My real-time Cali trip report....

[CrazyDuck]

So my trip is set to begin tomorrow... To tell you the truth I thought I'd be more excited than I am now. I guess I'm just worried that the trip will fly by so fast that the months spent planning will be all for naught. Just wanted to thank all of you who have helped me plan this trip the past 6 months! You have all been a great help! If you are curious as to where I am or what I'm up to on my trip you can follow along on my "realtime" trip report (link in my signature). I'll try and post updates when I have downtime in the parks. If not I'll be back to update this thread over the next 11 days!

(Tentative) Schedule of events to come:
Oct 7: Fly to San Diego
Oct 8: Sea World
-> Oct 9: SD Zoo
Oct 10: Legoland
Oct 11: SD Wild Animal Park (Drive to Anaheim)
Oct 11-17: DL/DCA (No set plans for each day)
Oct 17: Fly home :sad1:

[disneegrl4eva]

have a good time sly and have a safe trip:hug:

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I know how you feel. I know that being a huge disney geek will bite me in the bum when I go on my trip..cuz after it'll be too depressing to come back for a bit.

HAVE FUN!

[Disneyanajc]

"Sorry I can't come to the phone right now' I'm in San Diego
from Oct 7-Oct 11 and I'll be at Disneyland from Oct 11-Oct 17.
If you want to follow along on my "realtime" trip report you can
visit http://www.fuzzyshot.com/kagawa otherwise leave a
message after the beep and I'll call you when I get back!"
...........................................Beep!

Hello! Hello!...are you there? pick-up...come on...pick-up...Oh! San Diego? Disneyland?...you on a trip or something?...any way........

Sy, wishing you and your family a safe flight and a wonderful vacation :cool1: ...JC

[DangerMouse]

Oct 11-17: DL/DCA (No set plans for each day)


:scared1: :scared1:
I this is the part that scares me the most.

I can't imagine going with no set plans. I'll look forward to reading your real time tr Sy, and maybe I'll see ya in the parks on the 17th. :thumbsup2

[CrazyDuck]

:scared1: :scared1:
I this is the part that scares me the most.

I can't imagine going with no set plans. I'll look forward to reading your real time tr Sy, and maybe I'll see ya in the parks on the 17th. :thumbsup2

:) Well the only thing that is set in stone is a couple of PS ressies I have a Storytellers and Aeriels. Also the 3 Magic Mornings we'll be there. Other than that we are going to wing it... With 5 full days and 2 half days we should have plenty of time to see and do everything. We may even leave the DLR :scared: to do some shopping durring the day and then return to the parks at night, or vice versa!

[Mycutekitties]

Have fun!!!

[SarahDISer]

Oh it just sounds fabulous you lucky duck

I can't think of anything more wonderful than to be heading off to DLR *sigh*

[keegro94]

Gah everybody is making me jealous because they are leaving in one day :sad2:

[pumpkin5156]

:scared1: :scared1:
I this is the part that scares me the most.

I can't imagine going with no set plans. I'll look forward to reading your real time tr Sy, and maybe I'll see ya in the parks on the 17th. :thumbsup2


With 6 days at the resort, I wouldn't have any set plans either! Imagine that much time to just do whatever you wanted, instead of rushing around to do PP first and FastPass at the right time.

sounds good to me Sy. I'll be there the 15th. Maybe I'll see you!:thumbsup2

[jory29]

Aw, I understand where you're coming from!! I've been lucky enough to go when I was in Gr. 1, Gr. 3, with my family, then again with my boyfriend (now husband) when I was 19 years old, and when I was around 24 years old) and again, we took OUR family (2 kids) for the first time in 2006, then we were lucky enough to get back again in 2007, then this past Sept. WHAT A RIDE!!!!

The days actually go slower than normal routine days at home (likely all that walking around!!!)

We spent 5 full days in the park, and it was such fun. You will have plenty of time to do everything you want to do.

Just make sure on the last day, you MARK DOWN what you want to do, and then DO IT!!! :)

We don't know when we will next get back as we had used air miles provided by my husband's work place to help to pay for the flight, hotel, and tickets, and this year they have cut them off, and I don't think we can afford to go for another 3 years - my heart is breaking -


BUT - then I browse the DIS boards, and live every moment through everyone else's eyes. Thanks so much, DIS'ers, for sharing your special moments with us all. IT HELPS!!!

I think so many people who live close to DL take it for granted that they can go on a whim - though they appreciate that too, I think.... BUT - for those of us who have to pay for flights, hotel, LAX transport, etc. etc., it adds up to a lot of $$$$. It's always worth it, but please, enjoy every moment that you can.

And DON'T get sick 2 days in like I did, with a miserable cold/sore throat. It really, really stinks, and then I tried SOOOOO hard not to pass it to anyone - sanitized my hands prior to holding onto any bars onto rides, didn't rub my eyes or nose, coughed into my sleeve when need be, etc. (I just wish the person who gave it to me had been more considerate.)

Anyway, I digress, sorry.

