Then we are off across the street and down the path to the Disneyland entrance turnstiles. Jeremy and Isiah are in matching Mickey Mouse Star Wars tops sewn by Robin. Frank is sporting his Harry Potter "Always" shirt, also sewn by Robin.
The plan was to set out and explore Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge first, since it is the newest land in the Magic Kingdom and a major interest of Jeremy and crew. Dan's family would meet up with us there. We would then visit the other lands in roughly the listed order. Our actual sequence was mildly tweaked pending deviations per Robin's expert navigation of her cell phone app which helps time fast-passes optimally for the most popular attractions. Star Wars is the section on the upper left portion of the following colored-coded Disneyland map labeled with the following "lands":
StarWars:Galaxy'sEdge Fantasyland Frontierland
Critter Country New Orleans Square Adventureland
Tomorrowland Main Street, U.S.A.
Critter Country New Orleans Square Adventureland
Tomorrowland Main Street, U.S.A.
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Entering Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in the northwest area of the map we head toward the Black Spire Outpost, which is described as a bustling trading port on the planet Batuu. Along the way we view various space ships. I am pretty sure that aficionados can name them, but I sure can't.
Autumn talks to and poses with Rey, a favorite hero of hers from the Star Wars saga. Per Wikipedia's information on Rey
Rey is introduced as a 19-year-old woman in The Force Awakens. Rey is stubborn, headstrong, brave, optimistic, and maintains fierce loyalty to her friends. ... Rey is a scavenger who was left behind on the planet Jakku when she was a child
I think Autumn and Rey share many of the same characteristics. Autumn's middle name coincidentally is Rae.
Once within the Black Spire Outpost, there are interesting sights and booths of wares, especially for those observant, knowledgable fanatics of the Star Wars series
Here is a water filling station that caught Autumn and Isaiah's eye with its creature within the reservoir.
This tentacled carnivore is known as a dianoga. Be sure to watch its appearance and submersion at this youtube link.
Jeremy played it safe. He drank the blue milk instead. Per per the Star Wars fandom site
Blue milk, also known as Bantha milk, was a rich blue-colored milk produced by female banthas. Sentients drank it, and also used it in ice cream, butter and yogurt. It was notably available on Outer Rim planets such as Tatooine Lothal, and Lah'mu.
The Millennium Falcon has historically (fictionally) been piloted by Han Solo, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and Rey.
Fantasyland
A pathway out from Star Wars leads to Fantasyland. Our first attraction there is one that is very popular with most kids, Dumbo's Flying Elephants. I took many, many photos but my timing was always off and I usually succeeded in getting shots like this, of Dumbo's butt as he whizzed by (or worse, yet of his gray underbelly as he soared above me). I do recognize Robin's hair though, and I captured some photos on the ground as they were just taking off.
Here are the Dumbos in order: PINK with Autumn and Vivian before Robin joined them,
YELLOW with Carrie and William (only the top of his blonde head visible), PURPLE with Dan and Lillian, GREEN with Frank and Isaiah, ORANGE with Jeremy all alone after rules disallowed Autumn and Vivian riding by themselves so Robin needed to jump out at the last minute to join them.
I managed to capture Grandpa and Isaiah coming and going
Autumn was big into getting character signatures but Dan's girls, Vivian and Lillian, not so much so. Autumn spied Aurora and wanted very much to meet and pose with her. Yes, this is the Aurora of IHOP balloon fame. (See previous post dated 9/23/19).
While they were getting signatures the SoCal crew rode the King Arthur Carousel. Vivian said "Ride next to me, Grandma," and of course I obliged her. However, my noble steed paused in the highest up position, causing my not-so-limber body quite a challenge for getting up into the saddle and back down at ride's end. My non-juvenile knees do not easily bend that far tighter than 90° any longer. For my granddaughter, though, I managed, and limped around for a only short while afterward until I recovered.
After the carousel, we rode some of the attractions for younger kids that had short lines like Snow White's Scary Adventure and Pinocchio's Daring Journey. We did not ride the Mad Tea Party (the spinning makes me want to barf) but we did sit in a cup to have our photo taken. Poor Lillian had gotten sunscreen in her eye and could only bravely attempt a half-smile with one eye open.
One of Robin's must-haves for this trip was a posed professional photo in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle so when the entire crew had reconvened, we took some. We got many poses with a range of combination of subjects. Back Row: Jeremy, Robin, Diane, Carrie, Frank, Dan, William. Front Row: Isaiah, Autumn, Vivian, Lillian.
After The Jungle Cruise we zotted to the nearby Enchanted Tiki Room. The show is 15 minutes long and there is a 4 minute pre-show in the outer courtyard.
I took this candid shot of a pensive (or more precisely, tired) Carrie perched on a rock awaiting the start of the show. I think this is the only time I saw her by herself, not wearing a toddler, not wiping a face, not doling out snacks.
