Aug 19-21 (Sun-Tues) Me: nvmom- age 33, 4th trip to DLR and Dh: age 35, also 4th trip to DLR

Well, in the back of my head I'd been wanting dh & I to go to DLR all by ourselves for our 15th wedding anniv. We took a 2 week family road trip this summer that cost more than we'd planned, so I'd decided against it. Then, around Aug 15, I started looking on the travel sites. I was amazed at the availability of hotels... on Expedia we could've gotten any of the property hotels and many, many others. So I decide that I'll surprise dh. I will tell him we're going to Reno for the weekend for our anniv. When we get there I'll surprise him and say "We're not really staying here, we're flying to Disneyland!!!"

Well, in theory that was wonderful. But, we don't usually make such decisions involving money without each other. I knew this trip would be paid half cash, half Visa... so in the end, I decided to discuss it with him. I had already arranged with his boss for the time off- so that was a suprise.. and we decided to throw caution and budget to the wind and go!!

Day 1: Sun, Aug 19: We're up at our hotel room in Reno at 4:00 a.m. (We live 2.5 hrs from Reno and drove over Sat night) We're on the shuttle at 5 a.m. and over the airport. The Aloha airlines staff thinks it's so funny we're doing this. It goes like this as we're checking in: "Oh, are you only going to SNA, or continuing to Maui?" Me: "Oh, no just to Orange Cty is correct." Dh:"We're going to Disneyland." Staff (sorta of looking over the counter) "Just the 2 of you?" Us: "Yes, for our anniversary, by ourselves." Staff (laughing) "That is so fun! Do your kids know?" Us: "No. They think we're in Tahoe." Staff: "Do you feel guilty?" Us: "NO!" :)

On the plane and landing at SNA at 8:10 a.m. Quick luggage pick-up. Out the door to Super Shuttle. Our first experience with Super Shuttle. I'd booked & paid online and it went very smoothly. In fact the van was waiting. We waited 10 min (an airport rule so we're told) and we ended up being the only passengers. We arrive at the Camelot Inn & Suites shortly before 9 a.m. Our 3rd stay at the Camelot. We check in, store our luggage and we're off!!

Ok, at this point we're getting our selves psyched up for summer crowds! We've only been to DLR in Feb & early March.. but we're ready. I've read all the summer tips on Mouseplanet, I've got water and sun screen, I'm ready with how to maximize fast pass, we've got our patience on.......

We walk up the side walk towards the security tent... and-and-and- there is no line!!! :eek::) What's up??? We breeze thru security... we head to will call... again we're ready... and-and-and, there is no line!!! So tickets in hand we look both ways... it's about 9:20 a.m.... at the Disneyland gates... no lines!!! And at DCA, minimal lines- they aren't open yet. Dh is looking at me like "Were you kidding? Where are the summer crowds?" LOL

So we opt for the DCA park. We didn't realize that the gates open at 9:30. So, they do the count down and introduce a family (they'd chosen I guess?) I must say it was a dead crowd. Nobody really counted down... and nobody cheered when the CM was trying to get things going. I felt bad. But, hey we're in! Stop off at Guest Relations for Anniv buttons. Very fun. And walk on to Soarin (one of our top fav rides.)

To be continued....

nvmom

We continued to enjoy the slow morning at DCA. We went and watched Crush- something new for us. That's a great show and we'll be sure the take the kids next trip.

We decided to wonder over and see where the Cove Bar is and as we crossed the bridge a photo CM wished us a Happy Anniv and asked us if it was just the 2 of us today. She then pulled 2 dream fast-passes out of her pocket!! Yay! She said a family came straight into the park at opening, got these (or maybe got them from DL) used only the Screamin' pass and then had to leave. They gave them to her on their way out. Lucky for us, we got every other pass for DCA and DL. I guess it isn't an "official" dream since we didn't get it from the Dream Team.... but it was a nice anniv gift. Btw, we never once saw a Dream Team on our trip this past Feb nor did we see any this time. LOL

We rode Soarin again, Mulholand Madness (a little to zippy for me), the swings (which I also didn't enjoy... I felt like I was going to crash into the side of the orange when we came around... but my husband loved the look of sheer terror on my face.) We had the nachos at WWS- totally dead in there and we visited with a very nice couple who are pin traders and DLR regulars.

Wondered around more and enjoyed the Miner 49ers and then I got brave to go on GGRR. Great ride! but I wouldn't enjoy it in cooler weather. I like to come off and dry quickly!

Back to the motel to check in and enjoy a nap. Back to DLR around 5 p.m. It's busier, of course, but not horrible. We ate at the cafeteria style restaurant in NOS. We'd never eaten anywhere there and enjoyed the foot and atmosphere. Dh had clam chowder in a bread bowl and I had a chicken dinner. Very tasty!

Rode our fav, BTMRR and then wondered thru FL to see the Nemo line and people watch. Enjoyed the band on the Tomorrowland Stage for a few min and then over to DCA for the Elec Parade. I had the direction of the parade wrong. I thought it started in Sunshine Plaza (I swear it did when we watched it in 2005)- but it started in PP this time. We planted ourselves in Sunshine Plaza. Dh had a beer and we watched so many children dancing and enjoying themselves waiting for the parade.

After the parade we headed back to the motel for an early night.

This Sun was Bat's Day. Generally those participating seemed to be enjoying their time at the park. The only thing we didn't love was that a few of the outfits really were inappropriate for a family park. We are far from prude and I realize this isn't a sanctioned event by DLR- but still we didn't really care for the quite suggestive style of some clothing. :)

nvmom

*If you've read this at all, I promise Day 2 & 3 will be shorter.

Sounds like fun, keep it coming! :)

love your report. It's so much fun going without kids/teens..(whoops, did I put that in print?!;)

Enjoying your TR...hey...don't TRY to make the next ones shorter...just do what you need to tell it all!!! I Love it!!! I'm so glad you guys got to go for your anniversary...we did it once (our anniversary is in December) and it was WONDERFUL!! Can't wait to do it again sometime!

I am enjoying hearing how your itinerary differed from ours, seeing as we were on similar "no kids" trips. We also got a couple of comments from people along the lines of "Really, without you kids? hmm." People either totally get it and are envious of the trip or kinda laugh at/with you. Did you ever tell your kids where you went? We did but only when we returned with presents for them. They were really cool about it. Phew.

Looking forward to the rest of your report. :)

I can't wait to read more! Keep it coming and please don't shorten it. I love the long reports!

Did you ever tell your kids where you went? We did but only when we returned with presents for them. They were really cool about it. Phew That's exactly what we did! :) They were ok, a lot better than I expected them to be. lol

Day 3: We slept in... I woke up at 7 a.m. and rolled back over. Went down about 8:45 to get us coffee from the continental breakfast and we headed over to the parks about 10:00 a.m. We first checked in with Guest Services and got our Walk In Walt's Footsteps tour tickets. My memory gets a little sketchy here, but I know we did Haunted Mansion (only our second time ever), Indy, Star Tours, got FP for Big Thunder, and eventually got lunch at Bengal BBQ about 11:30 a.m. We'd been looking forward to Bengal BBQ since our last trip in Feb! LOL We took our food over to the one of the tables near where they do the cookie baking. Great for people watching.

I would consider this day (mon) to be character day. While we personally never interacted with any characters they were out and about a lot IMO. Bert & Mary Poppins were everywhere. Around the hub there was always Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, or Cruella available until evening.

After lunch we went and used our Big Thunder Fast Passes and then headed to Main St to the Opera House. We took our time and looked at all the photos & models set up there. I also changed shoes from tennis shoes to my trusty flip-flops. We re-applied sunscreen and got water. We noticed the heat a lot more today than yesterday and the crowds. It seemed MUCH busier than Sun did? Over to tour gardens to check in...

Upon check-in were given menu choices.... a sandwich choice, fruit or chips, and a beverage. We were given head sets and told to wait for our tour guide. Thanks to PanFan here at Mouseplanet we already knew that our tour guide was Jack, and that she spoke highly of him. We were not disapointed. Jack is a class act. He represents Disney as Disney should be represented. Professional, enthusiastic, knowledgable... just wonderful. Our tour lasted just shy of 3 hrs and we loved every minute! Although we did end up sun burned a bit. There were 10 in our group. We were the last ones lingering over our lunch (which was really dinner at that point) and got to visit with Jack at least another 30-45 min. He's worked for Disney for more than 20 yrs. He's currently doing a lot of VIP tours and works in education so he tends to work summers/holidays, etc. He found it quite touching that PanFan spoke so highly of him. :)

After the tour we went back to the hotel for an hour rest. Back into Disneyland around 7 p.m. Big Thunder again, Pirates, Buzz, Matterhorn... back to the restaurant in NOS from the night before because dh wanted apple pie there. He waited forever in their line- for a lone piece of apple pie. Tables were full outside, the staff looked tired, it was certainly a busy summer night at DL. I got a funnel cake (yummy) at the little window next door and did score us a table. We heard the end of Fantasmic and even caught a glimpse of Mickey at the end.

Back to Big Thunder again (our fav, can you tell?) and this time as the ride started and went up that sort of steep hill where the water drips on either side... the train stopped- right on the hill. We even went backward a notch. Yikes. And dh got rather damp from being there an xtra min or so. Then we heard a voice say "the train will continue moving in just a moment"- and it did. I was still a little nervous but we got to ride during the fireworks which is always cool.

As the firworks came to close we walked thru Frontierland into Fantasyland, thinking we'd get onto Peter Pan. They still had the rope up but were forming a line for PP off to the side... it was already to long for our liking. So, we just wondered thru Fantasyland and then over to Tomorrowland and enjoyed the band again. Shortly before 11 p.m. we checked the Nemo line and it appeared shorter. We asked a CM and they said 70 min- which was as short as we'd seen so far, so we jumped in line. We were very tired, but I'm glad we did it. The line kept moving (which at least makes you feel better :) ) Friendly people around you make a line so much more fun... but at last we were not really blessed with any friendly people this night. I posted my thoughts on Nemo recently in a "Was it Worth Thread" - on the main board. We did get on the ride about 12:05 and I'd say were off and walking thru a deserted Tomorrowland by 12:30 p.m. Main St was still quite busy. Back to the motel. Tired.

Day 3 to come...

nvmom

And Day 3...

We slept in again, this time until 9 a.m. and then didn't rush since we had to check out at 11 a.m. We'd store our luggage since our flight didn't leave until 9:30 p.m.

At 11 a.m. we headed over and the security lines were just walk thru. We considered our lunch options in the park but decided to walk thru DTD. Dh has always wanted to go to the ESPN Zone. Lucky for us we got right in. It was a fun place... I can see where it would be really fun to have a drink or 2 in the evening. Dh ordered a burger and I the BBQ beef sandwich and we were both pleased. We checked out the arcade upstairs. They have it all up there! Dh and our son will spend some time there next family trip, I'm sure.

After lunch we rode the monorail back into Tomorrowland. We got fastpasses for Space Mtn at around 5:00 p.m. Went into Fantasyland since we hadn't done a single ride there. Rode Mr Toad- one of our fav dark rides. Then over to Small World. We thought Small World looked so much brighter & cleaner this time.

I'm a bit fuzzy on the actual order of events.... but I know we caught the Laughing Stock Comedy group outside the Golden Horseshoe. They were funny! The crowd interaction was hilarious. We rode Big Thunder. We got a frozen lemonade- not the cup- but the slush type. We wondered over to Main St where dh found a bench to relax (thinking we'd watch the parade) and I wondered thru shops looking for some gift ideas to take home to the kids and my sister. I love all the Halloween merchandise. Bought water on my way back to dh, as it seemed very hot on this Tues.

We opted out of the parade and wondered some more. We'd gotten fastpasses for our last Big Thunder ride so we did that. Then we caught another comedy show outside the Golden Horseshoe and then decided to watch the next Billy show. We love Billy Hill. This was a new group of Billies for us... very funny... and very good. We do have our favorite Billy though... he's a shorter gentleman w/ears that poke out (thanks to the position of his hat.) He was actually involved in the comedy show that day... so he's multi-talented I guess. :)

After the Billies we headed over towards Space Mtn. Checked out a few shops there. Got in the fastpass line for Space Mtn as soon as we could. We were nearing the end of our time at DLR. The line moved quickly until we got up to balcony type area where you can look down onto the ride (this was my first time on the ride- so forgive my description.) At this point, the lights came on and things stopped running. Now, I don't know what happened exactly. We had a good 15 min+ delay. I don't think the ride broke down... from hearing the CMs talk, it sounded more like the was a new operator on board and that timing got messed up- could that be true??

I must say when it first happened, one of the female CMs who was loading people got quite angry and made a bit of a scene. Loud shouting at some of the other CMs around her. Not good.

Anyway, once the ride was up and going we moved quickly. I am a self proclaimed chicken... so I am nervous... and the delay didn't help. :) So we load into the train and we're the second to the last car. I've paid no attention to who's around us because I'm to scared.

Ok, this is a cool ride. And, I'm actually anxious to experience it again next trip, now that I've done it once and can relax. The stars are beautiful. Now I know there are no huge drops and such. BUT, our ride was somewhat ruined by the people behind us. As soon as we start... like into the part where the light are flashing and you get that spinning effect... somebody starts screaming. And I mean SCREAMING!! At first I thought it was a younger child who was scared. Well the SCREAMING went on the entire ride... In fact, I was so distracted by the screaming I forgot to be scared - lol. So when we get off it turns out there were 2 teenagers behind us who thought it was just the coolest thing they'd managed to scream the entire ride. They were laughing and joking about it. My dh was actually pretty mad. I told him to calm down... it's Disneyland. Was it unnecessary, yes. Are they teenagers, yes...

After Space Mtn our time was limited so we headed back to Main St for shopping. We ended up buying our dds the High School Musical 2 soundtrack to share and each a HSM pen. Our son got a lollipop & a Nemo water trinket. We got a cute Mickey pumpkin for my sister... a ceramic orange pumpkin w/the Mickey Ears. I wish now I'd bought myself one too. I thought were quite a bargain at $10.

We discovered the ice cream window that's tucked away between some shops, back near a cast entrance. That seemed like a nice little hidden hot spot. Dh said the ice cream was very good.

With bags in hand we found a bench near the flag pole... I bought a churro and we enjoyed our last few minutes at DLR.

Walked back to the motel and caught our Super Shuttle at 6:20 p.m. I'm not sure we'll use Super Shuttle again for our departure. Only because, with a cab or private company we could've waited until 7 pm or so to depart. For just the 2 of us it was a reasonable option. With our family of 5 it's $50 plus tip and I can do a private cab/car for that. We were at the airport at least 45 min longer than we needed to be... and who wants to sit in an airport? :)

Got into Reno around 10:30 p.m., stayed over, drove home early the next morning as dh had to work.

A wonderful trip!! Our kids took the news well. We asked them if they wanted to see pics from our trip? We put them up on our computer and their mouths dropped open! "What? You went to DISNEYLAND! " It was priceless really.

We've tended to take our now annual trip in either Feb or March. We're going to try and contain ourselves in early 2008 and wait until the holiday season of 2008. We've never seen the Xmas decorations, parade, fireworks..

nvmom

Thanks for sharing your trip. It sounded great. Next time I might want to do a tour like you did - that sounds neat. I like the way you shared your trip with the kids. I just kinda blurted it out! Plus they saw the new Mickey earings I was wearing and asked...

Happy planning for your next trip.:D

Thanks to PanFan here at Mouseplanet we already knew that our tour guide was Jack, and that she spoke highly of him. We were not disapointed. Jack is a class act. He represents Disney as Disney should be represented. Professional, enthusiastic, knowledgable... just wonderful. Our tour lasted just shy of 3 hrs and we loved every minute! Although we did end up sun burned a bit. There were 10 in our group. We were the last ones lingering over our lunch (which was really dinner at that point) and got to visit with Jack at least another 30-45 min. He's worked for Disney for more than 20 yrs. He's currently doing a lot of VIP tours and works in education so he tends to work summers/holidays, etc. He found it quite touching that PanFan spoke so highly of him. :)

I'm so glad you enjoyed the tour with Jack! I saw him the next day and he told me he had you in his group and that he enjoyed talking with you. Like I said, it was largely his fault that I finally got myself a job at DL. He really encouraged me to be like Walt and follow my dreams, even if no one else understands why.

Sounds like the rest of your trip was a blast! I'm happy you had such a great time :)

My dh would've kept poor Jack there forever. We both really enjoyed visiting with him. Thanks again for the heads up on his tour! :)

nvmom

Yeah, we kept him there quite a while too! Poor guy had to clock out and go home, but I would have stayed and talked all night if I could have. But I came back and found him at the info board the next week and pretty much hung out with him all day. He let me change the wait times! I miss him already :crying:

I'm glad you had a good trip and i must apologize for some of my bats day freinds that were dressed a bit inappropriately.

Myself and my group make sure to be on our best behavior due to the children present.

You'd be amazed how many people give us a hard time for simply wearing black in public.

I have an interesting story to go along with this if anyone is interested.


From,
An occassional goth dresser and huge disney fan.

