A Very Merry Unbirthday: A Trip Report (A VERY OVERDUE UPDATE 3/12)

[PirateFish989]

I’m Erin and I am addicted to Disney.






I’m Erin and I’m also addicted to shoes, books, chocolate and French Fries. But that is beside the point.

So back to the point, I’m a Disney addict, as so many of you are, too. And since I’m writing this under Disneyland Trip Reports, it can be assumed that I went to Disneyland and that I’m writing a Trip Report about my trip to Disneyland.

But we all know what happens when one assumes.

Fortunately, this time you all are right and I’m in the right place. I did go to Disneyland and I am here to write a Trip Report about my trip to Disneyland for all of you fellow Disney addicts to immerse yourself in. For some of you, this may mean vacationing vicariously through me, which is totally fine by me because I do that more often than I would like to admit. For others, this may mean that you’re procrastinating from work, or homework, or even picking your kids up from various locations. I understand! I, too, do this when I’m procrastinating (just not from picking up my kids. Because I don’t have kids).

So, as stated before, I’m Erin. And this is my Trip Report. I have been known to write in fragments. With lots of random and misused parentheses (what can I say, I like parentheses). I also like semi-colons; that is what you get when you are in college writing classes (strange affinities for punctuation). So, if any of these things bother you, I suggest continuing reading, because hey, you’re procrastinating, right?

Anyway, you’re here to read about my trip and read about my trip you will (you see, I’m just not sure how to start this thing so I’m procrastinating). So I may as well just dive into it before I continue to ramble on and on.

I’ve written a Trip Report before (you can read it here) and it got a fair number of responders and readers (whom I greatly enjoyed!). Last time I tried to go into great detail, and don’t get me wrong, I LOVE detail, but this time I thought I’d try it again, with maybe a little less detail on some things (like the minuscule details. For example, how long it took to walk from the exit of BTMRR to Conestoga Wagons for McDonald’s French Fries…which I just found out isn’t there anymore!).

My last trip to Disneyland was in May of 2007 for the Pirate of the Caribbean 3 Premiere (completely awesome!) with an amazing group of people, most affectionately called (by me) The Sarcastics. Actually I take that back, I went to Grad Night a week after that, but that was different. So in 2007 I was a senior in high school and a lot has changed since then, but not my addiction to everything Disney. I’ve been pining to go and for my 19th birthday this last September I got from my parents a trip for 2 to Disneyland for 3 days with a 2 night stay in a hotel. Naturally I was ecstatic! I immediately knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to go on another trip with The Sarcastics. But this time, since my gift was for me and one other person, I was told by my mom that I could take a friend (the other person) and she would pay for herself. There was no question in my mind who I was going to take – Jess of course!

At this point, you all are sitting in front of your computers with complete confusion on your faces. Who the HECK are these people she is referring to? The Sarcastics? Jess? Shoot, who is SHE?

MEET THE SARCASTICS!

*Please note: this picture was taken two years ago!*

Erin (me) – I’m a 19 year old student at a university in San Diego, which is an amazing city! I love it! Anyway, last time you read about moi, I was a 17 year old high school senior with braces and a lower jaw that stuck out and frizzy/curly-hair-that-I-forced-to-be-straight that I was always battling with. Shortly after my last Trip Report, things happened and the braces are now gone, as is the sticky-outy jaw, due to some amazingly fun jaw surgery! Woohoo!! (That was sarcasm, people. Get used to it. We ARE The Sarcastics. Anyway, jaw surgery changed me for the better and that sounds lame but it’s true). The hair is still the same, but I’ve managed to come to some understanding of how it works (against me, usually). I’m a Disney addict all the way and just finished reading the Disneyland Encyclopedia for fun. I love princesses and Pirates and dream to be Cinderella one day.
Since this is MY report, I get two pictures:

Carol – my mom. She is a preschool teacher and swim coach (for my rival high school…of ALL the places…). She is fun and energetic and a morning person. On every trip, she makes sure we learn something. She is the Mom everyone wants to have and I love her for it. We’re very close and I can’t imagine going to Disneyland without her.
From out last trip in 2007:

Lisa – my mom’s friend (actually she’s a family friend). She is the source of my Disney obsession. Without her, you wouldn’t be reading this today. She is the Disney Queen Extraordinaire. If you have a question about anything Disney, ask her. She always makes a minute by minute Plan for our trips and I don’t know what we’d do without her. She’s sarcastic and smart and a kind person. She may be joining us in this little conversation…we’ll see.
Also from our last trip:

Kailyn – Lisa’s 12 year old daughter, who is not the little girl she was two years ago. She’s a teenager now. She’s into drama (theater drama, I mean. Although teenager drama works too) and is a pleasure to be around (to me at least, Lisa might argue differently). Kailyn is smart and sarcastic like her mother and a nice girl. I used to coach her in swimming and she was always one of my favorites (shh! Don’t tell anyone else I had a favorite!) because she was nice and funny and smart and could carry on an intelligent conversation. I’ve known Kailyn since she was five or six and I cannot believe she is twelve already! Where does the time go??
Then:

Now:

So, there are The Sarcastics for you. NOW, you’re going, “okay, she explained who The Sarcastics are, but who is Jess? I’m still confused!” Not to worry, not to worry.

