kelmac284
07-29-2007, 11:55 AM
Disneyland July 22-28, 2007
Cast: Myself the big 4 0 this past June EEK! My husband Shane 34, My mom Rosemarie 62, stepdaughter Lynn 15, daughter Katy 7 ˝ daughter Shelby 6. My cousin Barbara who is in her 50’s. (not sure how many times she has been but know it has not been many) She is joining us for just one day.
Transportation: Car
Hotel: Fairfield Inn by Marriott/Best Western Park Place Inn
Experience: All vets with Annual Passes
Pre-trip planning: Well if you have read my past reports, especially my December report, you may have remembered that we were supposed to go in February AND in June of this year. We had bought annual passes last June and wanted to get as much use out of them as possible. Since that trip last June we had gone in November and December of 06 and had planned on a week in February and a week in June. However, as most of you probably know, life has a way of changing our plans.
My stepdaughter has been needing braces and we were finally able to coordinate with her mom to pay for half and it just so happened that this whole process was started around January. For any of you that have kids with braces I am sure you know that it is NOT cheap! SOOO there was that and then the fact that my dog was injured and had to make a nice trip to the emergency vet to the tune of 1,000 and an expected tax refund turned out to be a bill to the IRS and on and on. I’m sure you can imagine and thus the vacations are the first thing to be cut from the budget.
My mother’s business also took a nose dive this year and although we had seriously planned to go (since she did not go with us in November and we only went for an abbreviated trip in December and this would be her only trip with us in 07) but I just didn’t feel it was worth going when money was so tight. We cancelled February and although I did not even have anything set for June we decided to hold off on that trip as well and simply focus on our October Halloween trip instead.
Well my mom had purchased our hotel through Getaway today and we knew if we cancelled we would lose part of the money but if we simply changed dates we would only have to pay the 10.00 change fee. SOO my mom said rather than cancel altogether we should simply move it to this summer and hope for the best. So THAT is where we currently stand. It is now February 7th and we have rebooked the Marriott and are hoping for the best.
May 18, 2007
Well at this point it is a few months left till our trip and everything is fairly set although mom and I have discussed it and we have now decided to drive down on Sunday the 22nd to hopefully avoid some of the rush hour traffic. We have yet to decide if we will add a day on to the Fairfield or if we will go down farther south and do some other activity on Monday and check in to Fairfield Monday night as planned. Either way I think the extra day will help and that way we can either spend an extra day at the parks or doing something else. One thing I DO know is we are all VERY anxious!! And on a side note I scored my Mickey’s Halloween treat tickets for October 12th and have booked our rooms so that trip is now all set!!!
May 22, 2007
Well it is set. I just booked an additional day at the Fairfield and we will now drive down on Sunday and then we will decide as we go which days we want to do what. Most likely we will go to Disneyland on Monday, DCA on Tues, Disneyland on Wed and then leave Thurs open. We may go back to the parks or do something completely different. We are for sure going to Knotts on Friday though.
May 29, 2007
First of all Happy 34th birthday to my hubby! J This morning I just called and scored a priority seating for storytellers on Sunday. We had a large family reunion 2 weeks ago and now my cousin who lives in San Diego will be coming up for a day. So this should be fun. Everything is FINALLY done and now I just need to renew our AP’s next week and we are good to go!!!
June 8, 2007
Well once again plans change. We were scheduled to go on a road trip to Oregon next week but we had a family emergency and had to cancel. Shane was not going to go with us to Disneyland because he was taking this week in June but NOW that we had to cancel it frees him up to go with us to Disney. Woo Hoo!
July 12, 2007
Like always things keep changing. It is only less than 2 weeks till our trip but mom was once again afraid with 6 of us in one room that it would be too cramped so about a week ago she got a room for herself and my stepdaughter at the Best Western Park Place Inn. I am anxious to see what she thinks of it as we might try staying there in the future. I did ask about it through our entertainment book for our February trip but they are ALREADY booked! So that is out! That is scary but Desert Inn said I have to wait till the end of the year to even book as did Getaway Today so I am hoping that by waiting that long they aren’t sold out because we want to go President’s week. I will just have to keep checking back! Anyway I also scored a priority seating for Steakhouse 55 for Thursday night. I did have one for Vineyard Room which we have always wanted to try but I have kind of a sensitive stomach and some of that fancy food doesn’t sit well with me and so I changed it to Steakhouse since I know I can eat steak! J I think FINALLY that should be it and next time I type should be AFTER my trip and writing the actual report!
Sunday July 22, 2007
Plan: Drive down. Dinner this night at Storytellers at 6:40. Meet up with Barbara. Do some shopping in DTD.
What actually happened: Well the day FINALLY arrived. After SO many cancellations it was nice to FINALLY be able to take a trip. My daughter was on the swim team this year and so that kept us VERY occupied this summer which was a good thing and the only BAD part about it was that we had championships the day before which meant getting up at 5 a.m. and working in the heat for over 12 hours. We also had to miss her first ever awards banquest today but a trip to Disney is always worth missing something for! J Anywho we were up bright and early and picked up mom and were off. The traffic was light and driving down on a Sunday proved to be a good plan. We made it down in around 7 hours with only a few short stops for gas and lunch. We checked in at the respective hotels although I can say that there were glitches at both and I am not sure that I would stay at either one in the future. At the Fairfield, where we stayed, they had the entire front entrance blocked off and out of 4 elevators only one worked. This caused many a problem and we had to use the stairs MOST of the time. Luckily we were only on the 3rd floor but this hotel has 7 or 8 floors and there is NO WAY I would have wanted to walk up 8 flights after a day in the parks. They also had NO parking and normally we would never even move our car but there were a few times we used it and once we moved it we NEVER got another space. One night Shane and several others had to park in the red zone in front of the hotel. It was ridiculous. The room was satisfactory but I was NOT that impressed. My mother was guaranteed a room with 2 beds and upon check-in was given one with only one. The room was dirty and was in the VERY back of the complex. I saw the room and it seemed OK but she was not happy with it at all. I realize that the rooms directly across from the resort are older and not as nice and expect this. She is pickier than I am and honestly it is just a room but I am still undecided. Neither of the rooms were unbearable (filthy, or unlivable) but they weren’t spectacular either. We are staying at the Del Sol in October and most likely Desert Inn in February so I will be very interested to see how those rate in comparison.
