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View Full Version : We are back... trip report



ima_mickeyfan
09-21-2005, 08:10 AM
Mission: To head to the Happiest place on Earth
Members: DH, Myself, DS #1 age 10, DS #2 age 8, DD #1 age 5, DD #2 age 4
(6 people total)

Tuesday morning: We had a nice and easy drive from LAX to our Hotel, we arrived at The Disneyland Hotel at 10am, the children were all in AHHH over the place, we pulled in to unload our bags and were immediatly greated by Bell services (sorry don't do well with names), they stored our bags for us and I went and did an early check in. Upon checking in I grabbed a few halloween post cards and cinderella tattoos for the kids, the girls loved them, the boys liked the cards, but passedd on the tats.. after checking in, I was handed our Inteniary that the Mr. Wonderful John Walsh had put together for us and was given 6 yellow envelopes each with our names on them, the outside of the envelopes were decorated with stickers from Aladin. We all sit down on the couches and open them up, we each had gotten an 8x10 black and white autographed photo of our favorite characters....how nice was that?! also inside the envelopes were post cards and some color sheets for the girls and baseball cards for the boys. How cool! Dh decides to go visit the gift shop, takes the boys and they come back to where we were standing and gave me a Minnie mouse bag. That bag was well used during our trip!
Well we decide it's time to hit the parks we head out of the hotel and stopped by the neverland pool to see what it looked like. because we had no key yet (our room was not ready) we only got to look from the outside of the gate. We decided to ride the Monorail into the park and the kids and I were able to ride in the front with the driver, they thought that was so cool....so did I, hehe....we arrive in the park, everyone decides they are hungry so we went to grab some pizza at pizza port, closed.. ok 15 mins till it opens, so we went on space mountain. First ride of the day, first ride for my dd's it was so fun! the girls liked it, but dd#1 decided once was enough. after getting off that ride, I was having a hard time walking straight... well we go back to pizza port and eat lunch shared meals of course since some of the portions are huge..after that, we headed over to fantasyland via the front of the castle, cause you have to see it up close of course. all the new sparkles, it looked beautiful. the first ride we went on was Snow White cute, kind of dark and scary for the girls at first, then at the end dd #1 said that's not so bad..lol next was pinochio cute, the girls really loved that one. Then the girls wanted to ride Dumbo and the line was LOOOOONG!! so we headed over to the tea cups, they loved that ride. The boys wanted to ride pirates, we did that and had fun, dd#1 decided that she really didn't like that ride, I think it's the unknown for her, the drops in the dark is what I think bothered her. after pirates, we headed over to critter country, did the pooh ride, very cute, very short saw tigger first character of the day they actually saw, dd 's were so excited we went to get in line but the Cm said they were leaving and to come back later, well dd#1 wanted to see her tigger so we stood there and he waved to them and patted them on the head, we decided to go get some candy from the store behind us and dd turned around to say bye to tigger, and he ran right into her while he was leaving almost knocking her over. he grabbed her by the head and gave her "kisses" all over her head. she was in heaven. We then did splash mt. I think dd#1 is going to need therapy from some of those rides, she did not like that ride at all!, dd#2 who's 4 well, we could not keep her off of splash, space and the matterhorn! funny how that was, dd is usually the daring one jumps from the top of any and everything, but not this trip, dd #2 was the shy one with the characters, it was almost like they did a role reversal. after splash, we decided that we would go back to the hotel and have our bags sent up, by then it was 4pm, where did the time go? went and finished check in asked the CM for extra keys so the kids could have them in their scrapbooks, he said no problem they are special edition ones, how many do you want? 6 one for each of us.. I knew dh's and mine would be scratched up by the end of the trip so I put the kids keys away... We got to our suite and it was plenty big! there was a bag on the bar so I opened it and it there were t-shirts for the children inside. gifts from "mickey" welcoming the kids "home". (something I had set up with vacation planning) the kids loved the shirts and decided they wanted to swim, and the parks were closing at 8 anyway so we decided to hang around the pool area, remeber they have been awake since 3 am and still going strong!...we swam for awhile and the kids loved the peter pan theme pool, they boys had fun on the slides, dd#1 wanted to go on it, but the lifeguard sent her back stating she was to small..so she went on the little kids slide and scooted her self down it as you don't slide very easily..by 6:30 pm, I decided that it was time for dinner and we were going to try Mimi's...talk about yummie!!! I loved the carrot cake type bread that they brought out b4 the meal..the wait staff there was very nice and always kept everyone's drinks filled. I had the turkey dinner, OMG! there was so much food, no one wanted to share my dinner, as they were not in the turkey mood. dh had the ruben, it was 1 full sandwich plus a 1/2 sandwich on top of the fries and side salad they brought out..plenty of left overs that we took back to our room, but because there are no microwaves in the suites, we ended up tossing out the extras. after dinner the fireworks started, so we sat outside of the restaurant and wateched them, it started to get chilly so we drove back to the hotel and went to our room. I was starting to feel tired, the kids? nope still going!! lol so dh and I un pack our bags, get the kids in pj's and made the boy's bed from the pull out couch, they all layed on it to watch some tv and 5 minutes later out like a light!! dh and My cue for bed time aswell,early entry next day... so we took the girls, put them in bed with me so they wouldn't wake up scared in the middle of the night not knowing where they are at. and dh had a big bed all to himself....only for 1 night!
well if you are still with me here, I am going to let you go and do a continuation of the trip at a later time.....thanks for reading

