Silver Anniversary Trip/Family Reunion at Christmas Time (Ramada Maingate)

[Teddi]

Cast of characters: 13 of us in total
Me (35), DH (33), Bert (11), C & K (newly 7)
Gma (58) & Gpa(56) & babySis (23)
YoungerStepSis(31) & BIL(32)
OlderStepSis (37) & her two kids newpherA(15) and nieceF(6 1/2)

Reason: January marks Gma and Gpa's (yes we're a blended family) 25th wedding anniversary.

Arrival: BabySis flew in from SanFran area Monday 12/26 night, and departed first on Wed night. OlderStepSIs and her kids all flew in from MI Monday also, and departed Thursday am.
Everyone else drove down from SF Bay area on Monday am. My crew and Gma and Gpa ended up driving home Saturday 12/31

Dates: Monday 12/26 to Saturday 12/31.

Hotel: Ramada Maingate for all of us.

Background: My parents at Christmas 2010 announced their plans to bring everyone down to DL to celebrate their 25th anniversary which is in early January 2012. The only time that worked for all (school for both grandkids and my sister who's a teacher) was the week after Christmas!! UGH! I love Christmastime but boy, they picked the one week I would avoid at all costs. They were graciously offering to pay for everyone's trip however- tickets, rooms, meals, spending $ etc. So, it was agreed and all was put in place to bring their four daughters and kids together to celebrate.

All the Bay Area crew departed by 9:30 or so Monday morning. Trip down went smooth but OY! was the 5 South crowded. Not a nightmare, but traffic was thick and just about every stop had quite a wait for gas or McDonalds. Etc. Still, we made decent time... my hint: IF the 5 south thru burbank/Los Angeles city isn't bad with traffic, but to avoid that almost always slow leg through southern LA County, we sometimes take the 710 S to the 91E to 5S. This route proved our friend again and with three short stops we made it there in 6 1/2 hours to the motel. My parents had arrived before us by about 10 minutes and had all the check in done. Quick as we could we dropped our stuff off and then hightailed it to Company D because we still had some last minute shopping for Christmas to finish! It proved a success and my only wish was that I never got to make it back for a 2nd trip. By 6:30 everyone but BabySis was in town and picked up from John Wayne and we had a feast of a dinner at the Tony Romas which is literally at the front of the parking lot of the Ramada Maingate. It was a delicious meal. Belly's full, we headed back to our rooms. The only firm plan was to meet in the a.m. at 9:15 to get in line for DCA.

DH pleasantly surprised me! My parents were purchasing their PAPs that next morning...and everyone else had two days worth of hopper tickets... except for me and my fam. For the first time in a few years, we had actual 3 day hopper tickets and that meant we could do Magic Morning. DH was actually gung-ho to get up at 6:30, throw clothes on and get out the door and use it! YaY! The best part is that it actually happenened.

Tuesday: We made it in the park past really really long back check lines by about 7:20. We stopped and got C's GAC at City Hall and then took photos on Main Street then went down to Star Tours. Wait time? 5 minutes! WooHoo. The only other thing we really wanted to do was Pirates... so we made it over there just after 8 a.m. and had a short wait for that as well. After that, I made a few unsuccessful attempts to get coffee. Wow, the folks were POURING up Main Street. The line at BRB was huuuge...same with the line at Market House...I had to give up the idea of getting coffee short of going to La Brea Bakery. But by now we really didn't have time to do much else anyway, so we headed out of DL to meet up for DCA. I'm hoping this works, a few good shots. I noticed right away how we actually managed these few pics with no other guests in view.


[IMG][/IMG]


We finally all got met up out front of the gates, but we got some bad news (that sort of plagued the trip). NephewA had woken up in the middle of the night and either was ill from too many beef ribs or had the flu. He was there but looked pretty rough. My mom was also starting to get sick (she's prone to sinus infections). Grrrrreeeat. We made it through the new route into the park (can't wait til that's over!) and had runners go ahead for Fast Passes for WOC and Soarin'. We then went to Ariel's and even though it was before 10 am, it was open and it was "walk on" so the various groups all ended up getting to go with zero wait. From there we grabbed some quickie breakfast and more coffees, while the thrill seekers in the group (not my girls who are too short, me, my bigstepSis or her sick son) went on Screamin', then Toy Story. Toy Story wait was pretty quickly getting longer (it was about 40 minutes by 10:30), after TSMM we sent runners again for FPs to Screamin' and TOT. NephewA by this time was done in by TSMM, he wasn't feeling well at all so he had to head back to the motel room. We met up at Soarin' and had a short wait with our FPs. After that it was about 12:30 and time to head toward the Rainforest Cafe, since not everyone had seen the Grand (in fact my OlderStepSis hadn't been to DL since pre-DCA) we took the scenic route (not to mention, good LUCK being a fish heading upstream to leave the park anyway thru the front gates) to Downtown Disney.