Have a GREAT trip, and no worries, you will LOVE every moment of it and will be ready to come home to write us a fantastic trip report. :banana: :lovestruc :goodvibes

[bonita_babe232]

Have a great trip :wizard: !!!!!!!!!! and when ur sad cause its time to come home, just think how ur gonna come home and write us a trip report and be able to live it all over again :flower3: !!!!!!!

[tink2dw]

Have Fun!!!!!!!!!:wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard:

[avalon451]

Laughed my head off when I saw your pic from 1:15 a.m. this morning. Great blog so far! Your kids are so cute.

Have a fantastic trip! Hope to see you guys there at some point, maybe.

pixiedust:

[pixiewings71]

Have a GREAT trip!!!!! We don't usually have set plans either, we like to "wing it" LOL

[CrazyDuck]

hey thx for all the well wishes. Our flight is still 4 hours away. We won't be into SAN til 10p. No sightseeing tonight! :)

[Krissy Marissy]

Hope you traveled safely! Guess I will check your tr and see! Enjoy your trip! We always wing it...nothing wrong with that at all!! :goodvibes

[Gisele]

Have a great trip and visit Sy! I hope that you and your family, have a wonderful and fantabulous time! Have a safe flight, and here is hoping that there will be zero, air turbulence!


(Once again, clears throat) Forgive me, anyone, that may find themselves, becoming lost, dazed or otherwise confused, by my tendency toward run on sentences. I beg the forgiveness of all, who may be the unwitting victims of such a terrible, and most egregious, punctuation crime!
See, this message, is a result, of someone having posted on another thread, regarding the travesty, that I apparently, and most inadvertently, seized upon their person, by committing, a grammatical crime. Tisk, tisk, I hope that there is not a fine, for such controversy, for I rather like my run on sentences. Also, I do like to use words, that might make it necessary for some to look them up in the dictionary, not out of haughtiness, but rather, for the sheer pleasure that I take in stating what I consider good, and most appropriate as well. I am so sorry for that too! but tough! I like my dictionary, and love spell check, so you see, I am not all that bad! (so I like to think, anyway!)

[CrazyDuck]

at SW now! :)

[CrazyDuck]

OK... Sea World is in the books.... I know it's not Disneyland but I'm gonna tell ya about it anyways. Today it was HOT!!! There was not a cloud in the sky ALL day... not even one!!! The park was rather empty. The only show that had a good size crowd was Shamoo, but he always draws a crowd!!! There were 3 little rides in the sesame street kids area that were all walk on... One was like dumbo and one was like the teacups. it was good practice for DL. We did the pengiun experience tour so we went behind the scenes at the penguin encounter exhibit. It started out where we could pet one of the macaroni penguins then afterwards the took us IN the penguin encounter exhibit. It was like 25 degrees in there. Very cold, but good to get away from the heat outside!!! We only stayed in there for like 10 minutes or so... We checked out the Clyde and Seymour show and whichever one is the walruss messed up the show. He took a crap on stage then jumped over the wall separating the stage and the front row. It was pretty funny. Security was there on the spot and ushered people in the front row away from the walruss. The trainers escorted him out of the stadium while doing their best improv. The 25 min show was cut short at around 15 min, but it was worth it! :laughing:

a few lousy iphone quality pics in my blog in my siggy! ;)

[prettyprincessbelle]

:rotfl: That is a crack up about the walrus! Poor thing!!! I would have been laughing, :laughing:

Glad you guys are having a great time!!

It was so dang hot today, I hated it. :headache:

Can't wait to hear more!!!

[bonita_babe232]

Love the pics!!!!!!!! i would have loved to see that show :lmao: !!!!!! glad u guys are having a good time..... just think closer and closer to disneyland!!!

[CrazyDuck]

:rotfl: That is a crack up about the walrus! Poor thing!!! I would have been laughing, :laughing:

It was so dang hot today, I hated it. :headache:

I guess thats the risk you take when dealing with live animals. Probably why W decided to go with animatronics for the Jungle Cruise!

Yea... I checked and it got up to 93deg today in SD... Tomorrows high expected to top out at 72deg :confused3 Wassup wit that?

[mAlien13]

Enjoying the pictures! Thanks! :goodvibes The penguin encounter looked exciting...we may have to pencil that in for our April trip! I love the live animal shows there, but I would really loved to have seen that hilarious moment! :rotfl2: Keep having fun!

[disneegrl4eva]

keep it comin sy!!

[prettyprincessbelle]

I guess thats the risk you take when dealing with live animals. Probably why W decided to go with animatronics for the Jungle Cruise!

Yea... I checked and it got up to 93deg today in SD... Tomorrows high expected to top out at 72deg :confused3 Wassup wit that?

:rotfl: Good thing they did!

I know, it's cooler here today too!!! Now tomorrow at DLR the temp went down from 80something to 69! That's a lot! But I'm glad it will be cooler! :yay:

[Disney Princess]

I love the LIVE updates. I can vacation vicariously through you!! That is too funny about the walrus. I would have laughed as well. It would definitely make the show "better" in my opinion!

