May 18th-23rd Trip Report - We forgot our tickets!!!!

[Casey's Mommie]

This is my first pretrip report. I had started a trip report for my last October trip but it never got finshed... :rolleyes1 :happytv: :laundy:

I'm more excited about this trip than I was a week ago. For one, it's getting closer! Almost at the two month mark! Another reason is Sunday morning my dh let me know my wonderful dmil had emailed and asked if she could join us on our trip! Wonderful news!!! We have an almost 19 mo. old who will be 21 months on our trip. Her coming along means dh and I can actually go on some roller coasters together! It's a GREAT thing to have extra help with a toddler at Disneyland!

DMIL has a history with us at Disneyland. We met up with her and DFIL in Dec 2004 (pre baby) and she came with us in Feb 07, Oct 07 and now again in May 08.

The February 07 trip was special because it was dd's first trip to Disneyland at just 6 months old. It was my last week of maternity leave before I had to go back to work full time. We planned a last minute Disneyland trip since I had used all of my vacation for maternity leave and wouldn't have a chance to get away for awhile.

That was a wonderful trip! DD was so good and slept A LOT. She slept during EVERY single meal so we could relax and not have to worry about a crying baby. She LOVED Tigger and giggled at him when she saw him. Nothing makes a mommy happier than hearing her baby laugh! :love:

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/Casey_Tigger_2_resize.jpg

This trip will be especially exciting because my 18 mo. old dd LOVES Mickey Mouse. I admit to letting her watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv and she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Mickey. A month ago we took her to the Disney Store. Before we got to the store she noticed someone with a Disney bag and pointed at the bag and said Mickey! At the store we got her a stuffed Mickey and a Stuffed Donald. She carries them around everywhere. On Saturday morning when she woke up in her crib the first thing out of her mouth was Mickey! My dh and I laughed as we got out of bed to get her. She's going to be in Mickey Heaven at Disneyland.

To help fuel my dd's Mickey obsession I plan on making a PS for Minnie and Friends character breakfast. She can't yet tell the difference between Mickey and Minnie so it will be fine. We will make it a priority to see Playhouse Disney on our first full day there and if she loves it we'll probably end up going every day.

We have yet to see Aladdin hopefully we can fit that into this trip as well. I'm going to make a Blue Bayou PS for one day. I think I'll just get the Cookie Boat Dessert though. I've never tried it and it looks YUMMY!

Ok, so far we have:

Cast:
Me (31 at time of trip)
DH (32 at time of trip)
dd (21 months at time of trip)
DMIL (mom of dh and gma of dd)

Place:
Desert Inn and Suites
Family parlor suite with 1.5 baths. We had reserved the 1.5 suite thinking it would just be the three of us. It will work for 4 of us, but we have to share 1 shower. I think it will be okay.

Pic of our Clan from our October Trip

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/IMG_0011A.jpg

[Casey's Mommie]

:offtopic:

But...

I just finished shopping for dd's Easter Basket.

Now, along with Mickey and Donald she will have:

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/minnieplush.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/plushdaisy.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/plushgoofy.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/plushpluto-1.jpg
and
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/mickeypuzzle.jpg

[kylieh]

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/Casey_Tigger_2_resize.jpg


What a great Picture! And a happy happy daughter!

[maryr1oz]

You have such a gorgeous family!

Can't wait to read the rest of your report, the pictures are great, and the Easter Basket looks fantastic!

[Casey's Mommie]

We bought Casey a minnie mouse dress on our October trip for Halloween. I think it should still fit in May. We'll have to have her wear the dress for our Minnie and Friends breakfast. :goodvibes

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/CaseyLynnHalloween051.jpg

[Casey's Mommie]

I'm starting to think about making PS since our trip is about 60 days away now. It may get tweaked but this is what I am thinking at the moment.