infinite
09-21-2005, 08:24 AM
Wow, that sounds wonderful!

Are you a member of the Disney Vacation Club? How did they know your favorite characters?

We are staying at the GC in uhm…3 days, concierge level. We have stayed concierge level before, but we have never been treated so well! Don’t get me wrong, we were treated very well, everyone was nice, but no autographed photos, etc. We are having gift baskets put in our room this time for each of the boys, so that will be fun.

I can’t wait to read more!

ima_mickeyfan
09-21-2005, 08:56 AM
Wow, that sounds wonderful!

Are you a member of the Disney Vacation Club? How did they know your favorite characters?

We are staying at the GC in uhm…3 days, concierge level. We have stayed concierge level before, but we have never been treated so well! Don’t get me wrong, we were treated very well, everyone was nice, but no autographed photos, etc. We are having gift baskets put in our room this time for each of the boys, so that will be fun.

I can’t wait to read more!
I worked with John Walsh from vacation planning and asked if he could get pictures for the kids, well he asked me what all our favorite characters were and suprise....we got autographed pics. of them.
we are not part of the vacation club, but seriously thinking of it. they offered us the chance to go and listen but didn't have time, they even offered a $100 dollar gift card to go...

IcDkRy16
09-21-2005, 09:38 AM
Sounds like you guys had an amazing time. I can't wait to read the rest!

TowerofTerror
09-21-2005, 09:40 AM
awesome report sound like you had a blast

LoveDL
09-21-2005, 10:27 AM
Love reading your trip report! I always find that my kids seem to go, go, go also and say they aren't tired, but the minute they are in bed they are OUT!

About the autographed pictures, last year we were in Fronteirland, there was an employee dressed up with a clipboard that struck up a conversation with us while we were waiting(for what I can't remember!), anyways, after the conversation she asked us who our favorite characters were and she arranged for the autographed pics for us to be picked up at city hall, also gave us front of the line passes for It's A Small World(opening day of Christmas overlay which is usually very long lines). I thought this was very nice of her, made our trip even more special.

Next trip Oct. 8-Oct. 14th :D

rentayenta
09-21-2005, 12:55 PM
Isn't John Walsh the best?


Fun report so far! :)

Mommy2NicknMax
09-21-2005, 01:55 PM
Great report! Can't wait to hear more. :D

ima_mickeyfan
09-21-2005, 04:12 PM
I forgot to mention that on monday on our way to frontier land, we were walking and a gentlman started yelling out how he was running for Mayor, everyone kept walking by, I felt kind of bad...so we stopped and listend to his spill...turned out to be very funny...my youngest son was picked from the audience to be one of the 3 chosen guys to marry the mayors "ugly" daughter.
the show turned out to be quite funny!!