[tink2dw]

What did you think about those Crazy Moving Screens at Shamu?? Did the birds swoop in and sit on the screens?

Did you know that they have a Dolphin Swim at Sea World San Diego?? Dd did in Jan of this year. There is an AAA discount, too!
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1/1948116-SeaWorld-San_Diego.jpg

I don't know which is worse Sly blazing Hot, or freezing penguin Cold that we had in Jan. I had to buy a Sea World Coat it was so cold!

I hope you all are having a ton of fun!!

[CrazyDuck]

What did you think about those Crazy Moving Screens at Shamu?? Did the birds swoop in and sit on the screens?

Did you know that they have a Dolphin Swim at Sea World San Diego?? Dd did in Jan of this year. There is an AAA discount, too!
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1/1948116-SeaWorld-San_Diego.jpg

I don't know which is worse Sly blazing Hot, or freezing penguin Cold that we had in Jan. I had to buy a Sea World Coat it was so cold!

I hope you all are having a ton of fun!!

Yea those screens are pretty cool.... the show itself was kinda lame... too toucky feely for me... didn't see any birds on the screens though...

I know they had the dolphin swim stuff. It is too much $$$ for me. Also nobody would want to see me try and squeeze into a wetsuit!

Blazing hot is the worst.... when it is cold you can put on a jacket.... When it gets hot ya can't just get naked. You'll get a sunburn where you don't want it!

Having fun.... a lot nicer weather today... Hopefully it sticks aroung through next week... :thumbsup2

Will do a Day 3 update later tonight. Gonna spend a couple of hours at Fashion Valley Mall. :scared: Wife wants to shop!

[heatherleigh]

That looks like so much fun! I can't wait to hear your updates. I love the live trip reports.

[CrazyDuck]

Got a late start today... mostly because my DS(2) was coughing last night (he has been fighting off a mild cold the past few days) so we decided to give him some albuterol. We brought his nebulizer just in case and good thing we did. He was able to sleep through the treatment. I however couldn't. We all finally woke up around 8:45 and finally rolled outta bed closer to 9:00a (Just about the same time the SD Zoo was opening its gates. I grabbed a couple muffins from the free breakfast downstairs and we headed out to the zoo arriving around 10:15. The Zoo was rather busy by the time we walked in. Not so much from tourists but rather lots of school children. It must have been ESL Days at the zoo because not one of the hundreds of kids there did I hear speak english. I know the hispanic community is prevalent in SD but I found it odd that none of the teachers or chaperones were speaking english either. Very strange!!! My wife thought maybe they were actually students from a school in Mexico as the border is only 30 min away :confused3 ... I didn't think anything more of it... BTW All of October is "Kids get in free" days. Which didn't know before I purchased our tickets.. so "Oh well?" After gettin in the park we immediately took the guided tour bus which was just "ok". It was included in my "3 for 1" SD pass so it was worth it. I don't know if I'd actually pay $ separately for it. The driver seemed more interested in completing the tour. I know they are on a schedule but jeez! Unlimited "Sky-fari" gondola rides are included in out ticket too which was fun. A little cool way up there but better than HOT! A couple of idiot kids were rocking their gondola which caused the ride to shutdown a few times. Security was kind enough to meet them at the end of the ride and escort them outside of the park. Whats the deal with the polar bears? They seem kinda out of place at the zoo. I mean we were walking along checking out wort hogs and other african animals and then "hey look a polar bear exhibit"??? I mean they don't have any other arctic or antarctic animals at the zoo... what are they doing with polar bears? Anyways.... Just thought it weird... Back on the Sky-fari I looked down and saw what looked like a cool place to eat. Come to find out it was called "Treetop Terrace". We made our way over there and had a pretty decent lunch. I had a meatball sub (which was ok) and a side of mac and cheese which was very good. Kids had mac and cheese too and DW had a chowder in a bread bowl. Lunch only set us back like $28. A lot cheaper than Sea World! Anyways.... after that we hit the petting zoo then headed back to the hotel.

BTW at both SW and the Zoo they sell refillable sipper cups. Sea World wants $7 + $1.60 for each refill. The Zoo wants $10 but they give you unlimited refills (a much better deal)!

Did dinner at Fashion Valley Mall. Didn't realize this was an outdoor mall. We have a large outdoor mall in Hawaii (Ala Moana) that looks a lot like this mall. Although our mall doesn't have temperatures that get down in the 50's :scared:

LegoLand tomorrow... leaving the hotel at 9:30a tomorrow morning (awake or not) :thumbsup2 Temps in Carlsbad tomorrow supposed to top out around 65. Lets see 93 on Wed at Sea World to 65 at Legoland on Fri. You know in Hawaii the temps only vary a couple of degrees at most from day to day... This is my no one ever pays attention to the weather man over there! :thumbsup2

[Krissy Marissy]

:goodvibes First off I hope your son is feeling much better! And the hot temps suck but at least it will be cooler tomorrow! I would have laughed so hard when the walrus jumped the wall :rotfl: Makes the show special! Can't wait till you get to DL...pretty soon

[dismom73]

I'm loving the live trip report--with pictures! I can't wait for the best part to start...DL! You guys will have a blast!