Anyway after getting settled in our respective rooms, since my cousin had not yet arrived and the girls were dying to swim I let them swim. Shane had taken my mom and Lynn to their hotel so I sat with the girls at our pool and let them swim. I probably should have brought my suit but I honestly didn’t think I would have the time to swim. After an hour or so of swimming they changed and we all got dressed in our fancy duds for dinner. We couldn’t get a hold of my cousin and luckily my mom asked the front desk and found that she did not even have a reservation. She called her husband in San Diego and found out that she had a reservation at the WRONG Fairfield Inn. So my mom got it all straightened out and Barb finally arrived. We then drove over to Downtown Disney and took some photos in our nice clothes for our family Christmas card this year and then had dinner at Storytellers. We do this every time and love this place. The food is good and we enjoy this restaurant as well as the hotel. We have only stayed their once but we love to hang out in the lobby and shop at the Acorn. After dinner we did a little shopping at World of Disney and walked around DTD a bit and finally hit the sack. On a side note we found the little grommets for the Crocs. These are little rubber inserts that have different characters and such that you can insert into the holes in the top of your crocs. My cousin bought a few for the girls and after not even a day I believe Katy lost one. I bought her a few more as well as some for myself and over the week we ALL lost some. The girls had 3 each and Shelby is down to 1. Katy is down to 2 and I had 4 and am down to 3. Just a word of warning. They are 3.50 each and they fall out constantly. They are REALLY fun and cute but they don’t last!
Monday July 23, 2007
Plan: Disneyland all day. Lunch at Café Orleans at 11:30.
What actually happened: Well as usual we were up with the chickens and ready to go. Since this was our first day and we KNOW that on busy days you need to get there early we were up quite early. We told my cousin that you need to get there early and shockingly she was up and in the lobby even before us. We got ready and met her and had mom meet us in line with McDonald’s. One thing I think Disney could really make money on is if they would open LeBrea or SOME kind of breakfast venue on these early days for those of us that want to line up early. I also think they should open World of Disney Earlier for those of us with nothing to do while we are waiting for the parks to open. We are early risers and especially during off season when the parks open late and we have nothing else to do!
Anyway we got in line around 7 and this was early entry but being we are AP holders and were not staying on property we had to wait with the rest. We finally got in and did our normal routine. We sent Shane and Lynn to splash to get FP’s and we headed to Indy. Normally we do Pirates but those long lines we ran into last fall have seemed to have subsided and since Indy was such a short wait we decided to do that first. We met them and then did that. We then did Pirates and Matterhorn. We usually try to get the big rides done early while there is little to no wait and save the less popular rides for later. Unfortunately it has been a long hot week and I can’t remember the exact rides we went on but we did several before it was time for our 11:30 P.S. at Café Orleans. We very much like this restaurant. I had my usual the Monte Cristo which I love and Shane and Lynn had the seafood crepes. The girls had the pb&j’s and mom had the crab sandwhich. I believe Barb had a salad. We also got the pomme frittes and Barb ordered the beneights although I was too full to eat any.
After lunch we simply proceeded around the park doing the rides with little to no lines and using our FP’s. We did send Shane over to CA to get FP’s for soaring as we wanted Barb to ride that. We also took her to see the 50th movie. We took her to the Tiki Room as she had never seen that either. I can’t remember if it was this day or not but we also rode the Columbia for the first time in years. This trip was all about doing things that we normally NEVER do because we are in a hurry or trying to do all our favorites.
We took her to Soaring and then back to the hotel so that she could go home. Then for dinner I wanted to try Carnation Café as I had never eaten there and the baked potato soup sounded really good to me. So we did that and I enjoyed it. My mom was not impressed but I liked it. The rest of the evening we simply used our FP’s to do things such as Space and just enjoyed the evening.
Tuesday July 24, 2007
Plan: CA all day.
What actually happened: This day we slept in a bit and when we awoke we decided to try the restaurant that was attached to our hotel, Millies. The good thing about it is that kids can eat for 99 cents. So we all met up and did just that. The food is ok and about the same as a Dennys. We got done earlier than expected and got to the parks pretty early and did not want to wait in line for over an hour so I suggested going in to Disneyland and riding the train or shopping till CA opened. So we did just that. We rode the train around 1 circuit and then Shane and Katy went and stode in Line while Lynn, Shelby, Mom and I shopped a bit. Then we went over around 9:30 and got FP’s for soarin and rode it. We then went to ToT and got FP’s and rode it as well. Then Shane went to get Screamin FP’s while mom and I took the girls on Monster’s Inc. Then we walked over to get FP’s for Mullholland Maddness and I let the girls go into the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. This is a really neat area and I think when we have more time in February I am going to go through it with them. They supposedly have a Koda from Brother Bear so I would like the girls to do that some time. MM was down so then we decided to use our GRR FP’s and go on that. By the way for some reason the humidity this week was outrageous!! It was EXTREMELY hot this whole week. So going on GRR was very welcomed! Now as long as I have been going to DLR I have NEVER ridden on this ride. I like water rides but just don’t like getting soaked and I don’t like getting soaked in the winter when it is cold. But we all agreed and of course “I” was the one that got stuck going backwards down both waterfalls and even almost lost my hat. It was fun though and we wanted to go again but never had the time.
