After IJ, we went to collect Grandma. Everybody was starting to get hungry for lunch, so we left Adventureland, walked through New Orleans Square, and ended up at Critter Country for this!
The kids know the drill by now. ODD said, "Mama, YDD & I will go get a table by the water." Awesome! Thanks, kiddo! The kids found a good water-side table on the 2nd "floor." I prefer sitting on the 2nd floor instead of the lower level because you have a better view of the Rivers of America. The kids lucked out and even had found a table with a spot right next to it for Grandma to park her scooter.
DH & I ordered. ODD had the honey-spiced chicken sandwich. I had the same & gave my fries to YDD. YDD had the chicken nuggets off of the kids' menu. We swapped...she had my fries and I ate her fruit. The great thing about the quick service locations is they don't care if you're not age 3-9 and ordering a kids' menu item. DH had the BBQ double cheeseburger. Our original plan was for DH and I to try and stick to keto on this trip. But temptation got the better of us and we through that all out the window on the first day. No worries, though, because we're back in the saddle again now that we're back home.
DH enjoyed his cheeseburger. The kids liked their meals. I thought that the chicken sandwich was just ok. I added some mayo to mine because it seemed a bit dry. The funnel cakes looked tempting, but I passed because if I was going to carb up today like I already was, I wanted GOOD desserts and didn't want a churro-flavored funnel cake.
The weather was pretty decent. It was a mix of clouds with some sun peeking through here and there. But not too cold and not too hot. Overall, lunch was very enjoyable. Where we were sitting, you could see the top part of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. That was pretty exciting. I kept talking about it every time we saw it. Drove my kids crazy. LOL! During our meal, the Columbia sailing ship floated by. And then the Mark Twain went past us, too. We waved to everybody on the boats. You could hear the sounds of the train in the background. It's just so wonderful and relaxing. Next to the French Market, Hungry Bear is one of my favorite spots in all of Disneyland.
Almost all of us were having a lovely time at lunch. Except for Grandma. We got to the Hungry Bear just at the right time. I've figured out that around 11:30 am is the sweet spot. Around 11:45 am is when people start to show up in droves and then it's harder to get a table by the water. Grandma parked her scooter next to the table and we had plenty of room for the 5 of us to sit around one table. Grandma picked a chair right next to her scooter.
Previously, while ordering, it was a bit comical. The whole entire trip, she had a hard time grasping how the quick service restaurant drill works at DL. You know...order, pay, they give you a receipt, you walk up to the "pick up your food counter," hand them the receipt, the CM gathers your food, hands it to you, you walk away w/your tray to go sit down and eat.
Like with EVERY other meal experience so far, DH read the menu out loud to her because, once again, Grandma left her reading glasses at the hotel room. Since DH was helping Grandma, the CM at the cash register thought that DH was paying. Thankfully, DH said, "Oh, no, she's got it," then turned to his mom and shouted, "MOM, YOU NEED TO PAY FOR YOUR MEAL NOW." Grandma said really loud, "I have to pay?"
Yes, Grandma, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Then the fun of Grandma picking up her food began. DH told her to take the receipt and go up to the counter & hand them the receipt. She looked at him with this blank expression and said, "Ok," but didn't do as instructed. She just stood there blocking the way of the other family behind her, thus preventing them from ordering. So DH took the bull by the horns and said REALLY loud, "MOM! YOU HAVE TO GO UP TO THE COUNTER AND HAND THEM THE RECEIPT OR YOU WON'T GET ANY FOOD!"
"I have to go up to the window?"
DH said, "YES! GO UP TO THE COUNTER AND HAND THEM THAT PIECE OF PAPER IN YOUR HAND!"
She said, "But this is my receipt."
DH said, "AND THEY NEED TO SEE IT BEFORE THEY GIVE YOU ANYTHING. JUST DO IT MOM, OK? NEVER MIND, JUST GIVE IT TO ME." And he took it out of her hand and gave it to the CM for her. This was all too complicated for Grandma.
Ok, so now we're situated at the table with our food and Grandma's scooter is parked and she's getting settled in her chosen chair next to her scooter. The 4 of us thought that everything was just fine and then Grandma gets up, takes her tray and goes to sit at the table behind us, mumbling something about how she can't get comfortable because there's not enough room. Well, all she had to do was speak up and ASK one of us if we could switch places. The kids even offered to switch places with her.
Then the martyr stuff started, "Oh no, I'm just fine over here by myself." I'd love to say that this is a 1-time occurrence w/Grandma, but she is known for her Scarlet O'Hara moments. DH chose to just ignore it because he was just as fed up with her by this point as the rest of us were. So we took her at her word that she was "just fine" and went on with our meal. We ooh'd and ah'd over the Columbia and the Mark Twain floating by. I turned around and pointed it out to Grandma, told her that she's missing a wonderful moment so TURN AROUND AND PLEASE LOOK! She looked up for a couple of seconds, said in a monotone voice, "Oh that's nice" and then went back to focusing on her food.
Whatever.
The rest of us still enjoyed lunch anyway despite Ms. Drama Queen's pouting.
With our meals all finished, everybody took turns going to the bathroom on the lower level of the Hungry Bear. Earlier, I had snagged FP for HM, so we went on that next.
According to my phone, it looks like we went on it at 12:22!
There was some minor bickering between the kids, DH & I about who was going to ride w/Deaf Deathmobile Grandma. both of the kids wanted to ride with me, but there isn't enough room in a Doom Buggy for the 3 of us. So that meant that either 1 of them would have to ride with Grandma or 1 of them would have to ride alone...and those were a big flat out "NO!" from both kids. Thankfully, Grandma couldn't hear any of this bickering, so she was completely oblivious. We settled with DH & Grandma riding together once again, the kids riding together, and me riding by myself.
I don't think I rode anything with DH this whole entire trip. The kids wished that they would have been able to take turns more riding with DH and I. I missed that, too. They love their grandmother a lot and they really enjoyed this Disneyland trip, but they did not enjoy having Grandma with us for the trip.
And as we'd done before, I had Grandma get off the scooter at the HM entrance then I parked the scooter by the exit. As you can see from the background in this photo, the crowds by now were REALLY getting a little crazy. After HM, DH, Grandma, & YDD wanted to take a break at the hotel. Grandma was getting frustrated & grumpy as were the rest of us. And the crowds were SO much more than on Saturday and Sunday. ODD & I wanted to go on Matterhorn in the single rider line, so ODD was my ride buddy. Plus, I have a friend whose aunt is special friends with Pluto and she really wanted me to take a photo with Pluto before we went home. I wanted to try finding him in Toon Town before ODD & I went back to the hotel. According to the Disneyland app, he was supposed to be in Toon Town starting at 1:00.