[dr&momto2boys]

OK... Sea World is in the books.... I know it's not Disneyland but I'm gonna tell ya about it anyways. Today it was HOT!!! There was not a cloud in the sky ALL day... not even one!!! The park was rather empty.


That's because EVERYONE was in DL thaat day! It was so crowded we could barely push our stroller down the street. I wish SeaWorld had been empty last Sunday when we were there. The little Sesame Street section was packed. We waited 20 minutes in line for the Elmo ride. All the shows were packed even the pet show.

Glad you're having a good trip! I hope DL is less crowded when you're there. I'm off to read your blog now.

[CrazyDuck]

Sorry I missed yesterdays update...Legoland... It is a great park for young kids. My only complaint is that after being at the zoo you realize how greedy all the other parks are. No refillable drinks at Legoland :(. I know that's not necessarily being greedy but rather "good business" practice but still.... Anyways.. Legoland was great. not very busy except for one ride we went on. I forget the name but its the ride where you pedal the car above an elevated track. The line wasn't long but it was such a slow load that it took almost 45 minutes to get seated! All the other rides were pretty much "walk-on" but then again all the other rides we rode were the kiddie rides!. Food was really good there. We ate at this kings bbq place in one of the lands. My son really enjoyed the kiddie rides. So much so that he would cry if sister was riding and he had to watch. After Logoland we hit the outlet mall in Carlsbad which is only a few minutes away, as well as "In-n-Out" burger which is right across the street! :thumbsup2 The driving and navigating on my part really wore me out. I fell asleep shortly after we got back to the hotel in SD, which is why this trip report is late! We decided to skip the Wild animal park today and head straight to Anaheim, with a quick stop off at Target (We don't have one yet in Hawaii). We checked into the GCH and since our hotel room wasn't ready yet we grabbed a late lunch (2pm) at Whitewater Snacks! Them Nachos are ridiculously large!!! My burger was good too. After getting our room which is a great room BTW (Theme Park View) on the east wing above World of Disney! This room is awesome! every few minutes monorail red or blue passes by and I can see the exit ramp from GRR and well as the loading queue for Soarin. Hollywood Tower is off in the distance! too... Anyways.... the Kids really loved the gift baskets and ears I had Vacation Planning deliver. They were waiting in our room when we got here, and they were PERFECT!!! The desk had the autographed photos and 1st visit buttons for me when I first checked in! I have some photos of the baskets on my realtime blog (link below). Mostly of the princess basket. I'll try and take pics of the Pirate basket and the cooler bag/towel basket later! We are off to Rainforest cafe in a few minutes for a late dinner! Then maybe check out the fireworks in DL and a quick ride on Pirates, Splash and HM if there is time before the park closes or kids fall asleep (whichever comes first)! I think I left my sprint wireless card in the room in SD so I'll have to rely on the Disneyland internet connection for the rest of my trip! :scared: Look for more updates!

[avalon451]

Sy, so glad to hear you are having a great time! Your real-time blog is awesome; and your kids are so cute.

Sounds like you got a great room. Was your wife surprised and thrilled? I remember you saying that GCH was a surprise for her.

I'll be in the parks tomorrow and keep an eye out for you (and about a dozen other DISers on my list!) Keep up the great reports!

[disneyfaninaz]

Hey Sy, we were at the SD Zoo the same day you were. It was such a nice change from DL which was stinking hot, and I live in AZ!

I too noticed all the school children. I do believe that there were several groups from Mexico there. There was also a local group that we followed and tried to lose a couple of times.

We went up to Cabrillo point at Point Loma today. It was an absolutely beautiful, clear day. We had great views of the harbor and skyline. It was a nice change, as SD is usually so hazy in the mornings.

Have a great time in DL.

[bonita_babe232]

Sounds like ur having a great trip!!!!!!!! cant wait to hear and see more!!!!! :flower3:

[CrazyDuck]

Sy, so glad to hear you are having a great time! Your real-time blog is awesome; and your kids are so cute.

Sounds like you got a great room. Was your wife surprised and thrilled? I remember you saying that GCH was a surprise for her.

I'll be in the parks tomorrow and keep an eye out for you (and about a dozen other DISers on my list!) Keep up the great reports!

They thanks.... Yea this room is fabulous...My DW was very surprised. She was driving and when we were driving up disney drive and when the GPS told her to turn into the GCH entry she finally got it. She was like "Is this the right place?". I was surprised she didn't get mad. I think after staying at the Comfort Inn and Suites we were all ready for a little nicer hotel. It didn't hurt that the lobby is amazing either. She actually ended up taaking a nap by the fireplace for a little while! Also bell services is great beacuse my back was already killing me before I had to take the bags to the car this morning!