Jose, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz are the four parrots who open the show with the song The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room. If you needed to be reminded of how this earworm goes, check out this YouTube link for the song. The parrot with the German accent, Fritz, is played by the voice talent of Thurl Ravenscroft. Never heard of him? He was the voice of "Tony the Tiger" for Frosted Flakes (they're Grrreat!) and the vocalist who sings "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from the classic Christmas television special, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The kids all loved The Enchanted Tiki Room and it is also a particular favorite of mine. It never gets old.
Eleven of us waving goodbye (even William)
From here we all climbed aboard the Disneyland Railroad at the Main Street Station and rode clockwise around the park passing through the stations in the following order: New Orleans Square, Mickey's Toontown, Tomorrowland, and back to Main Street. Dan's crew would take the ride a full 360° and then depart for home. Monday was a work and school day for them. In the tunnel between Tomorrowland and Main Street is a dinosaur diorama that is not to be missed. The rest of us would get off at Tomorrowland for a few evening activities and catch the diorama the next day. William had a strong case of stranger danger and much to my chagrin had been very reluctant for me to hold him throughout the day. He would cry and reach for his mom or dad. On the train ride, our final joint activity of the day, Carrie said to me, "If you sit him your lap and feed him grapes he will let you." So eventually, after a day of Will-ill between my grandson and me, for the final few minutes of the day, he allowed me to hold him and hug him. But when I ran out of grapes he was through with me! Frank and I got off with Robin's family at Tomorrowland and waved good bye to Dan's family from the station. There was a Disney Villain's dance party being hosted in Tomorrowland that evening and Autumn really wanted to go.
We rejoined the dance party and had a quick hamburger dinner at the Galactic Grill. This time Frank and I waited in line to order and pickup our food. We did not use any advance order app even though "This location accepts mobile orders." It was quicker. Afterward random casual eating and some more energetic dancing, we exited the park along Main Street as the fireworks were going off. Jeremy had gone ahead first with a sleepy and groggy Isaiah in the stroller.
Autumn walked backwards down the street, her back to Robin's and her arms linked at both elbows to her mom's. It made me think of the scene described as "back to back and belly to belly" in Harry Belafonte's song The Zombie Jamboree. This way Autumn could watch the fireworks and the scenes projected on the Main Street building facades as we inched our way toward the exit. There were jack o' lanterns, ghosts, and black cats amongst other iconic images on either side of the street, with fireworks playing center stage. YouTube has a 15 minute video from Mouseworks for this show titled Halloween Screams and Fireworks. Here are a few colorful excerpted scenes.
Once outside the main entrance turnstiles, Robin hoisted Autumn up onto her shoulders for the jaunt back to the hotel. Shortly after passing beneath the monorail tracks, while waiting at the light to cross the street, a man with several large birds posed them on Robin and Autumn while I took a few photos. The experience and images were a memorable finishing touch to a fun day. I guess you could call these three photos a real life Enchanted Tiki Room.
Since Robin had sewn all the matching Small World outfits for Dan's three kids and me, I had to have a photo. Vivian(L) and Lillian(R) like Grandma but William is not so convinced that I am an ok person. Lillian is now recovered from the earlier sunscreen incident but it took a while.
Here we have six people all looking forward at the same time with Robin's family. Isaiah with a July birthday is just over 4 and Autumn with an October birthday is nearly 7.
With Dan's family we have seven people all looking at the camera at the same time. See? There is a reason it is called the Magic Kingdom. All three grandkids have birthdays in either April or May and their ages are William almost 1½, Lillian 3½ and Vivian 5½.
We made our way over to It's a Small World around noontime. It's a Small World is a classic favorite with our family and I truly wanted us to ride it together. Juxtaposed are web photos of the It's a Small World at Disneyland and It's a Small World at Tokyo. The Tokyo version is in pastel colors and matches our outfits.
And just in case I have not bragged enough, here are the outfits Robin made for me and for Dan and Carrie's three kids.
We are on the ramp waiting to board.
I stood up in the rear of the boat and tried to get a shot of all of us at once. If you count partials, I got 9 out of 11 for 82%, a good solid "B". The Disney ride moderator would give me an F for sure for failing to sit down in a timely fashion when asked to do so.
Frontierland
We had lunch inside the Golden Horseshoe at around 1:00 pm, not necessarily because of the food, nor a show we did not see, but rather because it was air conditioned...aaah. In this view of the interior, photo by "Mountain Mike" Johansen, we were seated at two round tables pulled together, situated at the base of the far steps leading up onto the stage.
This was a new experience for Frank and me. Order by cell phone app, then wait and wait, and get your order after those who had waited in line at the counter. But there was a lot of food, it appealed to the kids, and we left refreshed and ready to continue our day. In retrospect, we probably would have been best off ordering food on the way to the restaurant. At least we could remain seated in the cool until our name/number was called.
