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View Full Version : Just got home today from our Disneyland Christmas! (12/23/06)



Tiki
12-23-2006, 10:17 PM
I posted a while back that my family (me and my 23 year old daughter and my 14 year old son) were all working on getting in shape for our Christmas trip to DL. In the last 2 1/2 months my son and daughter each managed to lose about 70 pounds and I lost the 35 I was wanting to shed. We all felt great and ready to tear up the parks!

We ended up moving our dates up a bit and that turned out to be a good thing. We traveled on the 19th and stayed at the Grand California Hotel for 4 nights. I discovered while on the road there that my AAA agent had shorted us one night's stay at the hotel. I paniced assuming that the place was probably booked solid, but after calling first AAA who told me that the best they could do was $460 a night, she then very kindly transfered me to central booking and they gave me a 4th night for $360. I thought the deal I had gotten from my AAA agent has seemed too good to be true! It was about $700 less then if I had booked on line with the resort. Now I know it was just because I was a day short!

Wednesday and Thursday were great! Not at all crowded and we walked on just about every ride. In fact, we got on so many rides on Wed that we didn't even bother to get up for early entry on Thurs. We had the Enhanced Fast Passes, but really didn't use them much.

Even though the weather was cold by Ca standards, we had just left 5 degrees behind in Utah so it seemed tropical to us! Everyone was all bundled up in coats, gloves, hats, scarves and boots like they were freezing. It was in the 50's! I guess it added to the Holiday ambiance though! lol!

We had a brush with fame in our elevator. We got on to go to the lobby and there was a hotel guide and a person on his cell. It turned out to be Cuba Gooding Jr! He was looking for a place to go grocery shopping. The dumb guide was going to take him to Food For Less! Cuba said NOOOO and the guide said "Well let's find you an Albertsons". For some reason that struck me as funny. We saw him again later on DTD with his group. His guide was there still and no one seemed to notice him at all. He is so much smaller then I imagined him to be. That's been true of every famous person I see.

While I was in the bathroom a CM came up to my kids and asked them who they were waiting for. They said "Mom" and he asked what he could do to play a trick on me. They didn't know so when I came out and I saw they standing there all weird looking and talking to a CM I immediately thought Whoohoo!! We are gonna get one of those Million Dreams! Instead he said "Your kids tell me it's your Birthday! Here's your pin!". I was speachless! I couldn't believe that my kids would tell someone that it was my B-Day (It wasn't!) I went along with it and put the button on. It wasn't until later as we walked away that they clued me in that it was his idea! I decided that I was just going to enjoy my "B-Day" at Disneyland and it was GREAT! Everyone wished me Happy Birthday and it was so much fun!

We had dinner at StoryTellers on Wed. Not as good as usual unfortunately. They have always had a problem with service there, but the food made up for it. Not so this time, but the desserts were good! Then just as we were getting ready to leave, along come all the waiters with my B-Day dessert and a candle! LOL!

I was TERRIBLY disapointed that the Monorail was not working. They had said it would be when I made my reservations so I called the desk every day and asked but no such luck. I heard from someone else on here that it was running today! We left at 6 this morning so I never got to ride my much loved Monorail.

We spent all yesterday in CA. DL was so crowded that it just didn't seem worth it to go in and fight the crowds. We had been so lucky our first couple of days that we felt we had done everything we wanted to already. We went to a movie, had a few turns at the Tower (love that ride!) did Monsters (cute, but what's with the enormous que?) and just spent our time looking around. I then went for my single rider marathon on Ca Screamer (I could ride that all day!) while the kids went to GRR. It was pretty cold for that ride so they got about 13 turns at it. There were only a few hearty souls willing to get soaked that late at night! I rode Screamer until it malfunctioned and made us all get off so I joined my kids on GRR and we finished our trip with the Electric Light Parade WHILE soaking wet and then back to the hotel.

All in all this was one of our best trips! The fact that everyone was in such better shape for it made all the difference. It was worth the last 2 months of dieting and exercising. Spending 3 full days on your feet can be really painful if you are not up to it so any of you planning a few days there while in less then moderately good shape may want to consider preparing for it by dropping a few and conditioning those legs!

kikid
12-24-2006, 05:42 AM
First. Congratulations on getting-in-shape. What a way to start out the new year!!!! Trip report was great, sounds like the perfect family vacation.:)

momuvseven
12-24-2006, 07:02 AM
I never manage to lose any weight but I always increase time on the treadmill for several weeks before we travel and it does make a difference.

Thanks for the trip report and glad you all had so much fun!

disneyhound
12-24-2006, 07:24 AM
Thanks for the report! Sounds like you had a great time, especially Wed & Thurs with no lines, love that! Bummer you didn't get to ride the monorail, you'll just have to ride it twice on your next DL vacation!!!