Sunday 18-May
Breakfast: travel
Lunch: travel
Dinner: Counter Service or Outside Park

Monday 19-May
Breakfast: hotel
Lunch: Blue Bayou
Dinner: Counter Service or Outside Park

Tuesday 20-May
Breakfast: hotel
Lunch: Storyteller's Café
Dinner: Counter Service or Outside Park

Wednesday 21-May
Breakfast: hotel
Lunch: Pacific Wharf Café
Dinner: Counter Service or Outside Park

Thursday 22-May
Breakfast: Minnie & Friends
Lunch: outside park
Dinner: Counter Service or Outside Park

Friday 23-May
Breakfast: hotel
Lunch: travel
Dinner: travel

[Casey's Mommie]

All Right! I made our PS reservations! For those of you that don't know that means that our vacation is coming up SOON!!! :cheer2: :banana: :cheer2: :banana:

Monday: Early Lunch (11:30) Blue Bayou
Tuesday: Storyteller's Cafe 12:00 (we will have a magical morning that day)
Wednesday: Blue Bayou 6:30 for dessert
Thursday: Minnie and Friends Character Breakfast at 9 a.m

I was going to do the first available seating for minnies until I found out it was at 8:10. That's a little too early for my family.

[Casey's Mommie]

My dh (Goofy_Dave) finished our trip video from October!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPOHCrB5Jwg

I hadn't watched it since it was filmed! It's amazing how much different Casey is just 6 months later.

[Casey's Mommie]

Ok, I'm ready to go to Disneyland now! :yay:

Oh, I still have 6 more weeks? :sad1:

Right now I feel like a 8 year old trapped inside a 30 year's body.

I guess the beauty of Disneyland is that I can be that 8 year old again. I :love: Disneyland!

[Casey's Mommie]

Some pictures from last trip.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/Casey_Dale.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/P1010166.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/IMG_0043A.jpg

33 more days to go!

[Casey's Mommie]

It must be getting closer! I'm starting to have "Disney Dreams!"

Last night I had a dream that we forgot to collect fast passes! The horror! I'm going to be collecting those things like they are gold, because in Disneyland, they are!!!! Also, in my dream we forgot to take a mid day break and a local movie critic lived in the park and invited me to view a movie in her house. Weird.

I'm really hoping the crowds will be LIGHT! In reality though, it will probably be moderately busy especially as the week goes by and gets closer to Memorial Day weekend. Maybe it will at least be less busy than it was in October? That would be nice!

One week from tomorrow and I'll get to do the single digit dance! :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Casey's Mommie]

It's almost here!!! I'm getting very antsy. I'm checking the weather report every hour and hope it goes down some! One reports says mid 70s which would be awesome, but another says mid 80s which would not be so awesome.

At least we aren't planning on being there on saturday which is said to be as high as 102. :scared1:

This is going to be the slowest work week ever!

[Casey's Mommie]

I'm sitting here at work just waiting for it to be tomorrow! :yay:

We don't leave for Disneyland until Sunday, but we are going to Folsom tomorrow to pick up dmil. We will spend the night and Sunday morning we will leave for Disneyland! We plan on leaving Folsom at 8 a.m! Hopefully we'll be at Disneyland by 4. :woohoo:

I have the first day planned out in my head.

Get to the hotel by 3:00. Get settled in and rest for a minute and then out the door to DL. First thing we will go on is Pooh b/c dd will love it and it usually has no line. Next we will do HM and then PoC (Both are fast moving lines). After that I think we should go on Buzz and then head over to Pizza Port for some dinner.

I think after that we will head over to ToonTown and let Casey go wild. Around 7:30 we will leave and give Casey a bath and put her down to bed. Once she's alseep DH and I will go back to DL to shut it down while dmil stays with dd.

Hopefully everything goes to plan. We never know how DD will sleep in a strange bed. But she will probably be exhausted from the long car ride and running around in DL... so we'll see.

Oh, and I made hotel reservations for September for our 5 year anniversary. My mom will watch Casey over a long weekend while DH and I conquer DL in September! It's nice to have a trip planned already so I won't be as depressed when we have to leave.