ima_mickeyfan
09-21-2005, 04:39 PM
WEDNESDAY:
We headed to Universal Studios and had an exciting time there. first thing we did when we entered the park was get in line for water world, we sat in the soak zone and got a little wet, not to bad, everyone enjoyed the show. Then we waited in line for back to the future when we were escorted to our little room, you know the next step to getting on the ride, dd's 1 & 2 decided that they both had to go potty...and could not hold it...so I left with them we ran to the nearest bathroom ran back inside the waiting area but was told we just missed it...they just loaded them inside the ride. Oh well... we then went down to ride Jurassic Park, dd#1 made it very very clear that she was NOT going on that ride, I told her that was ok, she was not big enough...so she started smiling again. dh waited with the girls while I took the boys on it. this was their first time riding....everything went great, nothing seemed to bother the boys till the "DROP" after that happend I was screaming and laughing so hard I looked at ds# 1 and he was crying, ds # 2 looked like he was in shock, but enjoyed the ride. neither one wanted to go back on it...lol
dh decided he was going to take the girls back up to the top while I took the boys on the Mummy ride, well when we got to the front of the line both boys backed out..go figure..so we met dad and girls up top, sat down to have a few snacks and dd#1 was dancing around in the court yard having a good old time listening to the music, so I started taking pictures, then I noticed this group of people comming closer and one guy starts taking pictures of dd# 1 while she is twirling around and dancing, I hit dh on the arm and said he's taking pics of our little girl, dh said look the other guy has a board with him stating they are doing promo shoots. OK I wasn't to worried as he was carring alot of camera equipment and several guys and gals were following him around, then this gal came over and introduced herself and explained who they are and what they were doing at the park, they were hired by universal studios to take pics. of people for their up comming ads for magazines, brochures and internet site. she asked me to sign an waiver basically giving them the right to use the photos. So I did sign then she asked me to put my daughters name next to mine by then dd# 2 was dancing also so I added both their names, But I did notice that the other people who signed b4 me did not write any names next to their signature, so maybe their pictures will be used! I sure hope so, would be nice if they would let us know, but she said there is no way of telling, so just look out for 2 beautiful african american girls dancing and twirling around in the up comming universal studio ads...ok, so after that we ran into dora, OMG!! did my daughters think they died and went to heaven! she is like their most favorite character!!!
we ran into shrek, got pics with him and then of course went to see Donkey..that is such a cute interaction..he talked to the kids and made jokes with them they loved it.. we then went to watch shrek 4-d and that was cute, loved how the seats moved....by now it's getting late, kids want to play at the zone and get wet, I said well, lets all go potty and catch the tram around the lots, ok bored the kids to death, had to stop 3 times and be quiet as they were filming..we did see the bad pirate from pirates of the carribean. they were also filming Desperate housewives and something else, cant remember...after the tour we run up to the top only to find out they closed the zone at 5pm....kids were bumed one of the entire reasons why we even went to that darn place.. well back to the car and try to find the restaurant with the fake snow on the roof.. found it no problem...first thing dd# 2 says, is "Mom, why is the floor dirty"? then I explained to my family that the peanut shells were to be tossed on the floor that is why it is dirty..they had fun throwing them on the floor...orderd dinner and loved it much!! they give huge portions, dd#2 was the only one who finished hers and that was because she just had a hot dog. the childrens burgers are large enough for an adult, I kid you not.. finished dinner and arrived back to the hotel, decided we were going to go for a swim..opened the door and our room was filled with the large Mickey & Minnie Mouse balloons (mylars) one for each of the kids and gift baskets that John Walsh from Vacation Planning had put together for them. Topped off with the cutiest ribbons with mickey heads on them.. I snagged their ribbons for their scrapbooks..they kids were so excited that they got more gifts from Mickey and his friends. we changed and headed to the pool for a few hours, the night was kind of chilly so we headed back to the room and went to bed had a suprise for the kids the next day. My dh's sister and husband were going to meet us at the park....

more later...got to go make dinner

MermaidHair
09-21-2005, 06:49 PM
Great report! I have decided I want to go to DLR as one of your kids - especially with all the fun stuff you have delivered to the room!

nvmom
09-21-2005, 08:19 PM
So, can I ask for a ball park figure on what you spent, or the amount you gave vacation planning to work with for all the cool gifts/balloons, etc for your kids? Thanks.

nvmom

Malcon10t
09-21-2005, 09:57 PM
I forgot to mention that on monday on our way to frontier land, we were walking and a gentlman started yelling out how he was running for Mayor, everyone kept walking by, I felt kind of bad...so we stopped and listend to his spill...turned out to be very funny...my youngest son was picked from the audience to be one of the 3 chosen guys to marry the mayors "ugly" daughter.
the show turned out to be quite funny!!OHHH, I love that routine. My son and BIL were chosen a few years ago. The Billy Hill crew do it. Its a blast!!

ima_mickeyfan
09-22-2005, 08:04 AM
So, can I ask for a ball park figure on what you spent, or the amount you gave vacation planning to work with for all the cool gifts/balloons, etc for your kids? Thanks.

nvmom
I purchased all the gifts from disney direct.com and then sent it via UPS to John Walsh in Vacation planning..and it did not cost me a thing to use his services..although he is worth a million bucks...but shhh don't tell him he may venture on his own and start charging big bucks! lol I am sending him a thank-you gift though.

infinite
09-22-2005, 09:20 AM
I am so impatient…what was the surprise the next day?

Try to take pity on me, we go to Disneyland in 2 days, and I may miss the end of your report. Yes...have pity on me...I am going to Disneyland...ha ha ha.

infinite
09-22-2005, 09:22 AM
Oh, oh was the surprise they were meeting you at the park? OR is there another surprise?