Rainforest this time was the best meal I've had there...I got the shrimp skewers. Yummy! Kids had a blast of course and we we all very satisfied with our meals and appetitizers. We were seated in a small out of the way spot that didn't give us a good view of the main forrest area, BUT it has a lovely big aquarium right by our table and it was fun to look at. After lunch it was back to DCA. We finished the Paradise Pier area and hit the swings, Jumpin Jellyfish, Goofy's SS, Gma&Gpa and C&K got to see Goofy and get pics with him. We finished off with the Carousel for the littles and Screamin again for the thrill seekers. Then we went off to ToT, where all three little girls did NOT want to go on... they killed some time with my DH (ToT is the one thrill ride he doesn't like). That ride scares me EVERYTIME. As we were walking away from ToT, DH had Celeb Sighting #1- he's a HUGE MMA fan and he instantly recognized "Joe Daddy". He got his pic with him. I hope this pictures works, it's great (yes he really had been wearing K's pink ears almost all day)



We hit up Monsters Inc, and at this point Gma had to leave because the cold night air was not helping the chest/sinus infection setting in, so we were now down two of our group. We checked out Flynn's Arcade. I dunno, I'm not that big on Electronica.... but I LOVE that arcade now that Starcade is so pathetic. We were cutting it SUPER close but headed to WOC and got there less than 20 minutes before the first show.

I mad dashed over to the Garden Grill (was really deadset on trying it based on the good reviews I had read here) and was very glad I did. DH hadn't been keen on it but I reassured him it was probably just about the best quick service place in the park, and he loved it! Anyway, we let the kids nibble as the show was starting on their kabobs. Ironically, despite the total lack of wait we got GREAT spots in the very back with an almost dead center and unobstructed view. This continues to reaffirm my belief there really is no "sure" strategy with WOC viewing and that it's such a crapshoot as to how long of a wait= viewing experience. EXCEPT my tip: if you really want a good view, don't want crowds, book dinner at Ariel's, pay alot, but get your Priority/Prefferred Passes for the LAST show of the night and you also can get a very good view and no wait REALLY needed. Esp on a weekday night. Half our group was seeing WOC for the first time, and everybody was impressed. That ended our night, aside from attempting to procure a WOC candy apple for DH sister. They were NOT to be found, in fact, we found out there really isn't even a candy shop IN DCA right now... and absolutely no WOC apples on the resort. We ended our night there and headed back to the motel. In total, for a busy day, DCA with key Fast Passes was managable and we got a lot done.

[Guardboy21]

That's super funny, me and my family drove down to Disney on December 26th, we were in the parks on the 27th, we started in DCA, and we too were suprised how it opened early, lol

[Guardboy21]

not to mention we were in Electornica the same night, we only spent one day in both parks, and it was super crowded

[Teddi]

Day 2:
I had booked appointments for the three little girls for makeovers at the BBB for 9 a.m. We got in the park about 8:45 and wow, I knew it was going to be a busy, busy day. The make-overs ended up taking awhile, because we opted to do the photoshoot after their makeovers were done. My girls had done them twice before, but, this was NieceF's first time ever. She loved all the attention. C was wearing her Alice costume and K had her Rapunzel, complete with long hair. As a surprise, I had ordered NieceF a Snow White dress, and at the shop she noticed she didn't have shoes or a wand, so, we Gma got some for her to complete the look.

K, post make-over:[IMG][/IMG]
C, post make-over: [IMG][/IMG]

By the time we were done at the BBB, the park was packed! We stopped and got the group pictures done in front of the castle, and then we did more photos off by the Wishing Well area. We split off into groups with about 50 minutes until meet time for lunch ressies at The Blue Bayou. We stopped in a gift shop to pick up autograph books for the girls, and well... that was it, there was no time and lines were long and we were back by Small World anyway so we made our way, so painfully to the BB. One way traffic control made for a long route. I can honestly say it was the most packed I have ever experienced in the parks.