Only 2 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :banana:

[julezdisney]

Hi, Casey's Mommy! Julia here-- great PTR! I'm subscribed! Please hop on over to mine and gimme ideas & suggestions when you have some time!

[Casey's Mommie]

Hi, Casey's Mommy! Julia here-- great PTR! I'm subscribed! Please hop on over to mine and gimme ideas & suggestions when you have some time!

Welcome! I'm leaving for Sac in about an hour or so. But instead of doing things I SHOULD be doing I'm going to go over to your trip report! :thumbsup2

[julezdisney]

I'm so jealous- you're here NOW! LOL. How was lunch at the Blue Bayou?

PLEASE be sure to review Desert Inn when you get back too because I'm thinking of changing hotel ressies.

"see" ya when you get back- I'll be waiting to hear how it was! :rolleyes1

[julezdisney]

OK, you're back & I'm waiting! popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

[Casey's Mommie]

We're back! We had a really great trip but it had a few VERY bumpy moments.

1. We FORGOT our tickets at home. We realized when we got to folsom. Rather than driving almost 4 hours round trip we decided just to buy some print at home tickets instead. So... if you know anyone who needs a couple of 5 day tickets to Disneyland I can get you a great deal!

2. Someone STOLE our camera. On Tuesday my dh went on Soarin' with his mom and forgot that he had put the camera in the front pouch. When he realized this about 20 minutes later he went back to look and it was already gone. No one turned it in to Lost and Found the whole time we were there. Boo on DL thieves!!!!!

This put a real damper on our trip. This means I don't have any pictures for the first part of my trip report. BUT dh went to Costco on Wednesday morning and bought us a new camera. Yay!!!!

Here's a sneak preview:

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/DSCN0242.jpg

[momto2nenas]

Oh how awful about your camera! AND the tickets! You dreamt you forgot fastpasses and instead it was the real tickets! What are the expiration dates on the tickets?

Can't wait for more pics and the "report"!

[julezdisney]

Great teaser! Ready for the real report! popcorn::

[Casey's Mommie]

Oh how awful about your camera! AND the tickets! You dreamt you forgot fastpasses and instead it was the real tickets! What are the expiration dates on the tickets?

Can't wait for more pics and the "report"!

Tickets have to be used by January 2009.

Great teaser! Ready for the real report!

I'm working on it!

[Brenna&Noah's Mom]

Well,that stinks that they stole your camera.:( Can't wait to hear about the rest.

[Casey's Mommie]

Saturday morning was a good morning. I finished up all the laundry in the morning and we were all packed and the car was loaded by 2 o'clock... plenty of time to drive to Folsom before Casey would need to eat dinner.

We had everything... except for the tickets, DOH!!!! We didn't realize this of course until we got to Folsom of course. I was more than willing to make the 3.5 hour round trip drive but it was decided that we would just buy print at home tickets and try to sell the tickets later. Looking back I should have just made the drive, but oh well.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/wendrobn/SS001.jpg

We had tacos for dinner that were very yummy! It was really hot outside... even at 7 o'clock it was still in the 90s. We had planned to let Casey play outside and run around to tire her out but that was out of the questions. Luckily she was happy inside and after her bath she went to bed with very little fussing! :woohoo:

After Casey went to bed we watched tv with Dh's parents. The second Indiana Jones was on! We watched it and it made me very excited to ride Indy at DL!

After the movie it was time to get ready for bed. We were leaving at 8 the next morning! I took a Tylenol PM that night because I knew if I didn't I would be WAY too excited to sleep.

Next thing I know it's a little after 6 and Casey is calling out for me. I had to get her right away. I felt too guilty to let her stay in a strange bed/room even though it would have been nice if she would have slept in a little longer. I showered the night before so all I pretty much had to do was get dressed. I wear very minimal make. Just foundation and lipstick. Anything more is just too complicated for me.