Critter Country
After lunch we went over to Splash Mountain. Maybe the steep plunge at the end of Splash Mountain is not a good idea right after lunch, but the majority of the ride is pretty tame and peaceful. Some got pretty wet on the outside, but everyone kept his lunch on the inside. We had a boat to ourselves. Front to back: 1) Robin, 2) Jeremy, 3) Autumn, 4) Diane, 5) Frank, 6) (there but not visible) Dan and Vivian. Autumn and her dad are the thrill junkies and seem the most at ease. Like mother like daughter... Robin and I are of a similar opinion.
While in Critter Country we rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - I think. Was that Sunday or Monday and who with? It's a blur. Winnie the Pooh is a rather tame kiddie ride on golden colored carriages shaped like bee hives. Notice the yellow and black caution striping on the concrete edge has little bee silhouettes detailed on it.
New Orleans Square
After Splash Mountain we visited the nearby Haunted Mansion just off New Orleans Square. In the fall and throughout the Christmas season it is redecorated following the theme of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Disney News had many interesting facts about the Haunted Mansion. The one I found most intriguing and memorable was that, "This is the most popular Disney ride for guests to try to spread the ashes of loved ones on."
Tim Burton wrote a poem in his days as a Disney animator that was the basis of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The poem was later made into a children's storybook, with illustrations. Wikipedia has even more details about the background behind The Nightmare Before Christmas poem, book, and movie. I've inserted the beginning few lines of the poem. Here is a link at fandom.com to the complete poem which is a parody of The Night Before Christmas.
It was late one fall in Halloweenland, and the air had quite a chill.
Against the moon a skeleton sat, alone upon a hill.
He was tall and thin with a bat bow tie;
Jack Skellington was his name.
He was tired and bored in Halloweenland.
Everything was always the same.
"I'm sick of the scaring, the terror, the fright.
I'm tired of being something that goes bump in the night.
I'm bored with leering my horrible glances,
And my feet hurt from dancing those skeleton dances.
I don't like graveyards, and I need something new.
There must be more to life than just yelling,'Boo!'"
We came upon some snack carts outside The Haunted Mansion. Time to get some goodies and stop to enjoy them. Dan found a churro cart and William set to work on his treat... which is half his height.
Lillian, Vivian, and Autumn chose ice cream, each to their own individual taste.
Isaiah was more a fruit-flavored guy... just like his dad.
Even Grandma and Grandma got into the act. You might notice that I am holding an extra ice cream. The street vendor was very patient and did an excellent job of getting each pint-sized customer exactly what he/she chose. It was utter cacophony during the selection, each speaking at once and often changing their minds, but that vendor got it right. I guess he has had lots of practice. Somehow in the process however, we wound up with an extra that no one claimed to have requested. I vaguely remember that Dan had wisely hung back, knowing that the chance of 100% accuracy was pretty nil and he was happy with whatever was the odd ice cream out. I think the ice cream snack break was perhaps the most spontaneous and joyful scenario of the trip and a memory I will cherish. The five grandkids all stayed contentedly in relatively the same spot, licking, chomping, and sitting still (temporarily). We grandparents (and parents) could sit, relax, and enjoy watching them interact together, while we imbibed the brick and wrought iron calming ambience of New Orleans Square!
We then moved on to Pirates of the Caribbean. There was one breakdown, one false re-start, and a second breakdown before we actually got on our boat.
During that wait time, Isaiah fell asleep on Robin's shoulder and he sat out the ride while Frank, Diane, Dan, Vivian, Autumn, and Jeremy experienced the music and fun of
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho
Carrie too got a bit of a quiet break sitting with a napping William and Lillian.
Once all were awake and others had had enough of "a pirate's life" we moved on to Adventureland.
Adventureland
Our first attraction here was The Jungle Cruise. A couple little known facts I learned about The Jungle Cruise from Disneyparks fandom.com
Sources of inspiration for the attraction include a 1955 True-Life Adventure about a pride of lions, and the movie The African Queen. ... The clean water was dyed brown to prevent visitors from seeing the bottom of the "river," which varies between three and eight feet deep. ... The queue and station are themed as the headquarters and boathouse of a River Expedition Company, located in a (presumably British) colony of the 1930s.Although the boats are boarded from the park at ground level, a circuitous route to get to the wharf goes up and down stairs within the warehouse type structure.
I liked the humorous sign as we were boarding and I managed to get photos of most of us seated in place in our boat. Even some of the kids groaned at the puns of our pilot and tour guide as he navigated us along those scary jungle rivers.
After The Jungle Cruise we zotted to the nearby Enchanted Tiki Room. The show is 15 minutes long and there is a 4 minute pre-show in the outer courtyard.