Lunch was sadly, disappointing. Least good meal ever I've had at the BB.... they no longer have prime rib. The waitress did explain that they stopped doing the prime rib because they had problems getting consistent size cuts and fattiness ... so they have subbed in the strip loin (or is it the other way around) now. I decided to try it. Eh. Very very Eh. In fact I only ate about 1/3 of it. I ordered mine medium and got it brought to me "well". My BIL ordered his RARE and got it "medium". So, my advice, order it RARE so that way it won't be WELL. Or just get something else. Never tried the Tesoro Chicken...so maybe that's the one last thing I can look forward to trying. The gumbo was excellent though, and the potatoes were great too. After BB we split off again, grabbed some fast passes and some of us went on Pirates and the others did the Jungle Cruise. It's been so long since I've done the regular line and been on the 2nd story of the JC ride, that it was actually the one fun long line to wait in You do get some cool views up there. After that we split up again, some headed for fast passes for SM and my crew headed off to FL. We didn't try to get approval for 13 on our GAC, so the practicality of using it was not good with the big group. As it was, when DH was waiting for Pirates, they had a group of +26+ sort of join up in HA line and that was really disappointing (kind of). Apparently everyone behind them (that line moves very slow) was upset...the one "group" took up the entire queue area. Anyway, I dealt with that issue over the summer with groups of 12+ taking up the entire waiting areas of the small (tiny) HA queue areas (esp in FL) and just wasn't going to do that with this trip. You also know it's really busy when there's a line for Tarzan's Treehouse. I took some scenic photos (off the endless sea of people to be seen in every direction, lol).

We had celeb sighting #2 while waiting in line for Peter Pan... Laura Dern and her family. Ok, I noticed this over the summer, but what's with PP being SOOOO dark, esp. over London? You can barely see ANYTHING in there. I wonder if they got new UV lighting or something... anyway, we did get most of FL done that afternoon. Rides went down a bit that day. My parents had tried the Matterhorn, it broke down. They did space, then tried the MH again and waited an hour, only for it to break down again (plus I think only one side was going anyway). Big Thunder had been down also, and Indy had been down for hours from around 11ish to late afternoon I believe. In fact FP's had gone out only up to 2:40 pm and once Indy got back online, they never turned FP's back on for the day. After that OlderSis and NieceF were tired, and done and left back to the motel. We had FPs for BTRR, so we all met up again and figured we'd give it a shot. Success! Dispite a freaked out CM encouraging FPs to come back later... it was a very short wait (to be fair, a bunch had come up and the line was quickly backing up outside the queue area). From there we went and did Indy. My little girls are still too short, so DH waited with them. Despite thinking it would be a relatively short FP wait, due to the few FPs still out...it was the longest FP wait I think I've had. While we were waiting DH had celeb sighting #3, lol, (he's got a good eye) and he got his pic with the Professor of Astronomy from UCBerkely who is a recurring expert on the show the Universe. Well, got on and off Indy and as we hit the entrance walking up the exit, Indy was DOWN AGAIN and they were closing the queue. DH didn't make it on. Kids were hungry, so we went to the Golden Horseshoe and got dinner and ice cream. By this time, there were no fireworks happening (and hadn't that week so far) and we were losing steam fast (usually my kids are good to stay until 10:30 before they get worn out). All it took was sitting down and my "little" sore throat that had started just as we were making our way to Indy was now fairly burning... The girls wanted one last ride...so we went all the way back to IASW. Our timing was just "right" and we got crushed in the throng of snowseekers. So we had no choice but to join in. We caught the holiday lights show and then finally after a twice the regular line wait, got on IASW. Thankfully the CMs were attentive and nice. The way they had the HA working really did mean that it was always a 20-40 minute longer wait than the regular line as they let 8 chairs/groups down at a time.