I'll be in DL for MM tomorrow morning but we will be skipping out around lunch time, and will be spending the rest of the afternoon visiting some family. We may try and make our way back to the park in te evening time again. It didn't work out too well tonight but we'll see how it goes tomorrow!

Tonight we had PS ressies at Rainforest Cafe at 7:15p We ended up not getting our table til closer to 7:45. By the time we finished eating it was almost 9p and we barely made it into DL for the fireworks! We ended up with a space on Main St which was OK. We couldn't see the projections on the matterhorn but thats ok. The kids liked it nonetheless. We tried to make our way to NOS to get a ride in on Pirates or HM but they route traffic into DL from Main St. through Tomorrow Land. Therefore Tomorrow Land was packed and by the time we would have made our way around to NOS it would have been closer to 11p to we decided to turn around and head back to the hotel to get to sleep early and get a jump on MM tomorrow. Well that didn't work out well either. We ended up running around the espalande for a good 45 min looking for the kids bricks in the dark. We did end up finding them and we got a couple of bad photos of them. We'll have to revisit them again when the sun is up to get better pictures! So now it's midnight and everyone is finally asleep. SO much for the early jump on MM. We'll be lucky to get in the park early. If we beat the rope drop stampede I'd consider it a successful MM. :thumbsup2

See ya in DL tomorrow!

http://64.128.14.168/jojobrick.jpg

[Disney Princess]

Sy -

It looks like you are having a wonderful time! I love reading these reports. I'm sorry to hear about your Sprint card. I know that is a bummer. Hopefully GCH will supply you with good internet services to keep the updates coming. I'm so happy your wife was suprised by the hotel. It would definitely make me excited to turn in there. I'd gladly follow the GPS into the entry!

Hope you enjoyed your Target trip - it is one of my favorite stores!

Keep the reports coming, and have a great time.

[CrazyDuck]

Ok short day today. It was a MM day today but as expected the family didn't wake up til 8am. We were out the door closer to 9am. MM started at 7am and ropedrop was at 8am. So we only missed the MM by a little over 2 hours!:rolleyes: When we finally got into DL I made a beeline for the fastpass booth for Splash. Then I doubled back and met the fam at Pirates. At 9am it was still a walk on so we did that. My DS2's first ride in DL was Pirates (bad parents). He was a little reaked but he did OK! Then we were heading towards Critter Country and saw that Splash was only a 5 min wait. The 5 min was actually the entire time spent walking as we lost walked into our log. My DD4 and I sat in the back and I can tell yu that I have never got so wet on that ride. The entire left half of my denim shorts was completely soaked!!! And we all know how long it takes demin to dry!!! After that we rode Pooh...... to be continued... off to shower!

[pixleyyy]

Ok short day today. It was a MM day today but as expected the family didn't wake up til 8am. We were out the door closer to 9am. MM started at 7am and ropedrop was at 8am. So we only missed the MM by a little over 2 hours!:rolleyes: When we finally got into DL I made a beeline for the fastpass booth for Splash. Then I doubled back and met the fam at Pirates. At 9am it was still a walk on so we did that. My DS2's first ride in DL was Pirates (bad parents). He was a little reaked but he did OK! Then we were heading towards Critter Country and saw that Splash was only a 5 min wait. The 5 min was actually the entire time spent walking as we lost walked into our log. My DD4 and I sat in the back and I can tell yu that I have never got so wet on that ride. The entire left half of my denim shorts was completely soaked!!! And we all know how long it takes demin to dry!!! After that we rode Pooh...... to be continued... off to shower!

Oh, leave us hanging why don't you! LOL Can't wait to read more.

[CrazyDuck]

Ok short day today. It was a MM day today but as expected the family didn't wake up til 8am. We were out the door closer to 9am. MM started at 7am and ropedrop was at 8am. So we only missed the MM by a little over 2 hours!:rolleyes: When we finally got into DL I made a beeline for the fastpass booth for Splash. Then I doubled back and met the fam at Pirates. At 9am it was still a walk on so we did that. My DS2's first ride in DL was Pirates (bad parents). He was a little reaked but he did OK! Then we were heading towards Critter Country and saw that Splash was only a 5 min wait. The 5 min was actually the entire time spent walking as we lost walked into our log. My DD4 and I sat in the back and I can tell yu that I have never got so wet on that ride. The entire left half of my denim shorts was completely soaked!!! And we all know how long it takes demin to dry!!! After that we rode Pooh...... to be continued... off to shower!

Ohh... Sorry I fell asleep after the shower last night. Anyways to continue with Sunday... after Pooh we headed to toon town and stood in line for Roger Rabbit but after waiting for 15 min the ride broke down and we didn't want to wait in there so we headed out to grab lunch then after lunch we fastpassed RR. After that we headed out of the park to meet my cousins for dinner. They live in San Marino so it was about a 45 min drive. We actually brought some laundry so we did some at their house. A lot easier than waiting in the laundromat in the hotel! Ae left there about 8pm and were planning on heading back into the park for a couple hours but we hit some real bad traffic on the 605. I saw on my iphone where the accident was so we detoured though the 60/57. But we still didn't get back to the hotel til late so we ended up going to sleep shortly after. That's it for day 6!!!

[CrazyDuck]

Day 8.... Wow... our first full day in DLR. We spent most of the day in DCA. we started with a character breakfast at Aeriels. It was a pretty interesting. The food was just ok but the character interactions were great. We were the first ones seated for breakfast so we had the first booth. After the princesses entered the room the hit the closest table then they came to our booth next. My daughter loves princesses we met Aeriel first, of course, then Belle, Jasmine, Snow White and finally Aurora. We did most everything in DCA including Play House, Monsters Inc, all of bugs land, Soarin, GRR, Single rider Screaming, Pixar play parade, and last and least Taste Pilots Grill blech!!!:scared: Headed back to the room so the DD4 could sleep. I got antsy so I grabbed DS2 and took him to DL while everyone slept (DS2 slept in DCA in the stroller) It was crowded in DL when we got there (7:30p) because Dreams parade was finishing up. we made our way around to Pooh and rode that again twice then I met up with my DW, DD and DSIL and they brought me a chimichanga (blech). They munched on a couple turkey legs (blech). We hit HM with a fastpass I grabbed on Sunday. I had 4 legit ones in my pocket just incase they said something.... (they didn't I'll get more into my FP debacle later.) Anyways.... after HM we decided to check out fantasy land forgetting that the fireworks were just a few min away. So we get to FL and I realize that it is kinda windy. Thinking that they may cancel the fireworks I beelines straight for Dumbo which was closed for the fireworks. Well they did end up cancelling the fireworks, and we were the second ones in line when they reopened the ride (I was first but they cut... no biggie because we all rode the same time anyways!) Hopped on the carousel afterwards then pinnocchio all with no wait. Everyone was in line for Peter Pan but I'll just try and get to it on one of my MM's. Afterwards we rode the monorail back to Downtown Disney and our hotel. I'm ready to sleep but I find myself typing... very strange!!!

Anyways about my fastpass debacle. I am finding myself collecting a lot of fastpasses however I find that I am not using them!!! Like Sunday, I grabbed a bunch but never used them because we went to my cousins house for dinner and never got back into the park. Or when I do plan on using one I find that it would do me no good because the ride is now a walk on (GRR). You should see my collection, It is pretty impressive! From Sunday I have 4 each of Roger Rabbit, Autopia and Splash! From today I have 4 each of Soarin, GRR, Tower of Terror and HM. I also gave away my passes for screamin because no one wanted to ride so I just did Single Rider! I also have child swap passes for Soarin and TOT. I still carry them around with me, why? I dunno! Maybe I can get some CM to let me use em. The only one I tested was HM tonight and they took it without any problem. Maybe I can get lucky tomorrow using the day(s) old FP's! :thumbsup2


Sorry not too many realtime photos... My iphone battery was not fully charged!

[tink2dw]

It sounds like you are have fun!! I love your pics!!

[wdhinn89]

WOW! It sounds like you are having a great time.

Where did you stay while you were in San Diego? Would you recommend the place? TIA :goodvibes

[CrazyDuck]

WOW! It sounds like you are having a great time.

Where did you stay while you were in San Diego? Would you recommend the place? TIA :goodvibes

We stayed at Comfort Inn and Suites - Zoo/Hotel Circle. There are 2 and I think the other one was just renovated. I'm not sure if I would recommend it. Parking wasn't the greatest but thats because the first night we arrived at the hotel at 10p and there wasn't any close to our room. The room was pretty clean and the kids liked the bunk beds. The room was pretty small though and I ended up sleeping right next to the AC. Suprisingly I didn't get sick! The free breakfast was ok. Ate a cheese danish when they didn't run out of em. The Breakfast room was pretty small so it was easier to take the food back to the room. I'd stay there again if money became an issue. at $89/night it's a good deal. But nex time I'll spend twice as much for a > 3 star hotel (Hyatt, Hilton Marriott atc....) Nothing I hate more than carrying my own bags up and down stairs!

[disneyfaninaz]

WOW! It sounds like you are having a great time.

Where did you stay while you were in San Diego? Would you recommend the place? TIA :goodvibes

If you're looking for a nice place, we stayed at The Homewood Suites at Liberty Station. We had a nice King bed studio suite with a full kitchenette and sleeper sofa. The hotel is only about a year old and has nice sitting areas outside with fireplaces. We also got free breakast with plenty of seating to not have to eat in our room. It is close to the harbor and easy to get to Sea World and the Zoo. On Sunday through Thursday nights the hotel hosts dinner with wine and beer. We had spaghetti and meatballs when we arrived. It was the first meal we didn't pay for all week.

