renodlandlover
02-05-2008, 08:40 PM
HI, all! I have thought about writing a trip report before, and even made notes (how sick is that), but never got around to it. This was a quick one, with some interesting jogs, so thought I'd share. :) On the trip was me, DH (40), DD (9) and DS (6).
I convinced DH to head down for a few days after New Years to see the decorations. The original plan was:
Fly Mpls to RNO, home in Reno from "holiday trip with families" (see why we needed to go to DL???) by noon, on the road by 1, in Anaheim by 10 pm. HA! First, the storm of the half century decided to arrive....I discovered that on Monday, 12/31, and started to worry. It looked like we would be able to get TO DL, but the big questions was, would we be able to get home?????
So, as my mom always says, don't fly when you're in a hurry. After a 5+ hour delay in Chicago (yeah, I know, that's not really on the way from Minneapolis to Reno, but it was cheaper!), we arrived in Reno around 4:45, and got home with bags (slowest baggage handlers EVER in Reno, FYI) around 5:30. I was hemming and hawing about whether we should go. My hubby (BLESS HIM!!!!) looked at the weather, and said, "Let's go for it!!!" Boy, do I love him for that!
So, we left Reno to drive at 7 pm. Yep, we're nuts. :D The kids were troopers, we stopped to eat, get gas, change into pj's and kept on truckin' . Did I mention that we had gotten up at 3 am Central time to catch our flight??? So, when we got to Anaheim at 3 am PT, that had been 26 hours up. Whew! Thank goodness for a backseat in the van to nap on!
This was our first stay at the Carousel, and I was looking forward to being a little closer to the park. Unfortunately, our first experience was not good. They had one room left, and it only had a double and a hide-a-bed. And, that was when I learned about the "new" parking charge. Not happy. :confused: But, what could we do? We hauled our stuff up and crashed.
The kids woke up early but "played" (reading, coloring) in the bathroom, we got dressed quietly and snuck off to b'fast so Daddy could sleep a bit more. It was a gorgeous day!!!! We headed out and got right in to the park (DL). We hit Buzz, Nemo (not too long of a wait), Autopia, and then headed to Toon Town. The kids love Gadget's and I found some adorable Christmas jibbitz for our Crocs. My DH headed off to get us some FPs for BTMRR, and ran into the dream team, handing out dream fast passes!!!! He called my cell, and was trying to explain where he was so we could get some, but I couldn't figure it out (it was on the path, off to the side, from Small World to Storybook boats). We arrived just in time to miss out, but they said if we went right to City Hall and told them the situation, they would do there best to make sure we all could have them. And they did!
The rest of the day was a whirl of riding all the FP rides. Our kids didn't want to do HM or Indy or TOT, but we said they could only pick ONE not to do. So, we road HM and TOT, and TOT turned out to be a new favorite! (Quote from DD - "Every time I scream I scare myself more, but I just can't help it!" And, from DS "You would think I would be screaming all the time, but it really is Mommy that is screaming all the time!")
We ended the day watching the parade, and then the magical moment on Main Street with the snow. I cried, and looked at DH and said "this was the greatest day at Disneyland, and I'm so glad you made us come" (nudge, wink) ;)
We had a different room at the Carousel (those beds are comfy!), and there was no trauma, except for the fact that there was mysterious water on our bathroom floor in the morning. :confused:
Friday, it was cloudy and cool, and there were far fewer people around, it seemed. We rode TOT many times, Screamin', and Mulholland. The kids LOVE TOT now. It cracks me up, how they are terrified to try something new, and then decide that it's pretty fun! It started to rain at about 5, when we were riding Screamin'. We went one more time, thinking it would probaly be our last, and indeed, it was (that rain feels like bullets to the eyes)! We had PS for Cafe Orleans, but DD had a terrible tummy ache, so she and I headed back to the hotel. DS and DH went ahead and went - except DH thought I had made PS at Blue Bayou! So, he walked up, and said we had a PS, and (surprise, surprise!), they couldn't find it anywhere, but sat them anyway. I was bummed to miss that!
While DD slept, I watched the weather, getting more and more worried about how and when we could get home. We settled in for the night (except when DH woke up to use the bathroom, and there was a huge lake of water in the bathroom - turns out the upstairs neighbors let their tub overflow!!!!).
We decided, even though it wasn't raining in Anaheim, to head home on Saturday morning. We did make it to Sacramento, tried to take 50 over the pass, but were turned back due to avalache control work. That was our sign to stay over night in Roseville. The kids were tired of the car, so we stayed at a nice Fairfield with a pool. Sunday morning, got on the road by 7, and home by 10. Had to chain up for a bit of the trip, but it wasn't too bad.
Overall, it was definitely worth it! Even for just 2 days, the Dream Passes were awesome, and helped a lot with the crowd being pretty big on Thursday. And that snow and light show on the castle? Pretty terrific.