After that we went over to Brrrbank Ice Cream for a little treat. This was good and a nice break. By the way earlier in the day we finally went over to the Pacific Wharf area (also an area I had never been to) and had lunch at Cochina Cucamonga. It was decent and then we did the Mission Tortilla tour and the Boudin Bread tour. Never had done those and that was fun! Anyway after ice cream the HSM Pep Rally came by so I let the girls go watch as they LOOOVE HSM. We then went back over and used our FP’s for MM. We did this twice in a row as mom and Lynn didn’t want to do this. The girls LOVE this ride and I like it too. You REALLY need FP for this as it takes forever to get on it.
Again I am a bit foggy as to what if any dinner we had but I do know we went on Screamin a few times and Tower probably 5 times in a row. At first my daughter Shelby was a little scared. It is funny she is 6 and has been able to ride since she was about 4. Her first time she was scared but after going once she loved it. Every year she has gone and talkes about it all the time. She said she loves it and wanted to go and yet we got there and she didn’t want to go the first time. So later in the day we were going to go and she tried to get out of it again and Shane told her she had to go cuz it wasn’t fair to grandma to have to sit out again. So she went and sure enough then she forgot her fear and wanted to go again and again and by the 5th time she was holding her hands up in the air. It was a great day and again I can’t remember exactly when we left but we had a great time this day.
P.S. I did remember that we had Bengal BBQ and I believe it was this night. I don’t remember why we went back to Disneyland but I remember trying it and I have read many people saying it was great but I was not impressed. Shane and Lynn tried the stage door café and their’s was just mediocre as well.
Wednesday July 25, 2007
Plan: DL all day. Go to Nemo first thing.
What actually happened: As the plan says the most important thing to do today was Nemo as this was the ONLY non-early entry day we had this trip and the only real chance we had. I really wanted to try this ride however I suffer from claustrophobia and was afraid of getting stuck in there and freaking out. So we got to the parks early but they took forever to let us through security. It was nearly 7:30 before we got into line. We finally got in sent Shane and the girls to Nemo. Mom and I had decided to try and get in to the Walk in Walt’s Footstep’s tour. I wanted to do this in February but decided it might be nice to do this now. So we walked over to City Hall and I was able to purchase tickets. After that we went to Splash and got FP’s and then we went ahead and rode on it. After that they were done on Nemo and they said it was awesome and they think I can handle it so I may try it in Oct. We then met them at Indy and did that. We did more rides and collected more fp’s along the way. At one point we took a break over near the Plaza Inn and a nice cast member named Michael came up and was talking to us. He was asking us a bunch of questions and then gave the girls the tinkerbell pins. The ones that you get one for yourself and then give one to someone else. He was asking us about Fantasmic and then gave us some preferred seating for that night’s performance. He was really nice and it was nice to get “dreamed”. Since this promotion started I have been 3 times and we didn’t get anything the last 2 trips but we got dreamed several times this trip.
After that we had lunch at the Country Bear (one of our fav’s, not because of the food so much but because of the location). Then we decided to do the Canoes. We have only done this one other time about 6 years ago and it was fun. We met a really nice cast member named Phillip who was also an ex solider like my husband and it turned out on Friday he saw Shane and we got dreamed again. He gave shane 5 passes to get on any ride. They were basically like front of the line passes for all 6 of us.
After that it was time for our tour. I took the girls to look at the firehouse and showed them where Walt’s apartment was. Then we met our guide Claudia and we got little tape players so we could hear her as well as some words from Walt. It was a very interesting tour and you get lunch in the tour garden at the end of the tour, a pin, a neat badge and you get to ride jungle cruise, go to the tikki room and ride in the Lilly Bell. It was nice and informative and Claudia was very nice but I hate to admit I knew more than she did. She was new and there were things I knew that she didn’t and some things she said were incorrect. But I still think it was fun and neat and of course you also get to see the lobby of Club 33. Unfortunatley with all the walking and standing in that incessant heat and especially in the Lilly Bell it was VERY hot, by the time we got back to the gardens my mom was overheated and ill. She couldn’t eat her meal and had to go back to the room. There was a bit of miscommunication and Claudia thought we won the actual premium viewing and I was excited but I should have known it wasn’t that. We got over there and it was still seating on the ground. It was right over by the lighting and sound area and we had to sit behind the fence on the cement but we only had to show up about 15 to 20 minutes before although I got there an hour early cuz we were told it was the premium and I have bought that before and knew you had to check in an hour before. We met the neatest family of little people though and the daughter was so sweet and played with our girls. It was fun and we haven’t watched Fantasmic at Disneyland in years cuz I usually can’t sit on the ground. The fireworks were right after and we stayed to watch them and I can’t say enough how amazing that show is an it always brings tears to my eyes. It is truly incredible! After that I believe we did a few more rides and watched some music in Tomorrowland and finally went back to our room.
Thursday July 26, 2007
Plan: Do the stuff at DL that we don’t normally do. IE, tom sawyer island, innoventions etc. After dinner watch Electrical parade. Mom, Shane and I will have dinner at Steakhouse 55 (Disneyland Hotel) 6:10.
