Quantcast RWathen -First Trip Report -April 9-14 Hojo's
  Articles | Disneyland | Walt Disney World | User Reviews | Travel
Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: RWathen -First Trip Report -April 9-14 Hojo's

  1. #1

    RWathen -First Trip Report -April 9-14 Hojo's

    Hey everyone!! My name is Ryan and I am mom to a wonderful 11 year old daughter, Casey. We are Disney-obsessed and very excited to be leaving for Disneyland tomorrow. As you can see from my title, this is my first trip report, but I have been enjoying yours for two years now.

    Travel Method: Plane (Southwest into John Wayne)

    Resort: Hojo's -Our first time staying here

    Accommodations: King room

    Tickets: 6 Day Park Hoppers

    Cast of Characters: Ryan (me-46) and DD Casey (11)

    Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group:
    Me – Approximately 15 -20 trips to DLR/3 visits to Disney World
    Casey - 10 trips to DLR/2 trips to Disney World


    We are currently watching Finding Nemo and getting into the Disney mood. It doesn't take much for that. We spent today packing. I have been fighting a cold all week, so none of it got done until today. We are leaving on an early flight, so we will be getting up around 3:45. One of my DD best friend's and her parents are also going at the same time, so they are picking us up for the ride to the airport. They are flying on Jet Blue, so we will part ways there. They are also staying further away from DLR, so we won't meet up again until we are in the park. I will try to update in the evenings, if I can, and I hope you will find this as interesting as I do when I read about your trips!


  2. # ADS

    Join Date
    Posts
     

  3. #2

    I intended to update the report each night, but the free wifi at Hojo's wasn't a strong enough signal for my ipad. We are back though and I will do my best to remember the details of our trip. It was a fabulous trip, but an emotional one too. In addition to going to Disneyland, we took this opportunity to visit a dear friend in Huntington Beach whose 8 year old daughter is in the end stages of Mitochondrial Disease and was just placed on hospice. We have been friends since we were pregnant with our now 11 year olds. We met on an expecting club on the internet and became friends in real life after meeting when the babies were 10 ms. old. We wanted to say our goodbyes to their sweet daughter.

    Monday, April 9, 2012

    We intended to get up at 3:45 since our friends were picking us up at 4:15. Those plans changed though when Casey woke up at 3:15 with pain in her foot. She often gets growing pains at night and this was particularly bad. I gave her some tylenol and we decided to just get ready to go. We were ready at 4:15, but our friends didn't show up until 4:30. We had a long wait in the economy parking for the shuttle thought. Three full buses passed before we were able to board. We went our separate ways once we reached the terminal. We only had enough time to grab some turkey and avocado sandwiches from Burger and Brew and get to our gate. We boarded shortly after. Those were the best sandwiches!!! Everything was fresh and it was much better than just having peanuts. Our flight was a few minutes late arriving at John Wayne Airport, but we were there by 8:45. We went off site to Advantage for our rental car. I asked for the quickest route to Disneyland, and the very helpful attendant gave me the wrong directions. We were at least 15 miles past Disneyland when I pulled off the 405 and stopped to check a map. Fortunately for me, there was a parking meter guy giving tickets on the street where I stopped (not so fortunate for those people). He gave us the correct directions and we were at Hojo's 15 minutes later. Our room wasn't ready, but we changed into shorts in the car and headed to Disneyland!

    We took that beautiful, first stroll down Main Street and decided to get fast passes for Indiana Jones. Our friends had texted that they were going to get breakfast first and meet us after. We figured we had some time, so we got the fast passes, went on the Haunted Mansion and then Winnie the Pooh. We made a pit stop at the bakery in the Pooh Corner store. I love that place. I got a chocolate dipped pretzel. Yummy! We were headed back to Indy when our friends texted that they were waiting outside of Indy. We met them there and went on the Jungle Cruise. Love that ride. I let Erin, Casey's BFF, have my fast pass and the two girls rode Indiana Jones. We went over to Fantasyland and rode on the Storybook Canal boats and It's a Small World. The girls wanted to ride Autopia, so we headed over to grab fast passes for that. The girls wanted to go into Inoventions, but since I had seen most of that I went shopping while the others went inside. After we rode Autopia we headed over to the California park. We went on Little Mermaid and then Erin wasn't feeling well. She had been sick the week before and she looked really pale. They decided to return to the hotel for a bit and maybe come back later. Casey rode on Grizzly River Rapids single rider, then we headed to the hotel to get our room and change into warmer clothes. Our room was on the second floor of building one, facing the freeway, but we couldn't hear it at all. The new sound proofing is fabulous. We had a king sized bed and the room was a good size, except for the bathroom. It was really small and needed some work. We were pretty happy overall though. We headed back to Ca. Adventure and went on Monsters, Inc. before having soup in the bread bowls at the wharf. Yummy! Our friends had texted saying that Erin had a fever and they were going to stay in the hotel. We went to Disneyland and did single rider on Indy before calling it a night ourselves. Overall, it was a nice first day. Good weather and not too crowded. Many of the rides were walk-ons or short waits which surprised me for this week. We were asleep by 11:30 and prepared for our next day!
















    1


  4. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Southern Oregon

    Other than a few bumps in the road, sounds like a good first day! Hopefully Erin felt better the rest of the trip!


  5. #4

    Sounds like a great start! I'm so sorry about your friend's daughter-that must be heartwrenching for you.

    I'd love to do a trip with a friend for my kids along. We've gone once with same-age cousins and they all just had a blast.

    Sara, hoping to plan a trip next year for her 40th with DH and kids....

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •