Go into the mind of an over-planner: First-timer's pre/post-trip report for 12/2007 [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

CardinalsFan

11-06-2007, 03:55 PM

Background

First, a little background. My family consists of me, 38, DW32, DD7 and DD4. We live in a suburb of the Kansas City area, on the Kansas side. My kids are Disney fanatics through exposure to the Disney Channel(s) and just about every Disney movie released on DVD.

I'm slightly obsessive when it comes to hobbies, and planning this trip has become my latest obsession. I love digging for a deal, and hate to find out later that I could have had/done something for cheaper than what I paid. It's like a game to me. And I want to get my money's worth, so I don't want to miss out on anything, which is why I research so much.

My DW likes to relax while on vacation, and I nearly ruined our honeymoon in Hawaii several years ago with my obsessively-planned let's-try-and-do-EVERYTHING approach. My DD7 has asthma, and needs to take it easy so she doesn't become too taxed. And DD4 isn't past taking the occasional afternoon nap yet. So, I'm challenged with trying to keep a relaxed pace, while still wanting to go-go-go!

Deciding to Go!

I have never been to Disneyland before (none of us have). Heck, I’ve never been to Southern California before! So how did we decide to visit DL this year? Well, my wife signed up for a Disney Chase Visa Rewards credit card when she started in a home-based sales business last year, with the intention of building up Disney Rewards points so we could better afford a Disney vacation someday. With our kids the ages they are this year, we really didn’t plan on visiting a Disney park for another couple of years, with WDW more the focus than DL.

Chase sent her an insert in a billing statement this past summer, advertising MHT. We thought it might be a neat idea to visit DL in October for this, so we started talking about it. We talked to friends who have gone to DL before, and learned how much smaller DLR is than WDW, and how it is a nice fit for our kids’ ages right now. For kicks, I looked for some flights to see what was available at what prices, and the ball got rolling. I used the Disneyland website to price a trip, as well as the Costco web site, but with airfare, the prices were a bit out of our reach. I was determined to have at least four days in the parks, plus five nights in a hotel, roundtrip airfare, and ground transportation for under $1700. Game on!

Coming soon... Change in Plans!

trekkie2

11-06-2007, 05:07 PM

love this idea, if you get tired of planning yours you can work on mine, I am about to drive myself crazy with the planning! I am planning 7 days for myself and DD (16) we are doing 1 day Universal Studios with transport, 1 day Sea world with transport, Medieval times, and 4 days Disneyland, 7 nights @ CCI and airfare. Looks like about 2400.00 not including food misc. My flights are running about $800.00 as we have no major airport close ( ABQ is 5 hours away) I would love to get the cost down, but I think I have it about as low as I am going to get. Oh well, its going to be great!

CardinalsFan

11-07-2007, 09:46 AM

Change in Plans

While researching Disneyland in general, I found the DIS. I soaked up information, and began to wish we were going for Christmas instead of Halloween, based on what I read. My wife and I talked about it, and she was open to the change. We planned on making it the girls’ Christmas present from us, and we would make it a ***surprise***. And the thing that really did it was a breakthrough in flight costs. When I used the Southwest Airlines website to price out flights way out in December and January, I learned we could save a few hundred dollars over costs in October! Through trial and error, I learned to avoid Sunday and Friday flights, and I learned that the Ontario airport was much cheaper than the other Disney area airports, at least from KC. I even found flights where we only have one stop, but don’t have to change planes! So, with a shot at getting the flights at just over $650 for the four of us, I started really researching the hotel-and-ticket options on the Costco travel website.

Surprise!

For the surprise element, we are planning on sending our DD7 to school on that Monday morning, under the premise that she has a doctor's appointment around lunchtime (she has a ton of doctor's appointments these days, so this will be nothing new). When we pick her up at lunchtime, the van will be loaded with the suitcases, and she'll be surprised to see me there ("Daddy, aren't you supposed to be at work?"). We plan on only telling the girls that we're going on a trip, but we can't tell them where. Their babysitter gave us this idea, as she says her parents did a Disneyland trip this way, and it was one of her fondest childhood memories.

OK, so we're going around Christmas-time (either before, or after)... coming soon: Where to Stay, and When Exactly to Go

BecBennett

11-08-2007, 05:01 AM

It sounds good so far and you really haven't told us anything!

I don't know how people manage to pull off suprise trips, I have enough trouble not telling people what I've gotten them for Christmas! :lmao:

I'm like you, I love to read how people are doing things, and the ways that are different to me.

CardinalsFan

11-08-2007, 10:12 AM

Where to Stay

Overplanner that I am, I made a spreadsheet with the results of all of my Costco research; I had to select each hotel individually, and record the cost of the package in the spreadsheet. I also researched (via TripAdvisor, etc.) those hotels that looked to be near our price range. Through the DIS, I also learned about the HoJo and the Candy Cane Inn, and the proximity of the hotels on Harbor. Hydroguy’s tips about staying within walking distance were great input, as I suspected we would go back for naps on some of our park days. I went back and forth between several hotel choices, especially when my wife expressed an interest in getting a hotel suite (not do-able with our budget, but I had to research it). At about that time, some threads here on the DIS were educating me on the Entertainment Book rate at the HoJo, and since we get that book every year, I loved the idea of getting a hotel most people recommend, at the best price (by far) for any hotel on my list.

When Exactly to Go

Knowing that we had some options that would put the trip in-budget, I started a thread on the DIS to ask about a couple of options for dates in December and January, and based on the input I received (including very valuable information about last year’s hours and schedules for those timeframes), we finalized our dates (12/10 to 12/15), and I booked the flights in early August, using the Southwest Airlines web site. The price for four round-trip tickets from KC to Ontario and back came to $656. Shortly after, I called the HoJo (you must call the hotel directly, and make sure you are speaking to in-house reservations, not the national HoJo reservation line, which sometimes they transfer you to) to ask about the availability of the Entertainment Rate for those dates, and lucky us, we could have a two-queen-bed Deluxe room in building two, with a balcony overlooking the garden pool, away from the freeway noise, at the Entertainment Book rate ($54/night, before tax) for five nights. I booked it. Assuming a 15% tax rate, the total for 5 nights should be around $310.50.

Using last year’s schedule on Laughingplace.com was a key to selecting our dates. We figured we could either go before Christmas, or after New Year’s. Input from nice folks here on the DIS helped convince me that crowds would be better in early-to-mid December than early-to-mid January. I’d rather go in Janurary when it’s super-cold in KC, to escape that cold for a week, but other factors such as likely mid-January ride refurbishments helped sway me. After hearing when the SoCal-area schools get out (~12/14) for Christmas, we knew we had to go prior to that if we wanted to avoid large crowds. And we wanted to avoid weekends in the parks, but did want to include a Friday, when more entertainment (like Fantasmic) is offered. So, it was going to be the week of 12/3 or the week of 12/10 for us. It became apparent that the week of 12/3 was going to have Cast Member parties on Monday and Tuesday (and DL would be closed by 6pm), so that was a strike against that week. And it looked like the Electrical Parade would debut on Friday 12/14, so that was a plus for that week. Finally, my wife said she would need to be in-town for as many early December days as possible for sales parties so she could make her December sales quota, so we had our decision. It would be the week of December 10.

Up next: Good News, Bad News...

CardinalsFan

11-08-2007, 10:17 AM

we are doing 1 day Universal Studios with transport, 1 day Sea world with transport, Medieval times, and 4 days Disneyland

You've got quite a bit more to research than I did, since we're only doing Disneyland and DCA... no Legoland, Sea World, Medieval Times, Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, etc.

Sounds like you've done your homework with your hotel selection. It came down to HoJo vs. CCI for me, and getting the Entertainment Rate at the HoJo sealed the deal.

Have fun!

CardinalsFan

11-08-2007, 10:22 AM

I don't know how people manage to pull off suprise trips, I have enough trouble not telling people what I've gotten them for Christmas!

The surprise element is a tough-ee... I wanted to tell the kids that we're tagging along to Mommy's next AtHome America conference for work, and that there's a "park" next to the hotel that we can play in (they'll be thinking swingsets and slides, not rides and shows). But hearing our babysitter recall her experience with her surprise trip to Disneyland was enough to convince us to try it that way. Later, I'll tell you about all of the pre-trip souvenirs I've been covertly gathering - it's been tough not letting the kids in on any of it.

Hound 109

11-08-2007, 11:02 AM

I'm in.

Cardinal's Fan, you work a trip just like me. Other's see it as work....we see it as a game. Best time, with the best stuff... at the least price. (with the least crowds of course)

Kind of like during the movie Apollo 13 when the engineers had to figure out how to put the square box into the round tube....using nothing but toothpaste, empty tang containers & duct tape. :rotfl:

hound <---just booked 2 nights/3 days - two days prior to your arrival for the exact reasons that you gave.

:)

CardinalsFan

11-08-2007, 11:38 AM

Great reference, Hound!

You had actually replied to the aforementioned thread I started to inquire about dates - you reminded me that doing early entry on our first morning would be advantageous since we're coming from an "earlier" time zone, so it will be easier to get up early. <tease>More on that later!</tease>

We just got back from a last-minute trip to Idaho Falls. My wife's grandfather passed away the night before Halloween, and the funeral was on Saturday. You should have seen me "playing the game" trying to get last-minute airfare, hotel and rental car for as little as possible. Sadly, that three-night trip wound up costing us almost as much as our 5-night Disney trip will!

CardinalsFan

11-08-2007, 11:53 PM

Good News, Bad News

When the December schedule for DLR was finally posted in early October, we had good news, and bad news. The good news is that the parks are going to be open longer than what we had expected based on last year’s schedule. Instead of closing at 8pm on Tues/Wed/Thurs like last year, DL will be open to 9/9/10 on those days! Yay! But when I looked for the Electrical Parade on 12/14, it was not listed. Its first appearance for the holiday season is going to be a week later, on 12/21. Rats. Tip: Using last year’s schedule is good for getting an idea of what to expect, but things are subject to change. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Coming Soon: How to Get Around

CardinalsFan

11-09-2007, 02:35 PM

How to Get Around

From what I’ve learned here on the DIS, we won’t need a rental car. We can walk to and from the parks, and we can have groceries delivered to the hotel. So, I looked for options in ground transportation. Cabs from the Ontario airport to Disneyland could possibly have a reasonable flat rate, but I didn’t like the idea of cramming the four of us in a cab. The SuperShuttle was downright expensive, according to their online fare calculator ($136 round trip for the four of us! For a shared van! Ouch!). I initially had no intention of getting a rental car, as I had no interest in driving in LA traffic. But because we land around rush hour time, and we’ll be hungry and ready for dinner, and because our return flight is late in the afternoon, the benefits of having a rental car, at least for our arrival day and departure day, were starting to be realized. We could land at the Ontario airport, get the car, find dinner somewhere nearby, and eat while letting rush hour die down. Then we could drive to the hotel, check in, and make a quick grocery store run. If we had a rental car on our departure day, we could do something more than spend half-a-day in Downtown Disney. I had successfully used Priceline for a rental car for our Phoenix/Sedona trip this past winter, so I tried it. Let’s see if I can get a full-size car, for 5 days, at $17/day (before taxes/fees), picking up and dropping off at the Ontario airport... denied. No takers. Rats. Last winter, they accepted my very first offer, but I couldn’t remember how much I bid. But I do remember getting a brand-new Buick with about 120 miles on it – it was awesome! Anyway, Priceline sent me an email message three days later, letting me know it was OK to try again. So, if I can try every three days, with plenty of time to do it, I’ll just increase my offer by a buck each time, until they accept it. With a five-day rental, it’s only $5 more, plus a few cents for taxes. So I tried $18/day. Accepted, by Avis! After taxes and fees, the total comes to $128.40, which is less than the SuperShuttle!

Coming soon: Getting Park Tickets for Cheap

CardinalsFan

11-11-2007, 05:45 PM

Getting Park Tickets (as cheaply as possible)

I knew I needed to get these eventually, but I was hemming and hawing between four-day and five-day hoppers. For the four of us, the cost difference was only $40. Since our departure flight isn’t until 4:30pm, we could have a fifth day on a Saturday, and get in at least four hours (8-noon). But my wife and I decided that four days was going to be enough. We’ll be exhausted by that fifth day, and being a travel day, we didn’t want the hassle of fitting in as much park time as possible. Plus, my wife and I want to take the girls to a beach (more on that later). So, I was about to order four-day parkhoppers from the Disney website, when someone on the DIS announced the deal for getting a second early entry day when using getawaytoday. Ooooh, another early entry day! I was pumped, and was about to order, when I made the mistake of bragging about it to my wife. Let’s just say she’s not a morning person and leave it at that. She wasn’t thrilled about the one early entry day, and when I proposed we could have two, she had the opposite of my reaction. Even accused me of trying to ruin the vacation for her. Someone on the boards here suggested we go in early without her, and let her sleep in and join us later, but I didn’t like that idea for some reason. Assuming the deal would be available for a while longer, I didn’t pull the trigger. More research on the DIS helped me learn about the Gay Days tickets, available at a significant discount, but for a limited time. It was mid-September, and it was the last week the deal was available. The only downside to this cost savings: no early entry days. Well, for us, that can be considered win-win. We save money, which makes me happy, and we don’t have to go in early, which makes my wife happy. With two days before the ordering deadline, I placed the order. The tickets arrived a week or two later. Total cost for four-day hoppers (two adult, two children): $526.95

Next: Our Dining Plans

CardinalsFan

11-12-2007, 10:07 AM

Our Dining Plans

In addition to her asthma, my DD7 has been diagnosed with an allergy to dairy. It’s more common than you probably think, and it runs in my wife’s side of the family. It’s not like she eats cheese and then can’t breathe or anything acute like that, it’s more like she has fewer colds/congestion, fewer leg cramps, and no more circles under her eyes when she avoids dairy. So, for basically this calendar year, we’ve kept her (and her sister, for good measure) off of dairy. Eating out is sometimes a challenge, but we have been successful so far. I don't suspect it will be a problem on this trip.

My wife will likely have almost $300 on her Disney Rewards card by the time we’re in the parks. We plan on exhausting it on dining and souvenirs. We also plan on eating at Mimi’s more than once since it's right next to our hotel and we like the ones here at home, and I’d like to visit Tony Roma’s for dinner one night (we used to have one here at home, and I kind of miss it). In the parks, based on my research here on the DIS, we are definitely doing dinner at Ariel’s Grotto, and lunch at the Blue Bayou. I successfully got an 11:30am PS for the BB, so we can get a waterside table. And I got a 4:20pm PS for AG, so we’re set for those plans. The rest of our meals will be spontaneous (hard word for me the overplanner). I’d like to eat while watching the Billy Hill show sometime while we're there. And I'm starting to think that I should get a ressie for Friday dinner, since I'm guessing Friday will be the most crowded day of our trip. I just can't decide where. I'm fairly certain we'll be at the Block Party Bash in DCA at 5:15pm on Friday, so I'd like to eat somewhere around there afterwards, but I'm not sure I want to do Wine Country Trattoria, which is the only DCA eatery that we'd consider (that takes reservations)... we're not going to The Vineyard Room. Maybe this would be a good day to eat in Downtown Disney.

My general attitude towards eating is that it is an expense, and it consumes time I’d rather spend doing something else. And that’s how I am at home! Just think how I’m going to feel in the parks!

Next: What to Do On Our Travel Days

Hound 109

11-12-2007, 10:31 AM

CardinalsFan

11-12-2007, 10:57 AM

You can also eat in the GCH for friday dinner (from burgers etc. at Whitewater... to character meal... to ritsy). I mention this because it's adjacent to DCA (secret entrance next to Griz Rapids). or as you mentioned, lots of places in DTD.

(i was the one who said to let the sleeping wife lay & head out to the park for EE. :rolleyes1 But it worked for us because it was our third day - DW knew how to get to the park by that point....& we were at the PP...so she enjoyed strolling thru DTD on the walk to the DL.)

Am curious....who are KC Mike & Cardinal fan rooting for in the KU - Mizoo game? Biggest game between these two schools EVER.

Keep posting. :thumbsup2

I'm not really a college sports fan... heck, I've never been to a college football game, so I'm the wrong guy to ask. But I attended and graduated from a school in the University of Missouri system (Rolla), so I'll go with Mizzou. I'll hope for any outcome that causes tons of controversy in the BCS rankings, so there will be even more of a giant outcry for a playoff system for college football. Anything to get rid of the BCS. I think it's a major reason why I don't watch college football.

CardinalsFan

11-12-2007, 04:49 PM

What to Do on our Travel Days

On our travel day from KC to SoCal, we’ll land at the Ontario airport just after 5pm, on a Monday. Right at the beginning of rush hour. Due to the difference in time zones, it will feel like 7pm to us midwesterners, so we’ll be hungry for dinner. I figure it will take us at least a half-hour to claim our checked luggage and pick up the rental car from Avis, but that still leaves us in the middle of rush hour. And I’ve heard horror stories about the LA-area traffic jams, so we’d like to avoid that. So, we’ll plan on eating dinner near the airport while traffic dies down, and then we’ll get on the freeway to make the (hopefully) 35-minute drive to the HoJo. Then we’ll check in, likely around 8:00pm. If our girls are awake, this will likely be when we help them guess where we’re going this week. Google Maps is a wonderful tool for finding restaurants and eateries near the airport.

On our last day, we don’t fly out of the Ontario airport until 4:30pm. We’ve got a half-day to kill, and we’ll have a rental car. My wife and I want to take the girls to a beach, even though it will likely be cold. So, I began to research options. The beaches within closest range appeared to be to the southwest – Huntington, Newport, Laguna, etc. I found the websites for Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, and registered to receive each’s visitor guide in the mail. But I found through some descriptions on trip reports that Newport was likely to be more our style. So, we plan on checking out of the HoJo on the morning of Saturday, 12/15, and driving down to Newport Beach and seeing the sites there. Maybe we’ll do a harbor cruise. Maybe we’ll eat at Ruby’s out on the pier. Maybe the kids will play in the Fun Zone. Maybe we’ll take the ferry over to Balboa Island and walk the streets. Maybe my wife will leave the kids with me and head over to Fashion Island for a day of shopping:scared1:. I’m trying to educate myself on the options available, and then let the day just happen, without overplanning. So, if any of you reading this have suggestions, I’m ready to add them to the list. But I think we’ll need to eat lunch by noon, and then start heading to the airport. I can’t take the stress of being late, and who knows how traffic will be.

One really cool thing I found about Newport Beach is that we’ll be there while they are having their 99th Annual Christmas Boat Parade, where nearly a hundred boat owners decorate their boats with lights and music, and parade through the harbor at night. That kind of thing is right up our alley! I even looked into extending our trip by a day so we could overnight in Newport Beach that night, and spend the whole day doing stuff, and the night watching the parade. But the extra cost outweighed the benefit, so we aren’t doing that. The parade runs most of the nights we’re in the area, so maybe we’ll knock off from the parks early one night and head down there for dinner at Ruby’s and an hour of parade watching! I doubt it, but we’ll see…

Lastly, saving five bucks is saving five bucks. I found that the airport in KC has a website which, if you register for it, will email you a coupon which gives you a free day of long-term parking when you park for at least three days. It only saves us $5.50, but it all adds up, right? I was able to print two of the coupons, and I used one when we parked there for our Idaho trip earlier this month.

Next: Pre-Gathered Souvenirs, Planning Visits from Tinkerbell

tinkermell

11-13-2007, 02:02 PM

What a great pre-trip report!!!

Glad you are making a day for the beach too! And even if the water may be too cold to swim in, the weather still might be great. If it is, I would expect to see people laying out, and enjoying the sun. At the beginning of the pier at Newport is also a great spot for food called Charlies Chili. And if you can find the little walk up food booth, look for "cheese strips" and salsa. They have been serving these for as long as I can remember, and we always get them when we go. If you park near the pier, be sure to walk to Balboa Island. The walk isn't bad, and you can see all of the beautiful homes along the "strand." At the end you can catch the ferry over the harbor. And Fashion Island is a shopper's paradise. That and Orange Coast Plaza, are probably the best malls in California, besides maybe San Francisco.

Have so much fun!! Oh and by the way, I'l be at DL at the same time as you. We arrive on the 13th and leave on the 16th. We went last year at the same time frame, and it was great. The weekend was even super. I'm also sad to hear that the EP won't be going yet. :sad2: Still I'm glad you picked the holidays to be there. It is absolutely beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :love:
I always wear my lime green Mickey tags on my purse, so be on the look out! :tinker:

CardinalsFan

11-14-2007, 09:37 AM

Thanks for the Newport tips, Tinkermell!

CardinalsFan

11-14-2007, 09:52 AM

Visits from Tinkerbell

One of my goals for this trip is to try keeping down our spending inside the parks, while still allowing for it. It is, after all, a vacation, and this may be our only visit to DLR (we plan on doing WDW in 3-4 more years). I had read some great tips on the DIS about people buying Disney-themed gifts at home, bringing them along, and when a child gets the “I wants,” these can be whipped out of the backpack to temporarily satisfy the child. Hmmm. Good idea. One member took it a step further, and set out gifts in the hotel room while the children were sleeping, with the premise of the gifts being left by “Tinkerbell” during the middle of the night. We loved that idea, and began a quest for finding appropriate items. I got some from eBay, and I got a bunch from the dollar spot at Target.

Later, I'll try to post some pictures to show the loot described below:

First morning (Tuesday, December 11… our first day in the parks): each girl will get her own Disney-themed fanny pack and autograph book, and a clickable Sharpie, some Princess-themed and Tinkerbell-themed trinkets, and some glow necklaces for nighttime and/or dark rides. This comes with a note from Tinkerbell (on Tinkerbell stationery), with “fairy dust” (gold glitter) curiously trailing on the floor from the gifts to the balcony door (sorry, housekeeping!).

I got the autograph books and fanny packs on eBay, and I got the Tinkerbell stationery at the dollar bin at Target. The sharpies and gold glitter were also from Target. The glow necklaces were in the Halloween aisle at Wal-Mart.
I got the trinkets from the dollar bin at Target.

Second morning (Wednesday, December 12… our second day in the parks): each girl will get a YOAMD Mickey Ears Hat embroidered with her name, some more Princess-themed and Tinkerbell-themed trinkets, plus more glow necklaces for nighttime and/or dark rides, and another card from Tinkerbell, with more fairy dust.

I got the hats on eBay, and took them to the local EmbroidMe shop to have their names embroidered-on.
I got the trinkets from the dollar bin at Target.

Third morning (Thursday, December 13… our third day in the parks): each girl will get a Disneyland sweatshirt, some more Princess-themed and Tinkerbell-themed trinkets, plus more glow necklaces for nighttime and/or dark rides, another card from Tinkerbell, and more fairy dust.

I got the sweatshirts on eBay.
I got the trinkets from the dollar bin at Target.

Fourth morning (Friday, December 14… our last, and longest day in the parks): each girl will get some more Princess-themed and Tinkerbell-themed trinkets, plus more glow necklaces for nighttime and/or dark rides, another card from Tinkerbell, and more of that curious fairy dust.

Final morning (Saturday, December 15… travel day): one final card from Tinkerbell, and fairy dust, and who knows what else.

I’m still looking for some small items for them to bring into the parks in their fanny packs, like Chapstick, and maybe something to occupy them while waiting in lines (suggestions are welcome!). I may get DD7 some Disney-themed games for her Nintendo GBA. And I have another Mickey Ears Hat with Tinkerbell on it (from eBay) that Tinkerbell will leave for DD4. I may get each girl a disposable camera to use as she sees fit (ten bucks says they take all 24 pictures in the first 24 minutes!).

Hmmm, this post would be a lot better if I had those pictures!:rolleyes1

CardinalsFan

11-14-2007, 09:40 PM

Fanny Packs:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/7410/img3760ib6.jpg

Autograph Books and Clickable Sharpies:
http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1561/img3755ow5.jpg

Glow Stick Necklaces:
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/4023/img3756kl7.jpg

Sweatshirts:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4489/img3754yt1.jpg

Jibbitz:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8720/img3761qc1.jpg

CardinalsFan

11-14-2007, 09:50 PM

YOAMD Hats (front):
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5660/img3757bi3.jpg

YOAMD Hats (back):
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/1936/img3758bh0.jpg

Tinkerbell Mickey Ears Hat:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/7238/img3759oq5.jpg

Tin Princess Purses (not from dollar bin - though I wish they were!):
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5729/img3762wo7.jpg

Variety of stuff from the Target dollar bins:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1788/img3763wz4.jpg

More dollar bin stuff:
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/4683/img3764vu4.jpg

Magnetic dress-your-princess sets (dollar bin):
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/6286/img3765ex5.jpg

That's all (so far ;) )!

CardinalsFan

11-15-2007, 05:38 PM

Park Strategies

I was expecting the parks to be uncrowded during this week, but seeing the “December Roll Call” thread has made me realize this week may be more popular than I had anticipated! Something like RideMax is very interesting to me, as a computer programmer, but I have resisted using it, trying to keep our in-park experience a bit more spontaneous (hard word for an overplanner). I suspect I’ll cave-in sometime next week, and purchase it and play with several scenarios (I’ll have some downtime that week).

I do know from analyzing the park schedules that there are certain attractions that will have to be visited at certain times. We were lucky enough to get four tickets to Mickey’s Toontown Morning Madness (thanks vanvmom!), which we plan on using on Wednesday morning, or if we miss that for some reason, on Friday morning. And Fantasmic is only available on Friday night during our stay, at two different times, so we’ll attempt to go to the earlier showing, since I’m pretty sure my kids won’t be able to stay up for the later showing (not without cranky-tired incidents, anyway). And the only opportunity to view the DL parade during daylight hours will be on Friday; I’m sure we will have already seen the same parade (at night) before then, but if for some reason we wanted to experience it during daylight hours (e.g., better photos), this will be our only opportunity. Speaking of parades, the Block Party Bash is only available on Friday during our stay, so if we want to see it, we had better be in DCA on Friday at 5:15pm. Side note: a website I found (thesunrisetimes.com) forecasts the sunrise to be around 7:00am each day, and sunset around 5:00pm each day. So I guess it will be nearly dark when we see the Block Party Bash? Does that seem right?

Most everything else is available at least a few times during our stay, so we’ll have plenty of opportunities to see things like the nighttime DL parade, fireworks (weather permitting), Aladdin, Playhouse Disney, and the HSM2 performances. We will prioritize seeing the fireworks as early as possible in the trip, in case of cancellations due to weather. And if we do the Princess Fantasy Faire, one of us will get in line before it opens, and we'll all go in right when it opens, to minimize the wait to see the princesses.

We would like to experience as much as possible, and with 53 available hours in DL and 35 available hours in DCA, I’m hopeful we can do it all! Maybe we’ll even have time to re-visit some favorites. I’m not very interested in the wet rides (Splash and GRR), since I’m assuming it will be too cool for getting wet. I’m prepared to accept the possibility that we’ll have to go back to the hotel for mid-afternoon breaks/naps, even though I’m not going to like it! From what I’ve read, my tune will change once I’m there, and I experience the exhaustion everyone talks about. But right now, I’m scheming to sneak back out to the parks while my wife and kids nap. We’ll see how that goes over. Maybe we'll have an unseasonably warm day, and hit a wet ride just before heading back to the hotel for an afternoon change of clothes and nap.

I’d like to let the kids have plenty of time for stuff like the Redwood Creek Challenge and the Pirate’s Lair.

And I want to go to the Visa Meet-N-Greet in DCA each day, so we can get our free 5x7. But if we're having too much fun in DL, I'm prepared to skip it a day or two.

MommyTo5

11-17-2007, 11:27 AM

Great pre-trip report, CardinalsFan! Sounds lke you over-plan in the same way I do... I definitely want the most bang for my buck! I've found this guarantees a GREAT vacation!!!

You are inspiring... I may just have to start my own pre-trip! :thumbsup2

(By the way, sound like we might be neighbors... I'm in Olathe!)

MommyTo5

11-17-2007, 12:04 PM

Visits from TinkerbellI’m still looking for some small items for them to bring into the parks in their fanny packs, like Chapstick, and maybe something to occupy them while waiting in lines (suggestions are welcome!). I may get DD7 some Disney-themed games for her Nintendo GBA. And I have another Mickey Ears Hat with Tinkerbell on it (from eBay) that Tinkerbell will leave for DD4. I may get each girl a disposable camera to use as she sees fit (ten bucks says they take all 24 pictures in the first 24 minutes!).

Not Chapstick, but very similar!

Avon.com has some Disney lip balms for $.69 each

http://shop.avon.com/shop/product.asp?pf_id=32373&from=search&find_spec=disney&camp=200724&dir_delivery=1&rep_delivery=1

If that link doesn't work, just do a search! ;)

Use code EREPFS for Free Shipping (you might have to search for an e-rep in your area and select her as your rep for the code to work).

My girls have always loved these!

Hound 109

11-17-2007, 04:07 PM

Park Strategies

.....I’m prepared to accept the possibility that we’ll have to go back to the hotel for mid-afternoon breaks/naps, even though I’m not going to like it! From what I’ve read, my tune will change once I’m there, and I experience the exhaustion everyone talks about. But right now, I’m scheming to sneak back out to the parks while my wife and kids nap. We’ll see how that goes over. Maybe we'll have an unseasonably warm day, and hit a wet ride just before heading back to the hotel for an afternoon change of clothes and nap.

I’d like to let the kids have plenty of time for stuff like the Redwood Creek Challenge and the Pirate’s Lair.

........

CF, the "afternoon break" theory evolves naturally for me & others (all are basically HydroGuy followers) who believe that the best way to tour DLR is to get there early (& collect FPs the first 3 hours) & then relax for a couple of hours when the SoCal day trippers (& the "get up later go with the flow" types) are crowding the park.

Half the time a nap is taken, sometimes it's just a nice 2 - 3 hour rest & a chance to change your socks & a shirt....maybe take a dip in the pool or a shower. Allows us to re-charge for the wonder that is DLR at night.

Maybe you'll be able to commando thru the afternoon, but with kids, i recommend a couple of hours of down time (especially if you properly tour early, which i suspect you will). Regarding you slipping over while they're resting. It's a pretty good hike (at least for 4 round trip walks in a day)....I would recommend you do the "sneaking off, or touring on your own", either before or after the rest. While the rest of the family is shopping or doing a character greet, you can split off for checking stuff out & FP collecting. (HydroGuys Aug. of 05 "How to do FP on a crowded day" report illustrates how this just kind of happens naturally).

Your idea of doing Griz or Splash just before departing is a great one. We have done that 5 of our 7 days of touring.

Penciling in time for Redwood Trail (which is also a good place to "dry out" after Griz btw..) & Pirates Lair is also smart. When the park is crowded these are good places to let the kids "romp". Pirates Lair (or Tom Sawyers Island as us old timers call it) is a blast & a good hour to hour & a half of fun can be had on the island (which would include pirate show & raft transport time).

Great Report. :thumbsup2

CardinalsFan

11-17-2007, 10:47 PM

CardinalsFan

11-17-2007, 10:51 PM

Hey Hound - thanks again for the advice!

CF

MommyTo5

11-17-2007, 11:46 PM

Thanks, MommyTo5, er, 6... I just realized that we have some lip "stuff" among the Tinkerbell-themed items from the dollar bin at Target. But I might have to get a few of those anyway (my 7-year-old can lose a tube of chapstick in 5 minutes). Do you know if that stuff has any mineral oil in it? We don't use any moisturizers containing mineral oil... so I'm just curious to know that.

Pretty cool that you're in Olathe, too!

I just ordered the Disney lip balm today so I don't have any in hand to check, but I did check both the Avon High School Musical and Desserts varieties we have here at home and they both list the exact same ingredients on the label - neither containing mineral oil. I think it's safe to assume that the Disney variety does not contain mineral oil either.

CardinalsFan

11-18-2007, 11:13 AM

Thanks for checking on that!

CardinalsFan

11-19-2007, 09:17 AM

I just ordered two of those lip balms from Avon. One in Tinkerbell (Grape) and one in Princess Aurora (Pink Cupcake). Thanks again for the tip... the free shipping code worked like a charm! :thumbsup2

http://shop.avon.com/shop/assets/images/prod/prod_1043572_XL.jpg

1KidandaHalf

11-20-2007, 01:38 PM

Wow, you are an inspiration to overplanners everywhere. :-)
I, too, am planning a first trip to DLR this December. We'll actually be there the exact same dates as you, except flying into SNA airport instead. Am eagerly awaiting more tips and news from you, as I've not had as much time to plan as I would have liked.

I love to research and plan. My DH not so much, so it's pretty much up to me. Unfortunately, this trip planning has been super-rushed and I've not been able to research/save as much as I wanted. Originally we were going to go next spring for my son's 5th birthday. These plans have been accelerated with the news that we will be expecting another one next summer (hence the "and a Half") and I didn't want to travel in the third trimester. With the change in plans, we started looking at dates two weeks ago. Settled on one and booked hotel, a 4-day hopper, air and car just two days ago! All very rushed, but I was able to get reservations at CCI and a good car rental rate - $17 a day on Hotwire. The hotel rate was so-so, but it came so highly recommended on the boards that I went for it.

The airfare caused me some frustration. There was a sale when I first looked at dates over the weekend, but we couldn't confirm time off work until Tuesday. It went up $40 a person that day! I was bummed. However, we did manage to get a corporate discount through my DH's employer travel so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Your posts here are great and I will definitely be making notes of some of your tips. I, too, am shopping for Disney goodies as surprises through the trip. If you end up doing the RideMax, let me know. We are thinkign about it too and, like you, are SW engineers so the algorithms look interesting.

Here's a tip I found: If you are planning on going to Legoland (which we are) and have a AAA membership, you can get 10% off discount at the gate and a 2nd day pass for free. There's more information on the Legoland site too.

Have a great trip and maybe we'll see you there!

Hound 109

11-20-2007, 05:50 PM

One & a 1/2 kids....have you read the tip thread stickys at the top of the DLR board?

If not, I recommend you do.....especially all of HydroGuy's tips. & continue to read Cardinal Fan's anal....er......I mean thoroughly planned, :rotfl: .........

......& most excellent trip report. :thumbsup2

CardinalsFan

11-20-2007, 09:31 PM

Fairy Godmailer Sets the Stage for Tinkerbell

Today, the girls each received a postcard in the mail, postmarked from Santa Ana, California (psst!... thanks, kc10family!... hope you had a good trip)! The girls absolutely loooooove to get mail, and my DD7 was able to read hers to herself:

I do hope you and your family can come to Disneyland soon to visit! Love, Tink

And my DD4 received one as well, but my DD7 had to read it to her:

I have been thinking it is time for you to come visit us at Disneyland. See you soon I hope! Tink

The front of each postcard was a picture of Tinkerbell, with phrases like "Think Tink" and "All you need is Trust & a little bit of Pixie dust!"

The looks on their faces were priceless! They kept asking me questions, like how Tinkerbell knew their names (and address)! My DD7 asked me if we could go buy two Tinkerbell costumes tonight. When I asked why, she said "So we can wear them to go visit Tinkerbell at Disneyland! They asked me if I had been talking to Tinkerbell about potentially visiting DLR. My DW and I played it coy, saying things like "well, I don't know if we can go to Disneyland anytime soon, we just took that trip to Idaho" and "we'll see, but no promises."

So, now when we surprise them with an unannounced trip, they'll very likely ask "are we going to Disneyland?" but we will neither confirm nor deny their guesses. Maybe I'll use the postcards to break the news to them once we're there.

CardinalsFan

11-20-2007, 09:38 PM

Kid-n-a-half: thanks for the compliments! Hope you have a great trip, too! And congrats on your new addition to the family.

No, I won't be using RideMax. I'm building a Home Theater PC (HTPC) this week for my HT in the basement, and well, I've got problems. I can't get Windows to stabilize, and will be spending loads of time messing with that, I'm guessing (I've never built a PC before). So, I won't have any extra time to play with RideMax, like I thought I would.

Nice job getting a great rental car rate. Was that for a full-size car? If so, you did better than me!

I'll look for your Lime Green Mickey Head tags in the parks!

1KidandaHalf

11-22-2007, 03:51 PM

Hound -
Thanks for the info. I will most certainly carve out time to go through those posts.

CardinalsFan -
The $17 a day was for a full size. I think we got lucky on timing. I checked the day before and the price was higher. Checked again the next day and saw the price had dropped, so grabbed the rental.
For as rushed as the trip planning has been, I think we did alright. So far the costs (car, hotel, air, 4-day hopper) add up to around 2k for our family of three - and we will actually be in SoCal for a whole week but visiting DLR for just 4 days of it. I think I could have done better if I'd had more time, but considering we did it all so fast, I am pretty happy with the results.

I don't have green mickey tags, but if you see an exhausted but excited pregnant lady with a little 4 year old and an adult kid (my DH ;) ), that will be us!

CardinalsFan

11-23-2007, 10:56 AM

This morning, my DD7 was watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" and having a good time laughing and gasping at everything... then, at the end, somebody wins $100,000 for having the funniest video. My DD7 turns to me and says, "Daddy, I think we should make a funny video, send it in, and when we win the money, we can go to DISNEYLAND."

So...... she probably doesn't think we're going. I've got her right where I want her... :)

CardinalsFan

11-28-2007, 05:06 PM

DD7 needs surgery! Not that big of a deal... just tubes in her ears and probably an adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy. If we decide to do the tonsillectomy, she'll be down for a week.

So, we scheduled the surgery for the Wednesday after we get back from DL. She's already met her deductible for 2007 with all of the asthma and allergy stuff we've done this year, so it's to our advantage to get this done before the end of the year. And she'll miss enough school with the week at DL, so we want to have her recovering during her holiday break, to minimize any more missed school days. Unfortunately, she's going to still be recovering on Christmas. So, we'll make that point when we tell the girls that Disneyland is their Christmas present from Mommy and Daddy... they're getting it early because of DD7's surgery. :thumbsup2

Good thing we didn't decide to do DLR a week later, or we would have likely missed this opportunity.

Here's hoping we can keep everyone healthy for the next 12 days!

Hound 109

11-28-2007, 05:42 PM

Here's wishing your daughter the best of luck, CF. pixiedust:

I hope your trip to Walt's park goes according to your most excellent plans. :thumbsup2

CardinalsFan

12-07-2007, 02:23 PM

DD7 is not getting tubes - the fluid in her ears is gone. But we're doing the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy to help improve her breathing function. She had to give blood this morning for her pre-surgery labs, and she freaked out uncontrollably. I had to constrain her while she screamed and cried and pleaded to not make her do it. Girl hates needles more than anyone I have ever known. Poor thing. The IV for the surgery is going to be nearly as bad, I bet. At least we'll be in Disneyland next week, and she'll forget all about it for six days.

My mom decided she needed to send her granddaughters some Disney dollars to spend on whatever they wanted in the parks. She sent them $50 each, via ten $10 "bills" with Stitch on them. They looooooove Stitch, so that's extra special.

Oh, and DW just transferred her remaining Disney Rewards points onto her rewards card. We'll have $387 to spend on food and souvenirs. Not bad for just under two years of charging business expenses!

Time to start packing!

tinkermell

12-11-2007, 11:51 AM

Darn...I think I'm too late to wish you a wonderful trip!

We'll be there too, if you remember.

I'll have my lime green Mickey Ear attached to my purse.

Have fun!!!!!!!!

CardinalsFan

12-16-2007, 10:41 PM

Thanks, Tinkermell!

Well, we're back. I'll update this thread with some details for our trip, but here are some highlights:

after promising I would not forget to pack the carseats for this trip, I still forgot them
so, when we landed at the Ontario airport, we had to find a store and buy two carseats
we ate at a steakhouse after arriving at the airport (5pm arrival), and noticed a sign for a nearby Target; we called information to find them and get directions, which they messed up... so it took us forever to eat dinner, find the Target, buy snacks, water and carseats, assemble and install the carseats (in the parking lot), and head to DLR. We didn't start the drive to DLR until 9pm!
Discover Card was being overprotective and kept denying my card at the HoJo; the manager and I had to get on the phone with them, which added to an already frustrating first night
we didn't get to bed until 11pm PST, which felt like 1AM to us Kansans
needless to say, we weren't at the parks at opening that first morning; in fact, we never made it to the parks for an opening
DD7 got picked to do Jedi Training Academy, and battled Vader
the girls LOVED the gifts from Tinkerbell
don't get the fishsticks at Ariel's Grotto... I spent 45 minutes in the bathroom an hour later, with IBS
my girls are roller coaster fanatics (<fistpump>YYYYYYYESSSSSSSSS!</fistpump>)
weather was perfect, although we did get cold at night
never saw a complete fireworks show - they were canceled the first night, we saw the beginning and end the second night, interrupted with "I gotta go to the bathroom", and we decided rides were more important the third and fourth night
missed the Block Party Bash on Friday, as we just couldn't get up after an hour-and-a-half nap; well, I got up, but nobody else would
we were trying to do "everything" in four days, which in hindsight is too ambitious with a four-year-old and a seven-year-old
the first morning, I got up at 7am before everyone else, showered, and they were still asleep at 8am, so I went for a walk down Harbor Blvd to the crosswalk, to time it. It took me 5 minutes walking at a brisk pace (it was windy and very cold). I'm thinking, "Why do people complain about this walk? It's NOTHING." By the last night, I was dreading that "short" walk...
Blue Bayou was worth every penny, just for the food and service alone; 9 out of every 10 people trying to check-in didn't realize you needed reservations and were turned away, looking puzzled at what just happened. We checked-in at 11:10am, and were the first group seated, at a waterside table
breakfast at Mimi's Cafe is awesome! Did it on morning #1 and morning #2, then decided time was too precious for the next three mornings
Ruby's on the Balboa Pier at Newport Beach was excellent - try the Garlic Fries and the Cherry Coke!
DD4 was felled by a wave while wading in the water at Newport Beach, got soaked, and a bunch of sand "down there"; DW had to clean her up using the COLD outdoor shower while she screamed and cried - it was the absolute worst way to end the trip
Ontario airport is super-super-easy; upon arrival, we used the bathroom, then headed to baggage claim. None of the carousels had showed our flight number, so we waited patiently... the crowd around the carousels quickly dispersed, and our bags were the only ones left - they must have been on the carousel while we were in the bathroom... now that's fast
Avis car rental was super easy, and we got an Impala with a little over 3000 miles on it, with LEATHER seats - that's a first for me in a rental car. Nice ride, with juuuuust enough trunk room.
Rode BTMRR three times (our favorite), HHM twice, Matterhorn twice, POTC twice, Storybook Canal Boats twice, IASW twice, Soarin' twice, and everything else once
Did not ride Maliboomer, Sun Wheel, Tower of Terror, Grizzly River Run, or Monster's Inc (it was closed); did not ride Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia, or Splash Mountain
After fireworks were canceled on our first night in the parks, on a day when we did not take an afternoon break, we were walking down Main Street toward the exits when the "snow" started and "White Christmas" began to play. DD4 was riding on my shoulders (which she did a lllllllot), and she began bawling. DW and I thought, "Uh oh, here comes a too-tired meltdown..." and my DW asks DD4 "What's wrong, honey?" DD4 says (in-between sobs) "I'm... so... HAPPY... unhuh, unhuh, unhuhhhhhhhhh". The next night, when we sorta caught the fireworks, she did it again. It's the highlight of the trip.
We blew through our $387 in Disney Rewards in two days, thanks to meals and face painting at PFF
Our waitress at Mimi's Cafe for breakfast was so good, we asked for her again the second morning. Ask for Azucena (ah-sooo-SAY-nuh).
Driving was a breeze, although we missed a highway change because we were "stuck" in a carpool lane. But we were able to recover and find an alternate route to get us back to the Ontario airport.
The beds at the HoJo are quite firm. I'm a tummy sleeper, so it works out well for me, but it was very problematic for my wife, who is a side-sleeper and needs a soft bed in order to avoid back and hip pain; the HoJo tried to help by installing an egg-crate-foam pad and giving her extra pillows to create her own padding, but let's just say I got an earful about how hard the beds are and the awesome rate didn't make up for it
Speaking of the Entertainment Book rate, I was never asked to show my card when checking in or out
The free WIRED Internet access in the HoJo room is provided via a connection on the nightstand in-between the beds (where the phone is, which makes sense). But the Cat5 cable is only about two feet long, so you basically have to put your laptop on the nightstand, sit on the bed, and turn to the side to type. It was very awkward. I would have loved to be at the desk across the room. If you have your own 12-foot Cat5 cable, and a coupler with two female ends, you might want to bring it.
The HoJo grounds are lush and well-kept - quite impressive
The spa (hot tub) isn't very hot... we went for a 10pm foot soak on evening #2, and were hoping for hotter
Crowds were very light on Tuesday-Thursday, and were INSANE on Friday (12/14); on that Friday, we were able to FastPass Soarin', BTMRR, and Space Mountain. I tried to FastPass Indy twice during the day, but was denied both times because the ride was temporarily closed. When I tried later, they had run out of FastPasses. We wound up doing Indy at 11:00pm (DW and DD7, 30 minute wait) and 11:40pm (me, 15 minute wait). Great ending to our park experience.
I scored 100,300 on my one and only trip to Buzz

Hound 109

12-16-2007, 11:06 PM

Glad you made it back safely CF. Sounds like you had a fine trip. Those poor Darths.....the children of Disers seem to be putting the hurt on them recently. :rotfl:

I'm gonna have to try Blue Bayou next time. If it gets the recommendation from a thrifty CardinalsFan, maybe a miser like me should check it out. :laughing:

I agree with you about Rubys....i took my mother there (in the West LA valley). Love the $9 burgers & garlic fries. I heard that the brownie hot fudge sundae (split 3 ways) is tasty too. :rolleyes1

Hope you had a chance to say Hi to Toadie & Jack Sparrow.

Looking forward to the "blow by blow" if you're inclined. :hippie:

CardinalsFan

12-17-2007, 12:14 AM

Will do, Hound. DW and I can't seem to figure out what Disney story is behind Mr. Toad's Wild Ride... I'm going to have to research it now.

At BB, I had the Monte Cristo, my wife had the Crab Cakes appetizer (and a quarter of my MC sandwich), and the girls had the prime rib and the chicken drumsticks (which they shared). The girls each got a Pirate Punch with a Tinkerbell light-up toy (your son will want the Captain Hook instead). My wife had the girls' scalloped potatoes. She also ordered a Mint Julep. I think we kept it to $75 before the tip. I'll have to go through some receipts and report back.

Forgot to mention shows...

We saw the Christmas parade. We did not see Block Party Bash (rats). We saw the 10:30p showing of Fantasmic, and it was terrific! We did see Turtle Talk, which was cute. Did not see Aladdin, Muppets, or Playhouse Disney. Did not see the Tiki Room. We did Mickey's ToonTown Morning Madness, and met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto there, but not Donald or Chip and Dale. At Ariel's Grotto, the girls got to meet Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, and Mulan (and Ariel, of course). They also met the "mermaid" Ariel in Disneyland at her Grotto there, which we found by accident (really good fortune).

Hound, I thought of you a few times while we were there, envying your "commando" trip with your DD25 and DS8, with no shopping, etc.:rotfl:

DorkyDisneyMom

12-17-2007, 08:03 AM

Glad to see you back.

Sorry to hear about the beds and the walk to the HOJO. We did the DLH and I felt the same way about "the walk". It seemed to get longer and longer.

You didn't make it to any openings:scared1:. What kind of overplanner are you?:snooty: Next time.

I love the part about your daughter crying at the fireworks. It's the moments like that that make it all worth it.

We loved the BB as well. That Monte Cristo is yummy! Our server was also great. I loved that your girls had prime rib, my daughter did too. Must be a midwestern thing, she'll eat chicken, but that girl loves a good piece of beef.

I'm glad that they liked their Tink gifts too.

We missed Block party Bash as well. Rain.

I also thought that 4 days was pretty ambitious. I can't imagine trying to do it with a shorter amount of time. For that matter I can't imagine going to WDW and not feeling ripped off because I couldn't do it all. I know people do it for a week but, still.
Ok got to go warm up the van. :sad2:

Glad you had a great trip.

When are you going again?

JollyHoliday23

12-17-2007, 08:55 AM

Visits from Tinkerbell
First morning (Tuesday, December 11… our first day in the parks): each girl will get her own Disney-themed fanny pack and autograph book, and a clickable Sharpie, some Princess-themed and Tinkerbell-themed trinkets, and some glow necklaces for nighttime and/or dark rides. This comes with a note from Tinkerbell (on Tinkerbell stationery), with “fairy dust” (gold glitter) curiously trailing on the floor from the gifts to the balcony door (sorry, housekeeping!).

That is so special! I just finished reading about your whole trip. I am counting the days until I get to go back. I'm very very excited. Reading other peoples trip reports, especially families, makes me excited for when I get to plan trips for my family (not going to happen for a long long time). This is an idea I will definitely keep in mind. Love the fairy dust! :thumbsup2

Glad to hear you had such a good time!

CardinalsFan

12-17-2007, 11:24 AM

This was our travel day, with a 2:20pm Southwest Airlines flight to make. We got DD7 off to school, and finished packing and loading the van. I had to run a few errands with DD4, like getting a prescription filled, mailing a package, and depositing some checks at the local bank branch.

I went to DD7's school at 11:30am to join her for lunch at 11:40am. She entered the lunchroom with her class, and was surprised to see me, but didn't think anything was up. We ate and chatted with her classmates, and then I asked her "Are you surprised to see me here today?"

She said, "Yes."

I said "Well, I have two more surprises for you. First, we're going on a trip. And second, we're not telling you where we're going until we get there!"

She said "Are we going to Disneyland?"

"I'm not telling you until we get there."

She had fun guessing various guesses, and then she asked "When are we leaving?"

"Right now. Let's go get you packed up and signed out."

"Now? Really?"

She hugged her friends goodbye, telling them she wouldn't be back all week, and she didn't know where she was going. We packed up, signed out, and went home. She was allowed to pack a few toys in her backpack, and we finished loading the van and headed for the airport.

The girls continued to make guesses about where we were going. We got to the long-term parking lot, and quickly found a spot near one of the bus stops. A bus was coming down the aisle, and we were running a tad bit late, so we quickly unloaded the van, dragging the luggage to the stop. Then we loaded the bags onto the shuttle bus, took an inventory of how many bags we would be checking and how many we would be carrying on, made sure the van was locked, and off we went.

At the Kansas City airport, we effortlessly got our luggage checked in by a SkyCap, found our gate, used the restroom, finished our water bottles, and proceeded through security with our printed-at-home boarding passes. We were in Southwest boarding group A, numbers 26-29. Our boarding group was called, and we lined up at the designated place. That's when I remembered the car seats.

"Oh, CRAP!" I quietly announced.

"What?" my wife asked.

"I forgot the carseats AGAIN!" I replied.

You see, we had taken a trip to Idaho Falls in early November when my wife's grandfather passed away. For that trip, we had rented a car at the Idaho Falls airport, but I forgot the kids' carseats so we had to rent carseats from Avis for $10/day per carseat for three days, plus tax on that $60. I had vowed to never let that happen again.

So, we decided we would go to Target and buy carseats instead of renting them from Avis this time. This would snowball on us later...

Our flight was uneventful, and on time. We had a stop in Las Vegas, but I had selected a flight where we stayed on the same plane, which makes the layover as short as possible, and we don't have to do a gate change and lug around our carry-on luggage, etc. This turned out to be a great idea, and I would look for this opportunity again in a heartbeat. In-between flights, we stretched in the aisles, thought about changing seats, but decided to stay where we were.

Then we had our short flight from Las Vegas to Ontario. We landed on time at 5:00pm Pacific. During the walk from our gate to the baggage claim area, we stopped for a bathroom break, then proceeded to baggage claim.

There are four carousels (from what I remember), with LED signs to indicate which flights' luggage could be found on which carousel. I didn't see our flight listed, so I figured we needed to be patient. Within a few minutes, the crowd around the carousels had dispersed, and only our bags were on the carousel. I guess our flight's baggage had been delivered while we were in the bathroom. Now that's fast!

We loaded up our bags and proceeded to the pick-up spot for the car rental shuttle. It quickly came, and we soon made it to the Avis rental counter, with nobody in line in front of us. We were asked if a Chevy Impala would be OK, I said yes, declined the insurance coverage, signed the paperwork, and asked for directions to an area with several choices for a place to eat dinner.

We loaded up the car, which had just enough trunk space for our luggage, and went over highway 10 into a shopping and dining district. We ate at a "Black Angus" steakhouse which was pretty good.

While driving around trying to decide on a place to eat, we noticed a sign for a Target store. I had planned on driving without carseats all the way to Anaheim, then going to the Target on Harbor Blvd to get water, snacks, and carseats. But if there was a Target nearby, we should probably get the carseats before driving on the LA freeways, no? So, we asked our server where it was, and she gave some less-than-confident directions. So, my wife called information from her cell phone, got the store's phone number, and called the store to get directions. We were told to take I-10 West to Milliken, and take Milliken to 4th Street, and they would be on the corner. Great. But we were actually west of them, not east of them, so when we went west on I-10, we were going further away! I finally decided to exit the freeway a few exits later, and we somehow ended up in Rancho Cucamonga. We turned around, called the store again, told them where we were, got better directions, then found the store. By this time, the kids were asleep in the car. So, my DW went into the store and came out a half-hour later with all the necessary stuff. We had to assemble the carseats in the parking lot, throw away the boxes, load the snacks/water/supplies in the trunk, and get the sleeping kids into their new carseats. At 9pm, we were on our way to Anaheim. Four hours after we had landed.

The drive to Anaheim was quite easy. Took the 10 to the 57, to Ball Road exit, to Harbor. I think we did it in about 40 minutes. I got us checked in at the HoJo, then we went to Building 2 and parked between it and the 5 freeway, which was verrrrrry noisy. We got the sleeping kids out of the car, and they were not happy campers. Especially DD7, who didn't want to walk. I pointed to the YOAMD banners displayed on the lightposts, to give her a clue about where we were, but she didn't seem to care. She was grouchy and was going to stay that way.

We found our room on the third floor, and entered to see a nice, large room all ready for us. I made a few trips back to the car to get the luggage while my DW got the kids ready for bed. After my last luggage trip to the car, she told me the front desk had called, and my Discover Card had been declined. "I'll take care of it" I said.

I called Discover, and got some explanation that the magnetic stripe on my card could not be read, and the customer service agent told me to have them swipe it again, or enter it by hand. I called the front desk, told them this, and learned it was not true, since the HoJo front desk was able to read me my card number from the swipe. We argued a little about what needed to be done, and I told them I would come down there and we would call Discover together.

I left the room in a huff and began dialing the Discover number again. Later, I learned that the front desk manager had called right back, and said she would call Discover, but my DW told her I was already on my way down there. When I entered the lobby, I was waiting in line behind some people checking in when I finally made it off of "hold" with Discover and luckily got to talk to the same person I had talked to before. A lady on the phone at the front desk (who turned out to be the manager) recognized me from my Driver's Licence photocopy and told me she could help me. She told me she was on the phone with Discover as well, and we then learned that the person I was talking with was sitting next to the person she was talking with. We got it all worked out somehow. I would soon have a few emails from Discover, as well as messages left on my cell phone and home phone voice mail, alerting me to suspicious activity. We now believe they were seeing a bunch of charges being made in LA all of a sudden, and they suspected my card had been stolen, and that's why the card was declined when we tried to use it to secure our $300-plus charge for our stay at the HoJo. They were just being protective, which is a good thing, but I wish they could have just said that on the first phone call.

I got back to the room, and set out the first set of gifts from Tinkerbell. I hand-wrote each girl a note on the Tinkerbell stationery, using my right hand (I'm left-handed) so my handwriting wouldn't be too much like Tink's. Tink thanked the girls for coming out to visit, and said she hoped they enjoyed their gifts.

Here's a picture of the sweatshirts, fanny packs, autograph books, and clickable Sharpies, plus the cards and the gold glitter (fairy dust) sprinkled on the table next to their bed:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2106/2118263588_1e11fc17bb.jpg

At 11:00pm Pacific, I finally got to bed. It felt like 1:00am because of the time difference. I knew right then we would not be making the 9:00am park opening. So much for planning!

Up Next: Day One in the Parks!

CardinalsFan

12-17-2007, 11:33 AM

The infamous new car seats:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2143/2118269430_6769914b78.jpg

Our ride:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2395/2117492865_b7ae83fb23.jpg

I gotta say I was very happy with our rental car. It had black leather seats, and an XM radio, both a first for us in a rental car. It had various controls in the steering wheel, and it was peppy. Heck, all it was missing was a sunroof!

CardinalsFan

12-17-2007, 11:47 AM

When are you going again?

Um, DW says we're not going again. She says the next vacation is going to be a week at a rented beach house with nothing "touristy" to do.

I think we'll try a Disney cruise in another couple of years, and then Walt Disney World a couple of years after that.

We might not make it back to DLR.

Then again, DW is about to qualify for a free Hawaiian cruise, a sales incentive with her job. She won't quite qualify to bring me along for free, but maybe we can pay for me to go, without the kids, and that will get her the kind of vacation she needs. Then maybe we can skip the rented beach house vacation. I mean, what am I going to plan for that kind of trip? :)

CardinalsFan

12-17-2007, 11:57 AM

Yesterday, after getting home from the airport at around 1:00am and to bed around 1:30am CST, we got up for church and made it there on time. Church is a three-hour block of afternoon meetings for us, so I was hoping to get home, eat some sandwiches for dinner, and maybe get to bed early.

But, my DW's in-town family had other ideas. They wanted to come over and hear all about the trip, and they wanted to see pictures. They were bringing dinner (leftovers from their company holiday party the night before), which was a plus. So, I had some work to do.

The week of Thanksgiving, I had built a new Home Theater PC to be hooked up to my projector in my home theater in our basement. I had it all finished before we left for the trip, but I had not yet used it for much. This was going to be the first test. I was determined to get all of our pictures loaded onto that PC, so we could all go down and view the pictures on the big screen (92" wide).

It took me a while to get them all transferred to my laptop, then onto a USB hard drive, then onto the new PC's hard drive. I quickly went through them, rotating the ones which were taken with the camera turned sideways, and also getting the videos loaded (my cameras can take short high-quality videos as well as photos). I got them all set, and fired up Windows Media Center and entered the My Pictures module. Everything looked great, so we had a slideshow down there after dinner, and we enjoyed hearing the girls describe what was going on for each picture. Family left at 8:30pm, and my DW got the girls ready for bed while I started uploading pictures to my Flickr account so they could be shared with our out-of-town family.

CardinalsFan

12-17-2007, 04:37 PM

Love the fairy dust! :thumbsup2

Thanks!

I got this idea from a "Tooth Fairy" set my wife purchased somewhere. It contains a bag of very fine glitter about the consistency of fine sand and a small gold pillow for the tooth and the replacement present. So, when our daughter loses a tooth, she puts the tooth in the small gold pillow and places that pillow under her pillow. The tooth fairy comes and takes the tooth out of the small gold pillow, leaving a Sacajawea dollar coin (the gold kind) in its place. And we sprinkle the fairy dust from her bed to her bedroom window. So, she always thinks the tooth fairy comes in her bedroom window somehow, and accidentally spills fairy dust all the way to and from her bed.

I didn't want to use the same stuff for Tinkerbell, since we're only halfway through DD7's set of baby teeth, and DD4 has yet to lose a tooth, so we're going to need most of that good stuff! I was able to find a tube of gold glitter flakes at Wal-Mart. They're easier to see in a busy hotel room.

tinkermell

12-17-2007, 09:52 PM

Hi CardinalsFan!

Welcome home!

I'm glad you had a good trip. We did too, and I looked for you...............but it was soooooooo busy this weekend. I went last year at this same time, and it was no where near as busy! Don't know why it was so busy this time. I did notice that there was a cheerleader convention? I wonder if the new castle lights brought everyone out? Anyways, it was still fun, no matter what the best laid plans are. I know mine got goofed up, cuz my family and grandsons decided to come at the last minute. But we still had so much fun, watching them and their joy. And some fear too. We took them on the PoC, and my 3 year old GS was more scared of the drops than of the skeletons. Didn't like Peter Pan! What??? He loved the Autopia, Casey Train and Buzz! Wish we could have taken the time to watch the Jedi with him.

Anyways, I can't believe all the work you went for this trip. You are one great father. Most women do all of the special stuff.

Looking forward to some pics if you have them. Maybe I saw you, and didn't even know it. :laughing:

TinkerMellody

CardinalsFan

12-17-2007, 11:45 PM

I'm a light sleeper. I had heard about the noise from the 5 freeway, but I wasn't going to have one of those rooms, because I was told my room would overlook the garden pool outside building 2. So, my room was going to be on the non-freeway side of the hotel.

You see, I had assumed there were rooms on the west side (pool side) and on the east side (freeway side) of the hotel. And when everyone talked about getting a room away from the freeway, they meant getting one on the west side, or the pool side.

There are no rooms on the east side. They're all on the west side. When people say "Get a room away from the freeway," they mean get one in the northern part of building two, and not the southern part. We were in the southern part, on the third floor, with plenty of freeway noise. Now this my DW didn't mind; in fact, she never said a word about it. But she's a heavy sleeper. Again, I'm a light sleeper.

I'd describe the noise as the noise you hear from a subwoofer in the car a few lanes away. It's a heavy, deep, bass-filled, distant rumble of a noise. The heater and air conditioner unit in our room made a lot of noise, so it kinda drowned out the freeway noise, except for the occasional rumble of an 18-wheeler going by.

My DD4 needs to be pottied before I go to bed. I keep hoping she's finally over wetting the bed, so I get confident she can do it, and she'll be fine for a week, then all of a sudden, one night she'll do it again. On the aforementioned trip to Idaho, I didn't potty her before putting her to bed in the hotel room the first night, and, you guessed it, around 3am she wet the bed. The hotel bed. We had to call for extra blankets, and then housekeeping took care of it while we went to the funeral the next morning. I don't know what they did to take care of the mattress - I'm not sure I want to know. But I got up a few times each of the next two nights, and pottied her, just to be sure we didn't have a repeat. I'm scared to death of her wetting a hotel bed that someone else will have to use someday.

So, the first night in the hotel room, I got up a couple of times to get her to go, which she did without complaint. We did this each night, just to be safe. And, I'm happy to report, you can confidently sleep on that mattress if you get our room. No accidents. But I didn't sleep all that much, between the freeway rumbles and the wet bed fears.

The girls woke up around 6am, arguing about she-kicked-me and she's-on-my-side-of-the-bed, etc. I placed DD4 in bed with DW, and I laid down with DD7 in the other bed. They went back to sleep. I tried to go back to sleep.

At 7am, I got up. DL opened at 9am. The girls needed a bath/shower, we all needed to get dressed, and get our packs packed, and eat breakfast. DW had promised them breakfast at Mimi's, which I was looking forward to as well. Lots to do, it's time to get a move on. I'm exhausted, but I'm running on adrenaline, so I can't go back to sleep. They're all still in a deep sleep.

So, I shower and get dressed, and do a little bit of packing, hoping someone will wake up, and the excitement of being at DLR will help ease the pain of not getting enough sleep. 8am, still asleep. I can't take it anymore, so I decide to go exploring. I take my phone with me, so I can be reached when they finally wake up.

I go outside, and it is c, c, c, cccccoooooollllddd and windy! What's up with that? We had arrived at night, and I wanted to see what everything looked like in the daylight, so I explored the HoJo's grounds a bit. Very nice. I wondered how long "the walk" to the crosswalk would take. When we pulled in the previous night, we came from the north on Harbor, and I could see the traffic light of the crosswalk as I made the turn into the HoJo at its traffic light. I thought "That can't be it, can it?" It seemed so close - too close based on what I had read. So, I decided to walk it. I had bought a cheap digital watch at Wal-Mart for this trip, so I could make good use of it. I set the stopwatch, and off I went. I admit I was walking at a fairly brisk pace, since I was 1) cold and 2) excited. I made it from the HoJo front desk building to the crosswalk in just under 5 minutes. I kept going down to Katella, just to see everything, and then I made my way back. I thought about crossing the crosswalk and exploring the esplanade, or even Downtown Disney, but I was hopeful the girls were waking up by now. So, I walked back to the hotel.

It's now 8:30am. I open the room door, and... they're all still sound asleep. I sit down and start reading my map. I should just go get in line for the 9am opening, and have them call me when they're ready. But then DW would have to do all the work to get the girls and herself ready. Nah, can't do that.

I think I finally started waking up DD7 at 9am. She was stirring a bit, so I thought I'd just speed up the process a bit. I helped her take her shower, and then I blowed her hair dry in the bathroom. Surely that woke the other two up, right? Wrong.

DD7 discovers the Tinkerbell gifts as we come out of the bathroom at 9:30 or so. We wake up DW and DD4. Slowly, we get everything ready, selecting outfits for the day, getting dressed, DW doing her makeup, etc.

I don't remember why I went down to the car, but that's when I took pictures of the car and the carseats. It was around 10:10am. We were finally at Mimi's for breakfast at 10:50am, and were eating by 11:00am. DL had been open for two hours already. Sigh.

We finished eating a wonderful breakfast, pay for the meal, and we're out the door. We enter the gates of DL at 11:40am, and walk down Main Street. Screw getting the First Timer buttons right now, we're nearly three hours late!

We walk up to the castle, get a picture of the girls in front of it, and go through it. The first thing they see is the Carousel. They loooooove merry-go-rounds. So, we get in line, and we have our first official ride at noon.

DD4 and me, at breakfast:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2279/2117493003_75d9746dde.jpg

DD7 and DW, at breakfast:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2360/2118270468_19c05db5f1.jpg

Girls in front of castle:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2075/2117493669_a2d6d0b7d4.jpg

DD7 on Carousel:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2329/2117494041_90b5999da8.jpg

DD4 on Carousel:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/2117494263_b44c92d862.jpg

Up Next: Knocking out much of Fantasyland the first morning, er, afternoon

mla1977

12-18-2007, 12:32 PM

I would be absolutely flipping out if I had to wait that long to get to the parks. Oh wait, I have... You are a much stronger person than I.

DorkyDisneyMom

12-18-2007, 01:59 PM

I guess for once I am thankful for kids that don't sleep.

Good job on the not flipping out:thumbsup2

Also good job on not letting your wife get the girls ready by herself.

CardinalsFan

12-20-2007, 04:18 PM

DD7 had her surgery yesterday, and she's recovering nicely while eating popsicles and Jell-O and watching countless movies.

DW decided to use this photo for our Christmas cards this year:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2102/2118264256_be6ae2328e.jpg
(taken near the exit for Dumbo, by a nice man who offered to take a family picture of us)

She used some online site where you upload your image, type in all of the addresses you want them sent to, and pay. They do the mailing for ya! She sent out 105 cards for $106, which includes shipping. It took her three hours last night to do it start-to-finish. Actually, she got to choose two pictures, one for the front of the card, and one for the back. Here's the picture she chose for the back:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2297/2117090542_62dec52fde.jpg

Today, we decided Santa will put a ticket to see "Enchanted" in each of our stockings this year. I'm purchasing the tickets tonight on my way home from work, for the 11:30am showing on Christmas Day. That will be neat, and could become a Christmas Day tradition, who knows?

CardinalsFan

12-20-2007, 05:29 PM

Well, after The Grand Carousel, we noticed Pinocchio perched atop the entrance to his ride, with no visible line for it, so we went on it next. It was cute, though DD4 thought it was a bit scary. We reassured her that everything was pretend on all of the rides we would be on, and she didn't really have any issues after that.

Next was Dumbo, which looked to have about a 15-minute wait. DD7 was hoping for car #3 (because it has pink accents), but we were given the last crow's feather while we were waiting in line, which meant we would have little-to-no choice on which car we got. We got #13... good thing we're not superstitious!

Here's a quick self-portrait of DD7 and me awaiting the start of the ride:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2278/2117487211_81f96d1db7.jpg

And a pick of my girlz in the stationary car outside of the ride:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2346/2118264400_a160aa37d6.jpg

Next, the girls wanted caaaandy. If it were up to them, they would have blown all of their Disney Dollars on candy. DD7 decided to use some of her money to buy a 5-pack of Mickey ears suckers, and she shared with each of us.

Suckers in hand, we went for the Casey Jr Circus Train. I loved this ride! Does it count as a roller coaster? It was sooooo much longer than I thought it would be. We waited about 10 minutes in line.

Here's DD7, happy-as-a-clam because she has her sucker:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/2117487867_28c9efd9e8.jpg

And DD4, with her sucker:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2353/2117488267_0b659f4c32.jpg

Next was Storybook Land Canal Boats, which we enjoyed even though our guide mumbled into the microphone. DW and the girls wound up doing this at night on our final night, when I rode Indiana Jones. I wish the boat went a little bit slower, so I could see more of each land. Really neat details.

Photo of the girls on our boat:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2373/2118265978_f0ec54be4f.jpg

Then, on to It's a Small World Holiday, which was excellent, with a very short wait. It was a very long ride - much longer than I had expected. We kept going into a new room for another land, and another, and another...

Exiting IASW, my wife saw the sign for Princess Fantasy Faire. She asked "What's that?" I thought "uh oh..." as this was not the time to be going! We wanted to do this nearly first-thing someday, to minimize the wait time to meet the princesses. I thought about fibbing to get out of it, but once I said what was there, the decision was made to go check it out.

First, we entered the crayon & coloring page area. It was completely empty, except for a CM dressed as well, I don't know what he was dressed as, something royal-like, I guess. He was at the farthest table, head-down, coloring with crayons. The girls sat down at the first table they found, took a page out of the basket, and some crayons, and started scribbling. "We could do this at home," I thought. DD4 gets bored quickly, and starts to explore. She walks up to the CM, and starts to have a conversation. He's Asian-looking, but pulls off a terrific British accent, playing the part. I go over to join the conversation, and I can see that he is free-hand drawing an underwater scene featuring Ariel, DD4's favorite princess. I witness him introduce himself as Sir Wesley, her ask what he's doing, him reply he's creating a portrait of Ariel, her reply that's her favorite, and him reply well then I guess I'll make this one for you. Wow! He finishes it up, asks her her name, addresses it to her in the upper-corner, and signs his name in a lower corner. DD4 can't believe it! It was like a mini-Dream.

DD7 and DW come over to see what's going on, and Sir Wesley learns that DD7's favorite princess is Aurora. It's 1:59pm, and Sir Wesley has somewhere he needs to be at 2:00pm, so he apologizes for having to leave, and tells DD7 that we'll have to come back sometime when he is there, and he can make a portrait for her, of Aurora. How nice of him, though there might not be a chance we'd be fortunate to be back when he's there.

There's no ceremony going on anytime soon, no storytelling, and there's a pretty good line to meet the princesses, so I'm about to convince everyone that we should move on to something else, when DW spots the princess shop on the other side of the PFF. Uh-oh. I again think about lying, but I tell her it's a shop full of girlie princess stuff and they do face painting and hair styling. She asks the girls if they want to go, and of course they do! We wind up spending about the next hour in there, as DW decides each girl can get her face painted, and can pick out a hair accessory.

DD7 picks out a cool hair accessory, with colored hair extensions coming out of it, lots of braids, and a Mickey head on each braid. She also gets a cheap plastic tiara. DD4 picks out a fancy Cinderella crown to go with her Cinderella dress at home. The girls then select the face paint style they want, and the painters use colors to match their outfits.

As we're paying for the items, DW tries to use the Disney Rewards card for the first time, but the register is not accepting it. We try several times, and then decide to call the number on the back to see what's up. She is told that the card had not yet been activated, when she did in fact activate it a few weeks ago, when she pulled the "This Card Must Be Activated" sticker off of the front of it. What's with the card companies and this trip? We get it all straightened out, and get everything paid for. Behind the register is a short wall that separates the shop from the meet-the-princess area. Hanging half-over the wall is Sir Wesley, motioning for DD7 to come over - he has a piece of paper in his hand. We all go over, and he has finished a terrific portrait of Aurora, in crayon, and wants to sign it for her. He asks her name, and signs it to her, from him. Very nice. God bless you, Sir Wesley - that made her day. I'll have to take some pictures of those and post them here.

Then the girls got their faces painted. Some photos of that:

DD7, halfway done:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2196/2118266802_0c9cccdc36.jpg

DD4, halfway done:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2274/2117490453_ce920f6c41.jpg

We decide the rest of the Fantasyland rides have lines that are too long, and we're hungry for lunch, so we take the train to Tomorrowland, since we're right next to the Toontown train station.

DD7 in line, waiting for the train... shows her face painting, tiara, and hair accessory:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2136/2118267458_e56ec31d14.jpg

Up next: afternoon in Tomorrowland

CardinalsFan

12-20-2007, 07:36 PM

So, we get off the train in Tomorrowland, and walk through the smoking area (terrible place to put it) at the exit and into Tomorrowland. We decide to eat our late lunch at Tomorrowland Terrace. The girls get kids meals (one gets a burger, the other chicken nuggets), and my wife and I both get chicken sandwiches. We find an open table off to the side, and begin eating. Near the end of our meal, we realize we're right in front of the Jedi Training Academy stage (we're right behind the sound board booth). Two female CMs are screaming at the top of their lungs, trying to get the crowd revved up, and then the Jedi come down the ramp right next to us, and onto the stage.

We shuffle our seats a bit to get a better view, and watch the show; we hadn't planned on this, but none of us had seen it before, and we were intrigued. DD4 cried and ran to me for protection when the Stormtroopers came out, and when Darth Vader and Darth Maul came out. When it's all over with, we decide to do Autopia, despite its 20 minute wait. I ride with DD7 and let her drive, though I have to operate the gas pedal. DW rides with DD4 and does the same. Afterward, we compare notes, as the girls couldn't keep the cars straight on the track, and the under-the-car guides smacked into the guide rail quite a bit. I made it a point to grunt a loud "Unh!" every time DD7 smacked the car into that rail, and she got a kick out of that.

We exit the ride, and start to walk through Tomorrowland, looking for the "Rocket Booster" which is the name DD4 had given the Astro Orbiter. Walking by the JTA stage, DW notices the next show starts at 4:30 (I think), and asks DD7 if she's interested in doing it. To our surprise, she says "Yes!" So, we decide to get a spot for her in the front, and I take DD4 to the bathroom. It takes us a while to find one (near the exit for Space Mountain), and in the middle of that, DW calls and says DD4 was selected as one of the first kids to train. So, we need to hurry and get back there, especially since I have the camera! We race back, and get a few shots of her during her training. It's getting dark, so the pictures don't turn out that well... hint to you - if you want good pictures, go earlier in the day. DW says DD7 got selected because of her cool painted face and her notice-me hair accessory. DD7 battles Vader, and gives him the evil eye when he threatens them at the end.

The "Duck!" move:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2067/2117491231_53278dc102.jpg

Battling Vader:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2119/2121673862_7f227ce7ac.jpg

The sun has now gone down, and it's getting cold. There will be no naps today, but we do need to go back to the hotel room to get warmer clothes, and come back for the parade.

Up Next: Evening of Day One... will we make it to the parade?

CardinalsFan

12-21-2007, 10:19 AM

Here are some photos of the crayon drawings Sir Wesley made and gave to DD4 and DD7:

Ariel for DD4:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2154/2126435895_d98c9f8c8e.jpg

Aurora for DD7:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2347/2127210536_2e4181795f.jpg

CardinalsFan

12-21-2007, 02:39 PM

So, after the walk back to the HoJo, we get warmer clothes on (layers) and start to head back so we can see the parade.

We stop in the hotel lobby, so DW can ask about any options for a softer bed. She's really hurting today, since she really can't handle a hard bed. They don't have any better mattresses that can be changed out, but they tell her they'll see what they can do to try to help. While we were out that night, they did install an egg-crate foam pad under the fitted sheet, and delivered a bunch of extra pillows so she could try to make her own feather bed.

The girls in front of the tree in the HoJo lobby, with their glow sticks, and all bundled up for the chilly evening:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2025/2117010674_f2fa65986c.jpg

We walk back into DL, getting to the gates at about 6pm. Bad timing, as all the people who have just left DCA are lined up to get into DL. We finally get in, with first item on the agenda being getting a spot for the 6:30pm parade.

Um, where did all of these people come from?

There are crowds everywhere along the parade route. They're 5-rows-deep from the curb to the ropes, with nowhere for us to squeeze in. We decide to try to go upstream along the parade route until we find a spot, walking on the Tomorrowland side of Main Street. I'm carrying DD4, because it is so crowded as we squeeze through the traffic lane between the shops and the ropes.

The parade starts a bit early with Princess Giselle coming down in a horse-drawn carriage. We're about 3/4 of the way to the hub when she passes us, and DD4 gets a good view of her because I'm carrying her. DD7 starts freaking out "Daddy, pick me up! I can't see! Pick me up!"

We can't stop, because this is a traffic lane, and I can't pick up both of them (DD7 is too big, and I'm too 'little' for that), and because we're going one way and Giselle is going the other, it all happens so fast. DD7 is really upset now. It's obvious she's tired - a nap would have helped today.

We keep moving north along the parade route, and get to the Matterhorn. There's a street there that makes a nice ramp as it goes toward Tomorrowland, so we stand probably 8-rows deep at the back of the crowd there, with DD4 on my shoulders, and DD7 struggling to find a way to see.

It didn't take long for us to decide to abandon plans to see the parade that night. We were tired, didn't want to stand for the whole thing, and couldn't see very well. So we decided to ride rides instead. We turned around and headed into Tomorrowland, near the Matterhorn. We saw Nemo off to the left, and the line looked promising. Ah yes, the ol' shorter-lines-during-the-parade trick. Nemo was a 35-minute wait. I knew there was little chance of us finding it shorter than that, so in line we went.

The Nemo ride was OK, but I'm guessing we missed a little bit by riding it at night. I've heard there are a lot of colors that the sun will bring out on the coral, etc. that just get washed out in the dark.

We get on our sub, and I get stuck next to a woman who holds her three-year-old on her lap. He turns to the side instead of having his back to her, so his legs are dangling near my left knee. He couldn't hold still while we were in line, and the ride was no different. I got repeatedly kicked in the knee throughout the ride. I'm not one to say anything - pretty quiet and shy by nature. Unfortunately, I'm much more patient with complete strangers than I am with people I know and love. It should be the other way around, no? The worst part of the ride was the screaming baby on board behind us. The poor parents just couldn't get the baby to calm down, and it was a LOUD baby. I think I missed at least half of the dialog of the ride. I was fascinated by the technology of the ride, and I need to do some research to see if I can find out how they do the animation I was seeing. I just have to know how it works!

After Nemo, we decide to do the Matterhorn while we're right there. The girls love it, and will ask several times if we can do it again. They both proclaim it to be their favorite ride of the day.

It's now getting to be 8:00pm, with fireworks at 8:45, so I tell the family it's time to go get a spot. We head to the Walt statue in the hub, and move a bit closer to the castle, and sit in a really good spot. DW goes to get some popcorn and a Coke; we chow on that. Um, did we have dinner today? I seriously don't remember if we did or didn't.

8:15 - the announcement about a possible cancellation of fireworks is made. I remember how windy it was this morning. Seems pretty calm to me right now, but I also know it doesn't take much to cause a cancellation.

8:30 - announcement is made again. The ground is getting cold. The kids are getting cranky. There are people in front of us who should sit down, or we're going to have to stand for the fireworks, and then the people in back of us will have to stand, etc.

The announcements start coming more frequently - every five minutes, I think. Then, just before 8:45, they announce the fireworks have been canceled.

Rats! We wasted almost an hour. The announcements tell us that we can still enjoy the holiday tradition of snow at the designated areas. The lights come on, "White Christmas" begins to play, and the foam starts to blow in the air.

It's time to go back to the hotel, so we start in the direction of the cow herd, with DD4 riding on my shoulders. She starts bawling, with big sobs that sound like her "I'm too tired, and I should have had a nap, and I'm overreacting to anything negative" sobs.

"What's wrong, honey?" DW asks DD4.

"I'm... so......... HAPPY! waaaaaaaaaaah... unhunh, uhunh, uhuuuuuuuuuunh" says DD4. She's the sensitive one. We all do the "awwwwwwwww" reaction, rub her back, and tell her we're happy she's happy, and it's OK to cry when you're happy.

She nearly falls asleep up on my shoulders, where she stays the rest of the way back to the HoJo.

We get the face paint cleaned off of the girls, and everyone gets to bed.

On the table in the room, I set out the four Mickey's ToonTown Morning Madness vouchers, a package of glow sticks for each of the girls, some more glitter, and a note from Tinkerbell to both of the girls: "Girls, Mickey and the gang are expecting you at 9:00am sharp in ToonTown. Have fun! <big heart> Tink"

Up next: Day Two in the parks

Alex2kMommy

12-22-2007, 04:52 PM

Well, we're back. I'll update this thread with some details for our trip, but here are some highlights:

After fireworks were canceled on our first night in the parks, on a day when we did not take an afternoon break, we were walking down Main Street toward the exits when the "snow" started and "White Christmas" began to play. DD4 was riding on my shoulders (which she did a lllllllot), and she began bawling. DW and I thought, "Uh oh, here comes a too-tired meltdown..." and my DW asks DD4 "What's wrong, honey?" DD4 says (in-between sobs) "I'm... so... HAPPY... unhuh, unhuh, unhuhhhhhhhhh". The next night, when we sorta caught the fireworks, she did it again. It's the highlight of the trip.
The free WIRED Internet access in the HoJo room is provided via a connection on the nightstand in-between the beds (where the phone is, which makes sense). But the Cat5 cable is only about two feet long, so you basically have to put your laptop on the nightstand, sit on the bed, and turn to the side to type. It was very awkward. I would have loved to be at the desk across the room. If you have your own 12-foot Cat5 cable, and a coupler with two female ends, you might want to bring it.
I scored 100,300 on my one and only trip to Buzz

Awww, your DD4's tears ("I'm... so... HAPPY... unhuh, unhuh, unhuhhhhhhhhh") nearly made me cry! That sort of thing makes the trip worth any amount of money. :goodvibes

I giggled at the laptop cable issue. We were at the DLH, and the connection is near the desk... which in our room is always cluttered with a phone, lamp, menus and other information, recently purchased souvenirs, my journal and guidebook, etc. So I always dragged the laptop across the room to the nearest bed. You really CAN'T make everyone happy. ;)

Nice score! No matter well (or poorly) I do, DH's is always higher. I knew I was doomed when DS3's score surpassed mine. :sad2:

Darn, I'm only on post #47, but must wrap presents (like I said I was doing an hour ago...) Will have to come back to this later.

Great TR, I'm so enjoying your planning and taking the trip vicariously with you. Thanks for writing it up for us! :thumbsup2