What actually happened: This was the day to do everything we didn’t normally do. Once again we were up early and this time I just bought breakfast at the little shop in our hotel. We met mom and went in to the park. I believe I sent shane to get FP’s and we went directly to Peter Pan. We rode that and then Mr. Toad. After that I believe we went and got FP’s for splash and rode it and then headed to Pirates Lair. This is a neat Island and we explored most of it although it was SO hot and there wasn’t a water cart there yet. We DID get to see Jack Sparrow although he really doesn’t pose for pics. You just kind of have to snap a bunch and hope everyone is looking the same direction. Even the Disney photographer didn’t get any good ones. It was SO hot we didn’t even wait for the show. They do however have a neat show where the pirates fight eachother. We saw it from the other side of the docs and it is neat.
After Pirates Lair I decided it was time to do the Junior Chef. This was something else I had wanted to do and it is only at certain times. Mom stopped on the way and got a few Dole Whips and we took the girls over. It is located at Plaza Inn and they get little Chefs hats and get to make Nestle Tollhouse cookies. While I was watching them Shane met yet another Dream Cast Member named William. He talked to him for a LONG time and after the girls were done making cookies he took us over to splash and walked us through the exit and got us on the ride. He also gave us more of the tinkerbell pins. We asked him to ride with us and we even bought the pic as a rememberance. It was neat. After getting off splash we decided it was time for lunch and ate at the Riverbelle. This was another place we had not eaten at in awhile. Once again the food was decent. Not great but not bad. After lunch I had been promising the girls they could go on Tarzan’s treehouse so Lynn took them on that while us old folks hung out in the shade at the bottom! J We did space and then headed to DCA to see Aladdin. We have seen this MANY times but we love this show and wanted to see it again. It was well worth it as always. We then took the girls back to the room and got them Pizza while we cleaned up and then headed to the DLH for our dinner. We had a VERY nice dinner at Steakhouse 55 although I was a bit upset to find they did not have my PS. I made it several weeks in advance but they fit us in nevertheless. After our dinner we walked around DTD a bit and then into DCA to watch the Electric Light Parade. Another favorite! After that we walked back to the car. Something to note if you have a PS at one of the restaurants you get 5 hours of free valet parking.
Friday July 27, 2007
Plan: Knotts
What actually happened: Well unfortunately this is one day I sort of regret. I have been to Knotts maybe 4 times in my life but I do not ever remember it being this yucky. I had gone once as a child and a few times as an adult but this was the first times I had taken my own kids and maybe I am just biased and maybe it was because it was so dang hot but we got there at 9 and it didn’t open till 10 and it was SO hot. Plus my mom had a bad attitude from the minute we got there because she doesn’t like rollercoasters. Plus Shelby couldn’t ride much cuz she is not 48 inches. So we waited in the terrible heat and Shane and Lynn did Excellerator which they liked and then Katy, Shane, Lynn and I did Boomerang and then Lynn, Shane and Katy did Perilous Plunge. We let Shane and the kids do the bumper cars and then we rode the mine train and we were bummed that the log ride was down. Mom wanted to ride that and of course it was on rehab. She ended up sitting most of the day and on top of it had some problems at work and was on the phone. The food and drinks were outragousley priced and the rides weren’t that great and it was just HOT and NOT Disney. It started getting crowded and we left by 2 something.
We decided to cut our loses and just go back to Disneyland. We did and had MUCH more fun. The only bad thing was it was a Friday afternoon and all the fastpasses were pretty much gone BUT Shane ran into Phillip so we got those passes. We rode the monorail which I am happy to say now goes through Tomorrowland again (for awhile it only went straight to DTD and back). We did a roundtrip and then rode it to DTD and got off and everything was packed but we WERE able to get into Hook’s Pointe and had a nice dinner and got MORE pins! By the way Katy gave one to a girl from France, Shelby gave hers to a girl with Down’s Syndrome and Lynn gave hers to a girl who’s birthday it was. Then when we got more Shane gave one to a little girl at the fireworks who loves Tinkerbell and it was her first time to Disneyland. We used our passes to rides Space and Splash and tried to ride Thunder but it was down. We encountered that a LOT this trip. Most rides we rode went down later in the trip but were back up again the next day luckily. Mom wanted to see the fireworks as she was sick the day we watched them so we did that and then got some ice cream at Carnation on Main Street. We had more passes but everyone was beat so we took off.
Saturday July 28, 2007
Plan: Drive home
What actually happened: And last but not least we have our last day. We slept in a bit and after showers and packing we checked out and then headed over to DTD. We had a great breakfast at the Rain Forrest (kind of a tradition for the last day) and by the way they WILL take your AP for a discount before dinner. And then I wanted to do a little last minute shopping at WoD but everyone was obviously in a hurry and I wanted to get some frames to go with these silhouettes I bought. By the way they have a shop on main street that makes the neatest little silhouettes. I had seen them and never thought about it but I wanted to get one of the girls while they are small. So the lady did one of Katy and Shelby and you get 2 each because you get like a mirror image when she cuts them out. Then I had her do one of the two of them side by side. It is really neat. You can also get them with Mickey next to you etc. They had frames and I didn’t buy them at the time cuz I didn’t want to carry them but I laid in bed thinking about it Friday night and decided it would be the best thing so I thought I would see if I could get them from WoD. Well they said no and I had to go get a shopper’s pass from Guest Services. You have to leave a 63 dollar deposit and you get 1 hour to go get your item and get back before you get charged. So I went in and then there was a sign that said back at 10. I was freaking but luckily it worked out. So I got the frames and we FINALLY got out of there around 11.
There was a surprisingly large amount of traffic going through LA. We thought being a Saturday it wouldn’t be as bad as a weekday but it took us nearly 2 hours to get through. UGH. But we made it and it was a VERY fun yet exhausting trip. It was hot and our feet were sore even in our Disney Crocs. We can’t wait for our next trip though in Oct!! See you then!