After Dave and dmil got ready we were ready to go right at 8! If Casey had let us sleep in any later we would have been late! Way to go Casey! :yay:

The drive to Anaheim was pretty uneventful. We stopped mid way at 11 to have a picnic with sandwiches. It was way easier than stopping at a restaurant. Casey got to run around and burn some energy. She enjoyed her sandwich and so did the rest of us. We were on the road again at 11:30. After one gas stop we arrived at the Desert Inn and Suites at 2:30! Our fastest trip to Anaheim ever!!!

We checked in at 2:30 but they wouldn't let us into the room until 3. I suggested just going to Disneyland right then and there but I was outvoted. :confused3

Denny's was next door so we decided to get some milkshakes and fries for the adults and a grilled cheese sandwich for Casey. I don't know why, but the Milkshakes at Denny's are REALLY good. ::yes::

After we were done it was 3 o'clock and we checked into our room. Our room was nice and clean. We had a C1 Family suite which is basically two attached rooms with 1.5 baths. It was perfectly fine for the all of us. And for $109 a night I wasn't about to complain about not having 2 showers! Casey and I bathe at night anyway.

After we got settled in, it was to the best place in the whole world!

To be continued...

[kylieh]

What beautiful pics of Casey and Goofy. I'm sure you will treasure those for ever.

[julezdisney]

:thumbsup2

Stinks about the tickets but you can always sell them on ebay!

Or better yet-- PLAN ANOTHER TRIP! :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

[Danauk]

Great report so far. Sorry your camera was taken. Can't wait to read more.

[c&m]

...and sorry about your camera. It's horrible to hear things like that do happen at DL. Love your trip report so far. Your baby girl is adorable:cloud9: My girls are growing up way too fast.

[Daisybelle]

You're daughter looks so sweet! :cutie: And it's nice to hear someone happy about having the mother in law around! Grandma's are so helpful when traveling with little ones.
Can't wait to read more about your trip!

[Casey's Mommie]

:furious:

It's late so I don't think I'll re do it tonight. I'll try to work on it tomorrow at work.

I'm very upset right now.

[TiggerandTink]

Bummer. Sorry you lost all your work tonight. I just found your TR and I was really getting into it. Your daughter is very cute.

And I agree its nice that you enjoy having your MIL around and it is such a help to have an extra person there with you. My parents went with us when we went to WDW last year and it was very nice. If someone didn't want to ride there was always someone to trade off with, my dad doesn't really do rides although we did talk him into a few ;). Plus I think in our case it helped us slow down a bit and enjoy the parks even more. My family does tend to do the commando thing but my mom so isn't into hurrying :rotfl: so it helped that we both made some adjustments so that sometimes it was ok to hurry to something and other times we just took our own sweet time.

I'll be watching for more updates. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[julezdisney]

It sooooo stinks when I am typing along and then all of the sudden it all disappears! That's when Ctrl + Z turns into my best friend. I just press them at the same time as I need to until I get it back. Most of the times it works.... but sometimes it doesn't. Earlier today, I multi-quoated a big post in my own PTR and suddenly my entire page went crazy! I was able to use the back button a few times and it was still there! I couldn't believe it!

We'll be waiting!

[wendylady36]

I can't believe your camera was stolen! :scared1: My friend left his on the Buzz Lightyear ride, but luckily someone was nice enough to turn it into the CM working the ride.

My worst nightmare is forgetting my tickets or AP. It seems that someone always asks about 4 hours into the drive if everyone remembered their ticket/AP...not much you can do at that point beside saying "oh crap!"
That's brave of you to take a Tylenol PM when you had to be up early! I would have slept until noon if I took one. :rotfl:

Your daughters are cuties, I love the Minnie dress.

Great trip report so far! :thumbsup2

[Casey's Mommie]

Ok, it's kind of slow at work so I might try working on the trip report now.

Some good news is that the DL tickets are for sale on ebay and they are bid up to $325. Even if they don't get bid up anymore (there are 5 days left) a $75 loss isn't really all THAT bad.

Okay... off to write the segment of the first day (again!)

[Casey's Mommie]

Okay, it’s 4 o’clock and we’re on our way to Disneyland!!!!!