[CrazyDuck]

Day 8. Our first full day in Disneyland! I woke up in time for the MM at 8a and so did my DD4. So I took my DD4 to MM while DW and DS2 slept in and took their time getting ready. We got to MM about 15 min after it started so Peter Pan was already a 20 min wait by the time we got there! We were able to "walk on" (as in 0 wait time) Snow White, Tea Cups, Alice, Mr Toads and Carousel. By the time we were done with those it was 8:55. Rope Drop was 9:00 so we stood in line for 5 min at Casey Jr Train then headed back to Main St. to meet DW and DS2. Not bad for a late start MM 6 rides and 0 wait! After meeting up with DW and DS we went to go get Fastpasses for Autopia but they were not doing FP's today for that ride so we went standby since it was only 20 min. After that DD4 wanted to buy a princess dress so we went to PFF and dropped > $100 for an Aurora dress, shoes and crown and wand! While DD4 and DW waited to meet the same princesses she met during our character breakfast yesterday :confused3 DS2 and I rode the train around the park. Then we ate at bratwurst at PFF and DD4 listened to a storytime! We rode Nemo after that sine it was only 30min wait! Skipped over to adventureland to grab fp's for indy which i didnt use (*see yesterdays report) then waited 5 min for jungle cruise then walked on POTC. DW did some ornament shopping whils DS and I hung out around the river. Then headed back to the GCH for naps (nachos and burger from WW Snacks too). Back to the park at 6:30p to catch the Dream Parade then the Train from Toon Town station to Main St! Grabbed some soup from La Brea Bakery and back to the room.

So far I have not been impressed by ANYTHING I have eaten IN the park. the pork sandwich from taste pilots grill, the turkey leg, the chimichanga, and the brat dog were all pretty bad! Aeriels breakfast was pretty good but low on the price:food quality ratio, but then again character breakfasts are not all about the food! The best food we have eaten has all been outside the park; Reforest Cafe and WW Snacks. Oh well... We have a few more days and still have yet to eat at my favourites, Hungry Bear and corn dogs. We are also eating a character breakfast at Storytellers tomorrow morning which should be pretty good since it is not inside the parks!

Back at DL tomorrow after the character breakfast. Will have 2 cousins and 2 toddlers in tow so not expecting to get too much accomplished! If I get 1 big ride in (SM, SM, BTMRR, Indy) I'd be impressed!

Edit... oh yea forgot to mention that while eating at PFF my DS2 dropped a near full cup of orange soda. The CM that cheaned it up couldn't have been nicer, I think his name was Strike (or Spike or Smoke) something odd like that. He mopped up the mess and even replaced the orange soda. I would have left him a compliment at City Hall if I could have! :thumbsup2

[avalon451]

Sy, we were late to MM yesterday, too, and we also did teacups, Snow White and Pinocchio. We probably walked right past you.

Really enjoying your TR! I've got all these pics i want to post on mine, but by the time we get back to the room for our breaks I pretty much just want to crash.

We're starting in DL today but doing a lot of DCA. DD's favorite ride is now Screamin'! :thumbsup2

Have a great day!

[tink2dw]

CrazyDuck - I'm loving this thread and your pics!! Have lots of fun at DL!:wizard:

[CrazyDuck]

Day 9. Disneyland with Family....

We made plans to meet up with family today and do Disneyland My 2 cousins one of which had 2 toddlers the same age as my kids. Well knowing they were not going to get to our hotel till 10:30 I made plans for a character breakfast that morning. We did Storytellers so that we stayed close to the hotel. The food was really good the chatacter interaction was just ok. After making our way to DL with the family we got into DL at 11:00. First thing we did was take the train to Toontown then walked our way back to fantasyland. On our way we met some CM's in white vests.... Yes... The Dream Team!!! They were handing out Dream Fast Passes! (* I'll get to more on this later.) After getting to Fantasyland we foung that the park wasn't that busy. Peter Pan was 20 min, 10 min for Mr toads. The Carroussel which my DW and I rode 3 times was walk on while everyone else walked on Pinocchio. Autopia was 15 min (more like 10) and Nemo was 30 (more like 20). Space Mountain was walk on as well as Buzz... I fonally ate my yummy corn dog!!! Then we finished our day by Riding BTMRR, POTC (walk on) and HM. After that we made our way out of the park before the parade and made our way to WW Snacks for dinner. Got in there at 6:40 and had the place all to ourselves. ordered food and the CM's let us stay in even though they were closed at 7:00p. The CM's were so nice in there even though we were keeping them late... They even gave our 4 kids each a big chocolate covered mickey cookie! Thinking ack I wonder if they were trying to punish us parents!!! :laughing: After that we said bye to the family as we waited for their cars at valet. Then headed back to our room where I fell asleep immedately. Hence the late trip report.

*Note on the dream fastpass.... OK I know it's great and all but because it was so slow yesterday many places were not even doing fastpass. Autopia's line started after the fastpass merge as well as buzz. So those were not even open. HM was only 13 min wait. We tried to use our fastpasses there so we went through the FP line but noone collected out fastpass:laughing: Same thing happened at BTMRR. We went through the exit and jumped on but again no one collected out FP! Also DS2 and DD4 as well as the rest of my fam all got the dream FP's. So here I am sitting on 9 fully intact Dream Fastpasses!!! I notice that they are stamped with the words that they are only good 10/15/08. Did they change pilicy? Are these only good on the day you recieve em?