Cast: Myself the big 4 0 this past June EEK! My husband Shane 34, My mom Rosemarie 62, stepdaughter Lynn 15, daughter Katy 7 ˝ daughter Shelby 6. My cousin Barbara who is in her 50’s. (not sure how many times she has been but know it has not been many) She is joining us for just one day.
Transportation: Car
Hotel: Fairfield Inn by Marriott/Best Western Park Place Inn
Experience: All vets with Annual Passes
Pre-trip planning: Well if you have read my past reports, especially my December report, you may have remembered that we were supposed to go in February AND in June of this year. We had bought annual passes last June and wanted to get as much use out of them as possible. Since that trip last June we had gone in November and December of 06 and had planned on a week in February and a week in June. However, as most of you probably know, life has a way of changing our plans.
My stepdaughter has been needing braces and we were finally able to coordinate with her mom to pay for half and it just so happened that this whole process was started around January. For any of you that have kids with braces I am sure you know that it is NOT cheap! SOOO there was that and then the fact that my dog was injured and had to make a nice trip to the emergency vet to the tune of 1,000 and an expected tax refund turned out to be a bill to the IRS and on and on. I’m sure you can imagine and thus the vacations are the first thing to be cut from the budget.
My mother’s business also took a nose dive this year and although we had seriously planned to go (since she did not go with us in November and we only went for an abbreviated trip in December and this would be her only trip with us in 07) but I just didn’t feel it was worth going when money was so tight. We cancelled February and although I did not even have anything set for June we decided to hold off on that trip as well and simply focus on our October Halloween trip instead.
Well my mom had purchased our hotel through Getaway today and we knew if we cancelled we would lose part of the money but if we simply changed dates we would only have to pay the 10.00 change fee. SOO my mom said rather than cancel altogether we should simply move it to this summer and hope for the best. So THAT is where we currently stand. It is now February 7th and we have rebooked the Marriott and are hoping for the best.
May 18, 2007
Well at this point it is a few months left till our trip and everything is fairly set although mom and I have discussed it and we have now decided to drive down on Sunday the 22nd to hopefully avoid some of the rush hour traffic. We have yet to decide if we will add a day on to the Fairfield or if we will go down farther south and do some other activity on Monday and check in to Fairfield Monday night as planned. Either way I think the extra day will help and that way we can either spend an extra day at the parks or doing something else. One thing I DO know is we are all VERY anxious!! And on a side note I scored my Mickey’s Halloween treat tickets for October 12th and have booked our rooms so that trip is now all set!!!
May 22, 2007
Well it is set. I just booked an additional day at the Fairfield and we will now drive down on Sunday and then we will decide as we go which days we want to do what. Most likely we will go to Disneyland on Monday, DCA on Tues, Disneyland on Wed and then leave Thurs open. We may go back to the parks or do something completely different. We are for sure going to Knotts on Friday though.
May 29, 2007
First of all Happy 34th birthday to my hubby! J This morning I just called and scored a priority seating for storytellers on Sunday. We had a large family reunion 2 weeks ago and now my cousin who lives in San Diego will be coming up for a day. So this should be fun. Everything is FINALLY done and now I just need to renew our AP’s next week and we are good to go!!!
June 8, 2007
Well once again plans change. We were scheduled to go on a road trip to Oregon next week but we had a family emergency and had to cancel. Shane was not going to go with us to Disneyland because he was taking this week in June but NOW that we had to cancel it frees him up to go with us to Disney. Woo Hoo!
July 12, 2007
Like always things keep changing. It is only less than 2 weeks till our trip but mom was once again afraid with 6 of us in one room that it would be too cramped so about a week ago she got a room for herself and my stepdaughter at the Best Western Park Place Inn. I am anxious to see what she thinks of it as we might try staying there in the future. I did ask about it through our entertainment book for our February trip but they are ALREADY booked! So that is out! That is scary but Desert Inn said I have to wait till the end of the year to even book as did Getaway Today so I am hoping that by waiting that long they aren’t sold out because we want to go President’s week. I will just have to keep checking back! Anyway I also scored a priority seating for Steakhouse 55 for Thursday night. I did have one for Vineyard Room which we have always wanted to try but I have kind of a sensitive stomach and some of that fancy food doesn’t sit well with me and so I changed it to Steakhouse since I know I can eat steak! J I think FINALLY that should be it and next time I type should be AFTER my trip and writing the actual report!
Sunday July 22, 2007
Plan: Drive down. Dinner this night at Storytellers at 6:40. Meet up with Barbara. Do some shopping in DTD.
What actually happened: Well the day FINALLY arrived. After SO many cancellations it was nice to FINALLY be able to take a trip. My daughter was on the swim team this year and so that kept us VERY occupied this summer which was a good thing and the only BAD part about it was that we had championships the day before which meant getting up at 5 a.m. and working in the heat for over 12 hours. We also had to miss her first ever awards banquest today but a trip to Disney is always worth missing something for! J Anywho we were up bright and early and picked up mom and were off. The traffic was light and driving down on a Sunday proved to be a good plan. We made it down in around 7 hours with only a few short stops for gas and lunch. We checked in at the respective hotels although I can say that there were glitches at both and I am not sure that I would stay at either one in the future. At the Fairfield, where we stayed, they had the entire front entrance blocked off and out of 4 elevators only one worked. This caused many a problem and we had to use the stairs MOST of the time. Luckily we were only on the 3rd floor but this hotel has 7 or 8 floors and there is NO WAY I would have wanted to walk up 8 flights after a day in the parks. They also had NO parking and normally we would never even move our car but there were a few times we used it and once we moved it we NEVER got another space. One night Shane and several others had to park in the red zone in front of the hotel. It was ridiculous. The room was satisfactory but I was NOT that impressed. My mother was guaranteed a room with 2 beds and upon check-in was given one with only one. The room was dirty and was in the VERY back of the complex. I saw the room and it seemed OK but she was not happy with it at all. I realize that the rooms directly across from the resort are older and not as nice and expect this. She is pickier than I am and honestly it is just a room but I am still undecided. Neither of the rooms were unbearable (filthy, or unlivable) but they weren’t spectacular either. We are staying at the Del Sol in October and most likely Desert Inn in February so I will be very interested to see how those rate in comparison.
