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Saturday, April 30, 2016

Disneyland 2016 Dapper Day weekend - Saturday

It's Dapper Day weekend at the Disneyland Resort, and Theresa, the kids, and I are staying on property at the Grand Californian all weekend. One of the benefits of staying at a Disney hotel is the perk of an extra hour inside the park before it officially opens to the public. Today the park opens at 8am, which means we'll be able to get in at 7am!
That is, if we can wake up... Being in a new place always messes with the kids' sleep schedules, so we had a little bit of a rough first night. Eventually everyone rolled out of bed at 8:30am, so we completely missed that Early Magic Hour.
Hi Alli! Let's go to the park!

And hi Ian! Ready for a fun day?


Can't forget about Duffy. Ian really loves his teddy bear.

There's T.

Hi horse! Pulling the trolley down Main Street while the Dapper Dans ride along and sing.

Which ride should we go on? Hmm. King Arthur's Carrousel of course!

Got to make sure Duffy is with us.

Nice and safe spot just for him.

And Alli's asleep again. Actually for all our rides yesterday and this first ride today she rode in the Ergo carrier. None of the ride operators had a problem with me riding on a horse with her strapped to me so far. That is until our very last ride. This time I was told that she had to come out if she wanted to be on a horse, or I could stand. Wonder what the real policy is?

Time for lunch! We made our way through the Princess Fantasy Faire and got to say hi to Aurora.

For lunch, I made reservations at the River Belle Terrace. After Big Thunder Rance BBQ closed down, I heard they picked up a few more menu items. Ian made sure Duffy got a seat.

Alli's certainly ready to eat. She's loving eating baby food.

Happened to forget to replace the bib the last time we used it. Here's something I think no baby bag should be without. Binder Clips! They're so versatile! In this case, make-shift bib!

I did see a few plates of ribs going to other tables, but instead went with the beef brisket sandwich. Not quite what I expected. I was thinking more BBQ, but instead was more vinegary. Not bad. Just not what I was expecting.

There's time for just one more ride. And speaking of time, the parks today have seemed especially busy. That's completely evident when getting in line for Pooh. Every single bit of the queue was used and the line was out into the main walkway. Posted wait time was 25 minutes!

As is normal after a ride on Winnie the Pooh, we stopped by Pooh Corner and got a treat.

Ian had a bite, but also wanted to make sure Duffy got one too.

We've got to get back to the hotel so we can get changed and head to the pool. Love how Ian plays with Alli.

What's the rush to get to the pool? Way back in March our friends from Arizona Kelly and Sean asked if we'd be interested in splitting a cabana at the Disneyland pool. Who knew what the weather would be like 2 months later, and for a little while it was looking a little dicey, but the sun came out and the skies were clear.

According to a Micechat friend, Cabana #2 was the best, and while Disney couldn't guarantee it when I made the reservation, they did add it as a note. Once we arrived, there was a sign in front of Cabana #2 saying 'Welcome Flowers Party'. 
Our own private cabana. We were greeted by a Disneyland cast member and I signed the slip acknowledging the cost. Only $133 for 4 hours. Split between our two parties and it's a pretty decent deal.

Inside the cabana was a mini-fridge stocked with waters (8 mini-bottles) and a fruit bowl.

Other features of the cabana. A TV, ceiling fan, safe for storing valuables, fridge, phone, two sofas, and a couple lounge chairs.

We were also told that we had a private server who would take any of our orders for food and drinks. This was actually the only thing that was a bit of a let-down. I'm sure it wasn't our server's fault, but it was no-where near a private server. She was working the entire pool section and we had to flag her down multiple times to place any drink orders. And that phone we had. There was a direct line that dialed Cabana Food and Beverage. Five separate times we tried calling and five time it rang and rang until finally going to voicemail. That's was really the only disappointment with the cabana.

Enjoying our time in the kiddie pool. Hey Kelly and Sophie!

And there's Pea!

Hi T and Ian. Ian loved the pool and even went down the monorail slide! Nice job buddy!

Alli was ready for a nap and she always sleep better in the Ergo. I tossed her in, fully expecting her to wake up after 45 minutes like normal. Her longest naps only ever go 1:30. Well today was a day for setting a record. Instead of being able to get back in the water soon, she decided to sleep for over 2 hours!

After playing in the kiddie pool, Ian was ready to play in the big pool.

T told him he has to walk over to the circle before he could jump in (had to make sure he'd clear the stairs). Watch how he makes sure to step on it before finally jumping in.

Let's go enjoy some more time in the cabana.

The boy certainly knows how to relax.

I should have taken more pictures, but Sophie and Ian had a lot of fun together. Sharing Chex Mix.

And even making sure they each had water.

They had fun hanging out together.

I can definitely see where the cabana would be useful. It was a great respite and really nice not to have to worry about lounge chairs and seating.

After 6pm, we said goodbye to Sean, Kelly and family and went back to the hotel room for dinner.

After such a good experience yesterday with take-out from Napa Rose, we couldn't think of anything better than that. Dinner was delicious! The kids went to bed around 8:30pm and to help them out, we turned out all the lights in the room. The idea being that once they were fast asleep, T and I could stream movies on the laptop the rest of the night. Well after 15 minutes it was clear that T was asleep too. I guess after last night and a long day everyone was a bit tired. Guess everyone is turning in early.

Tomorrow is Dapper Day!

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