I took this candid shot of a pensive (or more precisely, tired) Carrie perched on a rock awaiting the start of the show. I think this is the only time I saw her by herself, not wearing a toddler, not wiping a face, not doling out snacks.
Jose, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz are the four parrots who open the show with the song The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room. If you needed to be reminded of how this earworm goes, check out this YouTube link for the song. The parrot with the German accent, Fritz, is played by the voice talent of Thurl Ravenscroft. Never heard of him? He was the voice of "Tony the Tiger" for Frosted Flakes (they're Grrreat!) and the vocalist who sings "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from the classic Christmas television special, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The kids all loved The Enchanted Tiki Room and it is also a particular favorite of mine. It never gets old.
By now it was early evening and our crew headed off down Main Street for some final formal group photos in front of the big Micky Mouse Jack O'Lantern. The kids were beginning to show some wear and tear and were very willing to share a stroller ride. Dan kept William happy by another method, holding him upside down.
Main Street. U.S.A.
The line for the photo was long and the sun was setting by the time it was our turn. Yes, I have inserted a lots of photos but we waited long enough, and the photographer took enough combinations and poses, that I am going to show a fair percentage of them.
Robin's family of four: Jeremy, Robin, Isaiah, Autumn
Robin's family with Grandma and Grandpa, (me and Frank)
Dan's family of five: Carrie, Dan, Lillian, Vivian, William
Group hug of ten (plus William)
Eleven of us waving goodbye (even William)
Tomorrowland
Earlier in the day Robin, Jeremy, Autumn and Isaiah has been in Tomorrowland briefly to take a ride on Hyper Space Mountain. Space Mountain opened in 1977, as Disneyland's second roller coaster. Six of the original seven Mercury astronauts attended Space Mountain's opening – Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Sen. John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. Jeremy and Autumn (first row) were real fans of the ride but Isaiah and Robin (second row), not so much.
Autumn is very much into the Descendents, a movie series featuring children of the Disney villains. (Mal is the daughter of Maleficent, Evie is the daughter of The Evil Queen, Jay is the son of Jafar, and Carlos is the son of Cruella de Vil.)
This evening dance party featured the villains themselves. Autumn was really into it and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing her dance her heart out with Captain Hook, the Evil Stepmother and Evil Stepsisters, Cruella deVil, among other bad guys on the dance floor.
The blur at the lower right corner of the following photo is Autumn in motion. In the solo photo of Autumn that comes after, it is amazing that her energy level is unflagging even after an entire day at Disneyland. Jeremy stated that his favorite part of the whole day was when his daughter asked him to dance with her.
During the Villains' Dance Party, the route of the Main Street Electric Parade skirted the edge of Tomorrowland on its southward route from It's a Small World to the far end of Main Street by the Mickey Mouse Jack O' Lantern. Frank and I slipped away to catch a glimpse of it as it passed by. We arrived just as it was starting and, although we had not lined up long before to get the best vantage points, we could see well enough between bystanders' heads. We stood watching it, just the two of us. It brought back memories of the first time we had ever seen it, on our honeymoon in 1975 in Disneyworld when it made a surprise appearance on one of the bodies of water bordering the Magic Kingdom. We reflected on how we never could have envisioned back then, that 44 years later we would be touring Disneyland with five grandchildren.
We rejoined the dance party and had a quick hamburger dinner at the Galactic Grill. This time Frank and I waited in line to order and pickup our food. We did not use any advance order app even though "This location accepts mobile orders." It was quicker. Afterward random casual eating and some more energetic dancing, we exited the park along Main Street as the fireworks were going off. Jeremy had gone ahead first with a sleepy and groggy Isaiah in the stroller.
Autumn walked backwards down the street, her back to Robin's and her arms linked at both elbows to her mom's. It made me think of the scene described as "back to back and belly to belly" in Harry Belafonte's song The Zombie Jamboree. This way Autumn could watch the fireworks and the scenes projected on the Main Street building facades as we inched our way toward the exit. There were jack o' lanterns, ghosts, and black cats amongst other iconic images on either side of the street, with fireworks playing center stage. YouTube has a 15 minute video from Mouseworks for this show titled Halloween Screams and Fireworks. Here are a few colorful excerpted scenes.
Once outside the main entrance turnstiles, Robin hoisted Autumn up onto her shoulders for the jaunt back to the hotel. Shortly after passing beneath the monorail tracks, while waiting at the light to cross the street, a man with several large birds posed them on Robin and Autumn while I took a few photos. The experience and images were a memorable finishing touch to a fun day. I guess you could call these three photos a real life Enchanted Tiki Room.
THANK YOU so very, very, very much for treating us all around to a very memorable and happy day at the Happiest Place on Earth. We had a blast and definitely have some memories that we will always treasure, too.
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