Thanks for the fun report! I love going with our kids, but it would be so much fun to even do an afternoon without them. They are still quite young, so we do a lot of rides as single riders. Great anniversary "almost" suprise trip!

STR1375 - I am interested in your story, if this is an appropriate place to tell it. I have often wondered about the goth dressers in Disneyland and would love to know more!

I don't think its inappropriate at all and nothing in it is bad or offensive.

I have been attending Bats day for a number of years now. Its a lovely retreat from my daily computer support job for the air force.

So myself and some freinds began going we wore black nothing outrageous or lude. Just black mainly. In laters years we expanded on our clothing. My girlfreind upgraded to a purple corset from fredricks of hollywood coupled with a shirt to cover anything that may be offensive and a long skirt. I upgraded to pants with some chains on them and some pirates buttons or nightmare before christmas stuff. Nothing outrageous.

Back to the story at hand. This was our first year and we wore simple stuff we had. black shirts with funny saying or designs (all family appropriate and g rated) and black pants. We were in fantasyland about to go on a dumbo ride when an older couple asked us why so many people were dressed in black. We explained the event and they seemed excited and stated that the wanted to do it next year. The whole day had been like this it was quite amazing.

Until we went to the peter pan ride. Now to set the scene it is just about sundown and the carosel had just been lit up it was a magical peaceful time. Then i hear someone cussing loudly quite a bit nearby. I think oh great one of our gothy people is being dumb. Nope it was a father with his family. He is making fun of, cussing at at taunting anyone in all black. I decide to talk to him. I ask him what the problem is and he proceeds to cuss at me about how he doesn't like the way i dress. I notice at this point that he is wearing a brown tweed leisure suit. Jacket, pants, and a brown t shirt under the jacket. So i fire back "well i don't like the way you dress". The brown was not very flattering. He proceeds to cuss some more. I ask him to please keep the language down there are children... everywhere. He only gets madder and begins looking for a way to get past the planter in front of him to get to me. Gives up on that after a moment and i don't hear another word from him.

In the end i got a few thank yous from park goers nearby.

Bats day seemed to me to be a bit more respctable in previous years. My groups of freinds all vow never to curse once we enter the parking structure. Its disneyland, i would hate to ruin someones magical day. This most recent year some new groups showed up in items that were less than appropriate. I had hoped people would understand its a family place and that a level of decency should be kept for the family attending.

In the end i am a nearly 27 year old computer technician who gets to dress up in some interesting fun clothes and go to disneyland. It amazed me that this man could hold such hostillity to us. I only wish i could tell him what we do for a living. 2 computer techs working 14 hour days. 2 nurses working holidays. 2 EMTs one for a childrens hospital one a paramedic on an ambulance. We do bats day as a retreat from our daily lives. =)

First, I want to say Thanks to NVMom for writing her trip report! I always love reading them.

Second, STR1375 I want to say I have never been to Disneyland during bats day but I will say I'm happy you did what you did. I always have to remember that a person who dresses differently than I do does not make them a "bad" person. Sure there are going to be the ones that are, but someone in a tweed suit can be a bad person as well. I am just glad that you can find tolerance in ignorant people and just have fun without bringing down Disneyland to do it. So thank you to you for keeping the Disney spirit/magic alive and well.

I second what Yellowrosedtxn said! Thank you for what you did at Disneyland and for your own values in keeping the magic alive, and thank you for your story.

In the end how can i get mad at a guy in disneyland.

I love the place and i've grown up going there many times with my family. I've been a southern california resident for my whole life. I enjoy my happy memories from the park and anytime i am there i will help people however i can to try to ensure their happy memories.

But not everyone would have done what you did or had that same thought you do. That is why I commend you in what you did. Now this is the part where you say "thank you". :) hahahahah

oh yeah... THANK YOU!

I appreciate the kind words. It truly means alot to me.

Thank you all for reading my trip report. It's fun to write them, but it's fun to know that people have taken the time to read too.

I also thing you-str1375- handled your situation and the gentleman (who was not a gentleman) very well. Nice job.

Let me be clear that generally all the Bats Day folks seemed to be having a great time and enjoying a Disney Day... the girl that stands out in my head was wearing fish net tights, a very short skirt a black vinyl bra top. I'll be honest, the bra top was over the top for me at a family park. Nothing worn over it, just the bra top and a bare tummy. Now, some will argue that there are swimsuits and other clothing in the parks that is just as suggestive. That's fine... just stating my opinion.

nvmom