Anyway after getting settled in our respective rooms, since my cousin had not yet arrived and the girls were dying to swim I let them swim. Shane had taken my mom and Lynn to their hotel so I sat with the girls at our pool and let them swim. I probably should have brought my suit but I honestly didn’t think I would have the time to swim. After an hour or so of swimming they changed and we all got dressed in our fancy duds for dinner. We couldn’t get a hold of my cousin and luckily my mom asked the front desk and found that she did not even have a reservation. She called her husband in San Diego and found out that she had a reservation at the WRONG Fairfield Inn. So my mom got it all straightened out and Barb finally arrived. We then drove over to Downtown Disney and took some photos in our nice clothes for our family Christmas card this year and then had dinner at Storytellers. We do this every time and love this place. The food is good and we enjoy this restaurant as well as the hotel. We have only stayed their once but we love to hang out in the lobby and shop at the Acorn. After dinner we did a little shopping at World of Disney and walked around DTD a bit and finally hit the sack. On a side note we found the little grommets for the Crocs. These are little rubber inserts that have different characters and such that you can insert into the holes in the top of your crocs. My cousin bought a few for the girls and after not even a day I believe Katy lost one. I bought her a few more as well as some for myself and over the week we ALL lost some. The girls had 3 each and Shelby is down to 1. Katy is down to 2 and I had 4 and am down to 3. Just a word of warning. They are 3.50 each and they fall out constantly. They are REALLY fun and cute but they don’t last!
Monday July 23, 2007
Plan: Disneyland all day. Lunch at Café Orleans at 11:30.
What actually happened: Well as usual we were up with the chickens and ready to go. Since this was our first day and we KNOW that on busy days you need to get there early we were up quite early. We told my cousin that you need to get there early and shockingly she was up and in the lobby even before us. We got ready and met her and had mom meet us in line with McDonald’s. One thing I think Disney could really make money on is if they would open LeBrea or SOME kind of breakfast venue on these early days for those of us that want to line up early. I also think they should open World of Disney Earlier for those of us with nothing to do while we are waiting for the parks to open. We are early risers and especially during off season when the parks open late and we have nothing else to do!
Anyway we got in line around 7 and this was early entry but being we are AP holders and were not staying on property we had to wait with the rest. We finally got in and did our normal routine. We sent Shane and Lynn to splash to get FP’s and we headed to Indy. Normally we do Pirates but those long lines we ran into last fall have seemed to have subsided and since Indy was such a short wait we decided to do that first. We met them and then did that. We then did Pirates and Matterhorn. We usually try to get the big rides done early while there is little to no wait and save the less popular rides for later. Unfortunately it has been a long hot week and I can’t remember the exact rides we went on but we did several before it was time for our 11:30 P.S. at Café Orleans. We very much like this restaurant. I had my usual the Monte Cristo which I love and Shane and Lynn had the seafood crepes. The girls had the pb&j’s and mom had the crab sandwhich. I believe Barb had a salad. We also got the pomme frittes and Barb ordered the beneights although I was too full to eat any.
After lunch we simply proceeded around the park doing the rides with little to no lines and using our FP’s. We did send Shane over to CA to get FP’s for soaring as we wanted Barb to ride that. We also took her to see the 50th movie. We took her to the Tiki Room as she had never seen that either. I can’t remember if it was this day or not but we also rode the Columbia for the first time in years. This trip was all about doing things that we normally NEVER do because we are in a hurry or trying to do all our favorites.
We took her to Soaring and then back to the hotel so that she could go home. Then for dinner I wanted to try Carnation Café as I had never eaten there and the baked potato soup sounded really good to me. So we did that and I enjoyed it. My mom was not impressed but I liked it. The rest of the evening we simply used our FP’s to do things such as Space and just enjoyed the evening.
Tuesday July 24, 2007
Plan: CA all day.
What actually happened: This day we slept in a bit and when we awoke we decided to try the restaurant that was attached to our hotel, Millies. The good thing about it is that kids can eat for 99 cents. So we all met up and did just that. The food is ok and about the same as a Dennys. We got done earlier than expected and got to the parks pretty early and did not want to wait in line for over an hour so I suggested going in to Disneyland and riding the train or shopping till CA opened. So we did just that. We rode the train around 1 circuit and then Shane and Katy went and stode in Line while Lynn, Shelby, Mom and I shopped a bit. Then we went over around 9:30 and got FP’s for soarin and rode it. We then went to ToT and got FP’s and rode it as well. Then Shane went to get Screamin FP’s while mom and I took the girls on Monster’s Inc. Then we walked over to get FP’s for Mullholland Maddness and I let the girls go into the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. This is a really neat area and I think when we have more time in February I am going to go through it with them. They supposedly have a Koda from Brother Bear so I would like the girls to do that some time. MM was down so then we decided to use our GRR FP’s and go on that. By the way for some reason the humidity this week was outrageous!! It was EXTREMELY hot this whole week. So going on GRR was very welcomed! Now as long as I have been going to DLR I have NEVER ridden on this ride. I like water rides but just don’t like getting soaked and I don’t like getting soaked in the winter when it is cold. But we all agreed and of course “I” was the one that got stuck going backwards down both waterfalls and even almost lost my hat. It was fun though and we wanted to go again but never had the time.