I hope this is entertaining!
The addiction continues!
Jennie
I convinced DH to head down for a few days after New Years to see the decorations. The original plan was:
Fly Mpls to RNO, home in Reno from "holiday trip with families" (see why we needed to go to DL???) by noon, on the road by 1, in Anaheim by 10 pm. HA! First, the storm of the half century decided to arrive....I discovered that on Monday, 12/31, and started to worry. It looked like we would be able to get TO DL, but the big questions was, would we be able to get home?????
So, as my mom always says, don't fly when you're in a hurry. After a 5+ hour delay in Chicago (yeah, I know, that's not really on the way from Minneapolis to Reno, but it was cheaper!), we arrived in Reno around 4:45, and got home with bags (slowest baggage handlers EVER in Reno, FYI) around 5:30. I was hemming and hawing about whether we should go. My hubby (BLESS HIM!!!!) looked at the weather, and said, "Let's go for it!!!" Boy, do I love him for that!
So, we left Reno to drive at 7 pm. Yep, we're nuts. :D The kids were troopers, we stopped to eat, get gas, change into pj's and kept on truckin' . Did I mention that we had gotten up at 3 am Central time to catch our flight??? So, when we got to Anaheim at 3 am PT, that had been 26 hours up. Whew! Thank goodness for a backseat in the van to nap on!
This was our first stay at the Carousel, and I was looking forward to being a little closer to the park. Unfortunately, our first experience was not good. They had one room left, and it only had a double and a hide-a-bed. And, that was when I learned about the "new" parking charge. Not happy. :confused: But, what could we do? We hauled our stuff up and crashed.
The kids woke up early but "played" (reading, coloring) in the bathroom, we got dressed quietly and snuck off to b'fast so Daddy could sleep a bit more. It was a gorgeous day!!!! We headed out and got right in to the park (DL). We hit Buzz, Nemo (not too long of a wait), Autopia, and then headed to Toon Town. The kids love Gadget's and I found some adorable Christmas jibbitz for our Crocs. My DH headed off to get us some FPs for BTMRR, and ran into the dream team, handing out dream fast passes!!!! He called my cell, and was trying to explain where he was so we could get some, but I couldn't figure it out (it was on the path, off to the side, from Small World to Storybook boats). We arrived just in time to miss out, but they said if we went right to City Hall and told them the situation, they would do there best to make sure we all could have them. And they did!
The rest of the day was a whirl of riding all the FP rides. Our kids didn't want to do HM or Indy or TOT, but we said they could only pick ONE not to do. So, we road HM and TOT, and TOT turned out to be a new favorite! (Quote from DD - "Every time I scream I scare myself more, but I just can't help it!" And, from DS "You would think I would be screaming all the time, but it really is Mommy that is screaming all the time!")
We ended the day watching the parade, and then the magical moment on Main Street with the snow. I cried, and looked at DH and said "this was the greatest day at Disneyland, and I'm so glad you made us come" (nudge, wink) ;)
We had a different room at the Carousel (those beds are comfy!), and there was no trauma, except for the fact that there was mysterious water on our bathroom floor in the morning. :confused:
Friday, it was cloudy and cool, and there were far fewer people around, it seemed. We rode TOT many times, Screamin', and Mulholland. The kids LOVE TOT now. It cracks me up, how they are terrified to try something new, and then decide that it's pretty fun! It started to rain at about 5, when we were riding Screamin'. We went one more time, thinking it would probaly be our last, and indeed, it was (that rain feels like bullets to the eyes)! We had PS for Cafe Orleans, but DD had a terrible tummy ache, so she and I headed back to the hotel. DS and DH went ahead and went - except DH thought I had made PS at Blue Bayou! So, he walked up, and said we had a PS, and (surprise, surprise!), they couldn't find it anywhere, but sat them anyway. I was bummed to miss that!
While DD slept, I watched the weather, getting more and more worried about how and when we could get home. We settled in for the night (except when DH woke up to use the bathroom, and there was a huge lake of water in the bathroom - turns out the upstairs neighbors let their tub overflow!!!!).
We decided, even though it wasn't raining in Anaheim, to head home on Saturday morning. We did make it to Sacramento, tried to take 50 over the pass, but were turned back due to avalache control work. That was our sign to stay over night in Roseville. The kids were tired of the car, so we stayed at a nice Fairfield with a pool. Sunday morning, got on the road by 7, and home by 10. Had to chain up for a bit of the trip, but it wasn't too bad.
Overall, it was definitely worth it! Even for just 2 days, the Dream Passes were awesome, and helped a lot with the crowd being pretty big on Thursday. And that snow and light show on the castle? Pretty terrific.
I hope this is entertaining!
The addiction continues!
Jennie