spied on the few princesses that went through. we saw Belle, Cinderella, Aurora (who also saw us as she was leaving and waved, which really caught us off guard), and Snow White. ... we wanted to see Ariel. because apparently that's the only place in the DLR where she appears AS A HUMAN. it never ceased to amaze me why on earth they didn't want Ariel wandering the park on two legs 'cause, i mean, she became human at the end of the movie! ... well, sadly, we didn't see her. i resolve to, though. someday. somehow.
so then we caught the Electric Parade, 'cause it's a classic, and then followed the throng of people back to DL to see the fireworks. it was actually quite impressive, because literally, the second we started walking down Main Street, the lights went out and the show started. XD so our mom watched and loved that. we left after i got a cup of hot choco, but i was severely depressed that i was unable to get a churro before leaving. the churro cart that's usually near the exit vanished into thin air. i was crushed.
we left the park, but i demanded that we go into the World of Disney store to make up for my lack of sugary churro goodness. i bought this adorable Jack Sparrow Mickey Mouse Ears hat of love. no one dared tell me not to. bwaha. beware of kara with no sugar (though you should be equally aware of kara with too much sugar, if not more). my mom got these cute Disney mugs for her and my dad, a thermos for herself, and another thermos for Boring Sister That Deigned Not to Join Us that's got Maleficent on it and says "I'm WICKED. ...what's your excuse?" on it. my mom has one with Mickey saying "I'm on Vacation. ...what's your excuse?"
scoured the store for MTR stuff. only found the games, the soundtrack, and the artbook. no plushies or anything, which once again makes me very very sad. *snff* but then i remembered my Jack Sparrow Ears and i became a little happier. my mom asked me later while we were on the tram where i thought i'd ever wear it, and i just looked back at her very seriously and said, "....... pirate parties." ...not sure myself what a pirate party is, though i'm sure it involves lots of pirates and piratey things (ooh, actually, we decided that our first pirate party will be when the 3rd movie comes out on DVD and we marathon them). so that's what i'll wear it to. mmhmm. *solemn nod*
and that was the Disneyland Trip, July 2, 2007. :D fun times!
.. next time i go, i'm definitely going on the Finding Nemo sub.