After that we went over to Brrrbank Ice Cream for a little treat. This was good and a nice break. By the way earlier in the day we finally went over to the Pacific Wharf area (also an area I had never been to) and had lunch at Cochina Cucamonga. It was decent and then we did the Mission Tortilla tour and the Boudin Bread tour. Never had done those and that was fun! Anyway after ice cream the HSM Pep Rally came by so I let the girls go watch as they LOOOVE HSM. We then went back over and used our FP’s for MM. We did this twice in a row as mom and Lynn didn’t want to do this. The girls LOVE this ride and I like it too. You REALLY need FP for this as it takes forever to get on it.
Again I am a bit foggy as to what if any dinner we had but I do know we went on Screamin a few times and Tower probably 5 times in a row. At first my daughter Shelby was a little scared. It is funny she is 6 and has been able to ride since she was about 4. Her first time she was scared but after going once she loved it. Every year she has gone and talkes about it all the time. She said she loves it and wanted to go and yet we got there and she didn’t want to go the first time. So later in the day we were going to go and she tried to get out of it again and Shane told her she had to go cuz it wasn’t fair to grandma to have to sit out again. So she went and sure enough then she forgot her fear and wanted to go again and again and by the 5th time she was holding her hands up in the air. It was a great day and again I can’t remember exactly when we left but we had a great time this day.
P.S. I did remember that we had Bengal BBQ and I believe it was this night. I don’t remember why we went back to Disneyland but I remember trying it and I have read many people saying it was great but I was not impressed. Shane and Lynn tried the stage door café and their’s was just mediocre as well.
Wednesday July 25, 2007
Plan: DL all day. Go to Nemo first thing.
What actually happened: As the plan says the most important thing to do today was Nemo as this was the ONLY non-early entry day we had this trip and the only real chance we had. I really wanted to try this ride however I suffer from claustrophobia and was afraid of getting stuck in there and freaking out. So we got to the parks early but they took forever to let us through security. It was nearly 7:30 before we got into line. We finally got in sent Shane and the girls to Nemo. Mom and I had decided to try and get in to the Walk in Walt’s Footstep’s tour. I wanted to do this in February but decided it might be nice to do this now. So we walked over to City Hall and I was able to purchase tickets. After that we went to Splash and got FP’s and then we went ahead and rode on it. After that they were done on Nemo and they said it was awesome and they think I can handle it so I may try it in Oct. We then met them at Indy and did that. We did more rides and collected more fp’s along the way. At one point we took a break over near the Plaza Inn and a nice cast member named Michael came up and was talking to us. He was asking us a bunch of questions and then gave the girls the tinkerbell pins. The ones that you get one for yourself and then give one to someone else. He was asking us about Fantasmic and then gave us some preferred seating for that night’s performance. He was really nice and it was nice to get “dreamed”. Since this promotion started I have been 3 times and we didn’t get anything the last 2 trips but we got dreamed several times this trip.
After that we had lunch at the Country Bear (one of our fav’s, not because of the food so much but because of the location). Then we decided to do the Canoes. We have only done this one other time about 6 years ago and it was fun. We met a really nice cast member named Phillip who was also an ex solider like my husband and it turned out on Friday he saw Shane and we got dreamed again. He gave shane 5 passes to get on any ride. They were basically like front of the line passes for all 6 of us.
After that it was time for our tour. I took the girls to look at the firehouse and showed them where Walt’s apartment was. Then we met our guide Claudia and we got little tape players so we could hear her as well as some words from Walt. It was a very interesting tour and you get lunch in the tour garden at the end of the tour, a pin, a neat badge and you get to ride jungle cruise, go to the tikki room and ride in the Lilly Bell. It was nice and informative and Claudia was very nice but I hate to admit I knew more than she did. She was new and there were things I knew that she didn’t and some things she said were incorrect. But I still think it was fun and neat and of course you also get to see the lobby of Club 33. Unfortunatley with all the walking and standing in that incessant heat and especially in the Lilly Bell it was VERY hot, by the time we got back to the gardens my mom was overheated and ill. She couldn’t eat her meal and had to go back to the room. There was a bit of miscommunication and Claudia thought we won the actual premium viewing and I was excited but I should have known it wasn’t that. We got over there and it was still seating on the ground. It was right over by the lighting and sound area and we had to sit behind the fence on the cement but we only had to show up about 15 to 20 minutes before although I got there an hour early cuz we were told it was the premium and I have bought that before and knew you had to check in an hour before. We met the neatest family of little people though and the daughter was so sweet and played with our girls. It was fun and we haven’t watched Fantasmic at Disneyland in years cuz I usually can’t sit on the ground. The fireworks were right after and we stayed to watch them and I can’t say enough how amazing that show is an it always brings tears to my eyes. It is truly incredible! After that I believe we did a few more rides and watched some music in Tomorrowland and finally went back to our room.
Thursday July 26, 2007
Plan: Do the stuff at DL that we don’t normally do. IE, tom sawyer island, innoventions etc. After dinner watch Electrical parade. Mom, Shane and I will have dinner at Steakhouse 55 (Disneyland Hotel) 6:10.