We were SO tired. I think every part of me ached. I could tell I now was getting sick too. We hadn't really talked to the kids about out detailed plans, and I'm glad. The plan HAD been to DL/DCA for three days...tues/wed/thurs and then do Knotts on Friday. I talked it over with DH... we officially scrapped the idea of Knotts. December is one HECKUVA month for us... it starts at Thanksgiving and is nonstop til Christmas. His Bday, my Bday, my twins Bday, our anniversary, MIL bday, baby SIL bday, babysis Bday... you get the idea. I had been in full Christmas baking/wrapping/shopping/etc mode since Dec 18th and was just totally DONE. So, we struck a deal with the kids. Thursday.. no DL. Stay, sleep late, swim, maybe shop. Surprisingly even they were fine with the idea. So Thursday we did just that, slept. I needed it so badly, my joints all ached so bad. I didn't even get up OUT of bed til after 2 pm There are times when you just "go with the flow" and that was definitely this trip. My babysis, OlderStepSis and her kids, and YoungerStepSis and her DH had all left by Thursday morning. Turned out my babysis was VERY sick as of Thursday also. Gma and Gpa opted to take Thurs off too... they slept in late and then my mom actually had to make a run to Kaiser for Abx for her sinuses. But it was a good day.

Next up... Friday...

[Teddi]

not to mention we were in Electornica the same night, we only spent one day in both parks, and it was super crowded

Indeed it was! But it does seem supercrowded in DL is soooo much more worse than DCA. Except maybe this next summer when Carsland opens!

[Teddi]

Day 3/4:
Thursday night we called Disney Dining and made ressies for Minnie's on Friday morning. We packed up everything that night, we were checking out of the Ramada Friday morning and Friday night I had just Hotwired a place close to Knotts (Sheraton in Cerritos). DH drove over to the Toy Story lot with K and Bert, while I would walk C & her "stroller" (we finally had to shell out for an adaptive larger size stroller/wheelchair for C, as she has mild CP) directly to DL. We stopped at City Hall, re-GACd and had time for her to see Gephetto and get in line for Mickey, it was perfect timing as DH and K and Bert joined us just in time to get pics with Mickey. Because the parks had been so crowded we really hadn't been able to get alot of "character time" in. Even at Minnie's we saw a whopping 4 (i'm being a bit sarcastic there) characters. That's pretty abnormal in my experience- usually it's 7- 9 characters. The four we saw were Minnie, Max, Eeyore, Rafiki....(we SAW Tigger and Pooh but they didn't make it over to our table the whole time). Food was good as usual. We surprised Gma and Gpa with their gifts- a 2011 photo album, matching Bride and Groom Mickey ears, and "Mr. & Mrs." pin set I found.

[IMG][/IMG]

Friday was pleasantly much less crowded. We didn't have one way crowd control in effect everywhere, just the few select places. We got in BLAB (DH said he hated that I called it that, until he tried it and then he loved it, hehe), Monorail, Space Mountain, Alice, Peter Pan, the Carousel, Mr Toad's, and IASW one more time, then hiked over to NOS for one last ride on Pirates, then onto Pooh. Well C&K got their wish to get their caricatures done in NOS. We made ressies for that evening and proceeded to Critter Country. While DH did single rider for Splash, we hit up the candy store, than made our way back to portraits. They turned out great:
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We had FP's still for Star Tours and Indy..so we hit up Star Tours one last time and this time Bert got picked as the rebel spy! We ate dinner at Pizza Port. Love that Chicken Fusili (sp?)!

Turns out that two of my DH's friends were also down that same week in the parks ... he stopped by one and met up and chitchatted for a while. I was *really* hoping to see fireworks and the good news was that they WERE back on...but DH wasn't interested. He had to go back to NOS to get the forementioned portraits, so I figured I'd hand him the Indy FPs *just in case* they decided to do Indy, meanwhile parents has shoppping in mind. Perfect timing meant I actually did get to see my fireworks (long story but I've never seen the Christmas fireworks), while Gma was shopping in the stores behind the photo shop. C & K were done and we were all ready to call Day #3 a done deal after some last bit of shopping. It was a fun trip..but definitely harder in a bigger group, and at a super busy time of the year...but Friday was less crowded and a day of rest for all helped tremendously..and having only 7 of us that last day made it even smoother. However, it seemed like C was getting a fever and so we decided that instead of trying to meet anymore of my family, we were just going to visit my dad (up in Sylmar) and drive home (we had originally hoped to meet up with some of my family and head up on New Years) We got loaded up and headed off for a fairly short drive to Cerritos. The drive home on NYE was a breeze... we made great time and the road was open the whole way. Two days to recover before the grind of work and school starts again.

Hope everyone else who was down Christmasing at Disneyland had a blast!