Another funny thing that happened yesterday... was that we got stuck on Matterhorn for about 10 minutes. we were on the bobsled just before it went into the lift tunnel. Wouldn't have been too bad but DD4 was already hesitant about riding it in the first place so she cried for the first 5 of the 10 minutes! they eventually got it restarted and she ended up liking the ride, even though she says she won't ride it again!

[godalejunior]

You can use the fast passes on another day until the Year of a Million dreams program is over so if you are going tomorrow or the next day, use them then! You can always use them for your scrapbook or pass them on to another family!

[CrazyDuck]

Day 10 Finishing up what's left to do.....

Ok so since Day 10 was our last dat in the parks we are just finishing up stuff that we had yet to do... Skipped the MM because I was tired from the night before... Waited to 10 an and headed to DCA for the rope drop and got there just in time. Headed straight for Toy Story and still had to wait 20 min by the time I got there! It was a great ride.... Not worth standing in line for 20 min again though! I'll Single Rider (or fast pass hopefully) it next time. After that I headed off to Screaming with my Dream Fastpass and my DSIL and used it without any problems! After that we ran to the Visa meet and Greet and met pluto and got our coupon for a free 5x7 photo... Didn't redeem it though... Also was expecting more than 1 character at the meet but oh well... Headed back to Screaming because I convinced my DW to do it and I used my DD4's Dream fastpass for that one! Did a single on Boomer then DW, DD4 and I fastpassed Soarin one more time... then we did lunch and headed back to the GCH to use the pool then rest because DL closed at 11p that night! Got back into DL around 7 and we immediately FP'd and child swapped Indy. Then we went to ride pooh like 3 times after which I bought a few tigger tails and oreo brownies! Then we headed to fantasy land. OK side note time.... I have now found my favourite place to watch the fireworks from Fantasyland is a great venue because you are surrounded my the fireworks and you can still see the projections on the Matterhorn! The fireworks started while we were in line for Casey Jr. and it continued durring my ride. We sat in the open benches on Casey and it was great! Another great venue would probably be the Storyland canal boats because I saw that they actually stop the boats durring the fireworks! Anyways.... we ended our day in FL walking on everything except Peter Pan... I seriously don't know why people wait 20 min for this ride when everything else near by is walk on!!! We shutdown Disneyland that night...

Ok now for something that bugs me... On the first Sunday we closed the park we were allowed to leave the stroller at the bag check tables in the espalande... on Tue and Thurs we were told to leave the strollers at the turnstiles. I just with they would be more consistent with their policies. Not a big deal but it's nice to know that if my DS2 is sleeping how far I'm going to have to carry him! :thumbsup2

[CrazyDuck]

Day 11... Packing up and going home!!!

We were planning to leave our bags with the porters and head back into the parks today but after seeing the influx of people into Disneyland while eating breakfast at La Brea Bakery I knew that going back in would be a mistake!!! So after packing and breakfast we spent our afternoon wandering around Downtown Disney. Bought some Legos and magic tricks! DW bought some ornaments. Then we went back to the GCH to hang around the lobby for a while until we were ready to head to the airport. I really hate LAX!!! I wish Hawaiian or United would pick up the SNA <-> HNL route that we lost when Aloha went out of business! Oh well back home now...

BTW I was checking out what I have leftover from our trip. Check this out: 2 days on an 8 day hopper (3 adults and 1 kid) that need to be used by Oct 24, 4 MTTMM passes, 4 Premium Preferred parade viewing passes, 4 Priority seating passes (4x1 each of Aladdin, Tough to be a bug, Muppet Vision, Golden Dreams) and 6 Dream Fastpasses (3 Unused and 3 Partially Used). :thumbsup2

[Disney Princess]

What a great time! Thanks for sharing with us play-by-play. It makes me feel like I am there. I'm glad you had fun with your family. :banana:

[tink2dw]

Isn't the loss of 2 days of an 8 day hopper just the killer?? I tryed to stop that on our Jan '08 trip of 7 days by only buying 6 day hoppers. Did it work? No! We had to buy 1 more day on our tickets for our last day!! You just can't win!!

[CrazyDuck]

Isn't the loss of 2 days of an 8 day hopper just the killer?? I tryed to stop that on our Jan '08 trip of 7 days by only buying 6 day hoppers. Did it work? No! We had to buy 1 more day on our tickets for our last day!! You just can't win!!

It's not too bad.... The cost for an 8 day hopper is only $5 more per ticket... I'd rather spend $5 extra and have the days available than not have enough days... I know we were going to have atleast 1 extra day becayse we were physically in Anaheim only 7 days but an 8 day hopper is the same price as a 7 so.... It was worth it... Our first day on our hopper was used only to watch the fireworks! :thumbsup2

[ParkHoppa]

Sadness, your home :( Thats the worst part