We are crossing the street at Harbor Blvd now and on the way in I notice it is a lot less crowded than it was the Sunday in October! :thumbsup2

By now we are very efficient when it comes to passing security. Before we even get to the table I have grabbed the diaper bag out of the stroller and it is open and ready for inspection. DMIL has her fanny pack unzipped and dh has his camera bag open. We get through with no trouble at all.

We approach the entrance with our ‘print at home’ tickets in hand. The old man ticket taker grabs all of them from us and scans them in all together. He presses print and only one prints out! :scared1: This is SOOO not good. He asks us to wait a minute and calls over a lead/supervisor guy. He tells him what happened and the lead asks him if he scanned them one at a time and pressed print or did he scan them all together. The Ticket Guy LIES and says he did them one at a time! :eek: Now I am a little upset but I don’t tell on him. About 10 minutes later we are FINALLY let in.:yay:

When we pass underneath the tunnel we see everyone is lined up for the parade. The right side of the street is almost empty because it’s warm out and there is no shade. We aren’t really parade people so we walk right past the parade and head to Winnie the Pooh! DD loves the ride and after we stop in at Pooh Corner. I check out all the treats and we all look at the merchandise and start to wonder what dd might like. We go on Pooh again since there is no wait for it. (It’s always nice to count on Pooh for no lines!)

We head over to New Orleans Square and there is no line for the Haunted Mansion. We walk right in the front door and only wait a minute for the elevator. DD doesn’t like it when the room goes dark and the lightning stikes and the scream. I was holding her and she grabbed me real tight! Luckily she’s not old enough to really get scared yet and the rest of the ride didn’t bother her at all.

We head to Pirates next and there is only a 10 minute wait. We jump in line because it is HOT now and a long air conditioned ride sounds too good to pass up. DD does very well on the ride and only hugs me tight when we go down the drop. But otherwise she’s completely fascinated and Happy! :goodvibes

After the ride we head to DDs favorite place: Toontown! On the way we get a Coke because it is REALLY warm.

On the way in to Toontown we stop and get a fastpass for Roger Rabbit. Next we go to Mickey’s House, Minnie’s House, Gooofy’s House and Donald’s Boat. We had to get to Donald’s Boat because it was going to be closed for the rest of our trip! We checked out Chip & Dales Treehouse and then decided to head for Buzz. On the way out dh and I use our Fastpass for Roger Rabbit while dmil heads for Buzz with dd.

Of course as we go to meet them we see the 6:30 parade is going on and we can’t find DMIL. We hang back and watch the parade a little and as soon as we can cross we do. We find them and go on Buzz. After that it’s back to the hotel to give Casey a little dinner and a bath.

Once she’s asleep DH and I head back for some Adult Disneyland Fun! :cloud9:

To be continued…

[wendylady36]

My youngest niece is the same way on Pirates and the HM, she clings SO tight and buries her head in my neck.

Sounds like a lot of fun so far! Adult Disneyland time is the best, there's no worrying about little ones and you can go on what ever you want! :goodvibes

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

And yay about the tickets on Ebay, $75 is not a bad loss at all.

[Ferry Joy]

Grat trip report. Can't wait for the rest. Too bad about the tickets and the camera. I hope you didn't lose too many pictures!

[Catrinabeach]

How did you like the hotel ? We are booked there for Sept and I would be interested in how it was.

[Casey's Mommie]

How did you like the hotel ? We are booked there for Sept and I would be interested in how it was.

We like it. It's nothing fancy, but it's clean and very close to Disneyland! The breakfast is a little bit pathetic, only danish, toast and cereal, but it's ok for us. We are going to stay there again for our Anniversary trip in September.

[Catrinabeach]

We like it. It's nothing fancy, but it's clean and very close to Disneyland! The breakfast is a little bit pathetic, only danish, toast and cereal, but it's ok for us. We are going to stay there again for our Anniversary trip in September.


We will be there Sept 20-29th. Maybe we will see you there lol