What actually happened: This was the day to do everything we didn’t normally do. Once again we were up early and this time I just bought breakfast at the little shop in our hotel. We met mom and went in to the park. I believe I sent shane to get FP’s and we went directly to Peter Pan. We rode that and then Mr. Toad. After that I believe we went and got FP’s for splash and rode it and then headed to Pirates Lair. This is a neat Island and we explored most of it although it was SO hot and there wasn’t a water cart there yet. We DID get to see Jack Sparrow although he really doesn’t pose for pics. You just kind of have to snap a bunch and hope everyone is looking the same direction. Even the Disney photographer didn’t get any good ones. It was SO hot we didn’t even wait for the show. They do however have a neat show where the pirates fight eachother. We saw it from the other side of the docs and it is neat.
After Pirates Lair I decided it was time to do the Junior Chef. This was something else I had wanted to do and it is only at certain times. Mom stopped on the way and got a few Dole Whips and we took the girls over. It is located at Plaza Inn and they get little Chefs hats and get to make Nestle Tollhouse cookies. While I was watching them Shane met yet another Dream Cast Member named William. He talked to him for a LONG time and after the girls were done making cookies he took us over to splash and walked us through the exit and got us on the ride. He also gave us more of the tinkerbell pins. We asked him to ride with us and we even bought the pic as a rememberance. It was neat. After getting off splash we decided it was time for lunch and ate at the Riverbelle. This was another place we had not eaten at in awhile. Once again the food was decent. Not great but not bad. After lunch I had been promising the girls they could go on Tarzan’s treehouse so Lynn took them on that while us old folks hung out in the shade at the bottom! J We did space and then headed to DCA to see Aladdin. We have seen this MANY times but we love this show and wanted to see it again. It was well worth it as always. We then took the girls back to the room and got them Pizza while we cleaned up and then headed to the DLH for our dinner. We had a VERY nice dinner at Steakhouse 55 although I was a bit upset to find they did not have my PS. I made it several weeks in advance but they fit us in nevertheless. After our dinner we walked around DTD a bit and then into DCA to watch the Electric Light Parade. Another favorite! After that we walked back to the car. Something to note if you have a PS at one of the restaurants you get 5 hours of free valet parking.
Friday July 27, 2007
Plan: Knotts
What actually happened: Well unfortunately this is one day I sort of regret. I have been to Knotts maybe 4 times in my life but I do not ever remember it being this yucky. I had gone once as a child and a few times as an adult but this was the first times I had taken my own kids and maybe I am just biased and maybe it was because it was so dang hot but we got there at 9 and it didn’t open till 10 and it was SO hot. Plus my mom had a bad attitude from the minute we got there because she doesn’t like rollercoasters. Plus Shelby couldn’t ride much cuz she is not 48 inches. So we waited in the terrible heat and Shane and Lynn did Excellerator which they liked and then Katy, Shane, Lynn and I did Boomerang and then Lynn, Shane and Katy did Perilous Plunge. We let Shane and the kids do the bumper cars and then we rode the mine train and we were bummed that the log ride was down. Mom wanted to ride that and of course it was on rehab. She ended up sitting most of the day and on top of it had some problems at work and was on the phone. The food and drinks were outragousley priced and the rides weren’t that great and it was just HOT and NOT Disney. It started getting crowded and we left by 2 something.
We decided to cut our loses and just go back to Disneyland. We did and had MUCH more fun. The only bad thing was it was a Friday afternoon and all the fastpasses were pretty much gone BUT Shane ran into Phillip so we got those passes. We rode the monorail which I am happy to say now goes through Tomorrowland again (for awhile it only went straight to DTD and back). We did a roundtrip and then rode it to DTD and got off and everything was packed but we WERE able to get into Hook’s Pointe and had a nice dinner and got MORE pins! By the way Katy gave one to a girl from France, Shelby gave hers to a girl with Down’s Syndrome and Lynn gave hers to a girl who’s birthday it was. Then when we got more Shane gave one to a little girl at the fireworks who loves Tinkerbell and it was her first time to Disneyland. We used our passes to rides Space and Splash and tried to ride Thunder but it was down. We encountered that a LOT this trip. Most rides we rode went down later in the trip but were back up again the next day luckily. Mom wanted to see the fireworks as she was sick the day we watched them so we did that and then got some ice cream at Carnation on Main Street. We had more passes but everyone was beat so we took off.
Saturday July 28, 2007
Plan: Drive home
What actually happened: And last but not least we have our last day. We slept in a bit and after showers and packing we checked out and then headed over to DTD. We had a great breakfast at the Rain Forrest (kind of a tradition for the last day) and by the way they WILL take your AP for a discount before dinner. And then I wanted to do a little last minute shopping at WoD but everyone was obviously in a hurry and I wanted to get some frames to go with these silhouettes I bought. By the way they have a shop on main street that makes the neatest little silhouettes. I had seen them and never thought about it but I wanted to get one of the girls while they are small. So the lady did one of Katy and Shelby and you get 2 each because you get like a mirror image when she cuts them out. Then I had her do one of the two of them side by side. It is really neat. You can also get them with Mickey next to you etc. They had frames and I didn’t buy them at the time cuz I didn’t want to carry them but I laid in bed thinking about it Friday night and decided it would be the best thing so I thought I would see if I could get them from WoD. Well they said no and I had to go get a shopper’s pass from Guest Services. You have to leave a 63 dollar deposit and you get 1 hour to go get your item and get back before you get charged. So I went in and then there was a sign that said back at 10. I was freaking but luckily it worked out. So I got the frames and we FINALLY got out of there around 11.
There was a surprisingly large amount of traffic going through LA. We thought being a Saturday it wouldn’t be as bad as a weekday but it took us nearly 2 hours to get through. UGH. But we made it and it was a VERY fun yet exhausting trip. It was hot and our feet were sore even in our Disney Crocs. We can’t wait for our next trip though in Oct!! See you then!