The fifth person on this trip is my best friend, Jess. I’ve known Jess for almost 13 years now. We met when we were seven on the swim team, instantly clicked, and have been friends ever since. We never went to school together and still don’t, but every single opportunity we get, we see each other or talk to each other or communicate in some way. Jess is the sweetest, nicest person you’ll ever meet. We are polar opposites, but identical. You know how sometimes even the best of friends have their issues? Yeah, that is not us. We just “get” each other. She’s hard to explain simply because there is so much good stuff to say that I can’t fit it all in without everyone who reading this right now leaving me for some other Trip Report that is less boring and less Jess-worshiping than mine.
This picture was actually taken in 2007, but it is the only picture I have of her on my computer!!!

A sixth person was recently added to this trip and that person would be Megan. Megan is Kailyn’s friend and I really don’t know her from a hole in the ground. Kailyn had asked if she could bring a friend, since I was, and she picked Megan, who is also 12. So that is pretty much all I know about her. I’m SURE I’ll get to know more during the trip.
(Please see the "NOW" picture of Kailyn, above, to see Megan - she's the blond one)

So, to recap:
1. I got a trip to Disneyland for my birthday
2. I invited Jess to go with me
3. The Sarcastics are also going so there will be 6 of us, including two 12 year olds.

*A look back on being 12: I remember the days of being 12 – you think you are so cool yet not cool enough because you aren’t a teenager yet. You’re moody and sassy and have an attitude and nothing in the world is happy because you’re 12. Nobody is nearly as smart as you are, especially your mother. And you’re right smack dab in the middle of a clothing trend (it is apparently currently Hollister/Abercrombie/American Eagle but back when I was 12 it was Hurley/Roxy/Billabong/etc.). Apparently these days 12 year olds have cell phones and they’re constantly texting (wait, that isn’t so different from a 19 year old…). Your phone is glued to your hand, fingers frantically typing away so you can keep in contact with your peeps. And you’re completely incapable of functioning whatsoever without your phone. You are also hyper and annoying and grumpy and move between these as fast as lightning. Basically you’re crazy, due to all the hormones raging inside. *sigh* I have fond memories of being 12.

Moving on!

Now, the issue we had was when to go. None of us could miss things (My mom and Lisa had some silly little thing called work, and Jess, Kailyn and I had school, which sucks all the fun out of everything). Our first projected date was over New Year’s. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Too crowded or something. Jury duty for some of us may have had some affect on it too. Next was over Martin Luther King, Jr. day in January. Nah, I happened to have 3 midterms that week after. What about Spring Break (MY Spring Break, that is, because the world revolves around me, right?)? Um, no. This is getting very disappointing to be honest; getting my hopes up and then letting them fall to the ground like a brick. Okay, so during my spring break (when we WEREN’T at Disneyland), The Sarcastics had a little pow-wow (Jess was MIA as she was still at school in LA and Megan hadn’t been invited yet) and we decided on the end of May (the weekend after Memorial Day weekend to be exact, May 29-31). I text messaged Jess (because teenagers these days avoid talking on the phone at all costs) and by golly, it worked for her! WOO HOO!!!!

We’re going to DISNEYLAND!!!!

 

[basketballmom]

I am subscribing! You have a wonderful gift for words. I AM a procrastinator and I am also addicted to books, chocolate and french fries! (shoes, not so much)
We are (hopefully) going to DL in August. My 3 daughters and I. They are 17, 13 and 9. Leaving dad at home this trip.
Looking forward to more...........

 

[DLR29]

I'm in. I'm also a teenager addicted to Disneyland.

 

[momto2nenas]

Joining in for the report!

 

[PirateFish989]

So, I last left off with introductions and dates and the background of this little adventure. This time, I’m going to review The Sarcastics last trip. A trip down Memory Lane if you will…

The Sarcastics have some rules. These rules are very important and are our Three Commandments that we live by while on these Disneyland adventures. The Three Commandments are as follows:
1) NO MEN! NO EXCEPTIONS! Men, especially the men in our families, just cause all sorts of complications when traveling (My dad turns in to Grumpy when on a Disneyland vacation. Apparently Mr. Lisa does too). And it's obvious - Girls Rule, Dogs Drool.
2) No whining - this is in direct accordance with rule #1.
3) Eat as much crap (whatever you want, whenever you want, as much as you want) as humanly possible without throwing up.

As Lisa put in our plan, “our meals are on the fly…or on the fry as my daughter Kailyn would have it. It shall be deemed a weekend of sugar, fat and salt. I herby decree. The best combination will of course be fat rolled in sugar with a touch of salt and chocolate dipping sauce! Or caramel…whichever you prefer.”

Here here!!

The Three Commandments are strictly enforced and anyone who disobeys is fiercely punished. An example of said punishment is instead of eating, say, a warm, soft, golden brown cinnamon roll from the Blue Ribbon Bakery covered with hot icing dripping down the sides (is anyone else’s mouth watering? anybody else craving a cinnamon roll?), you get celery. With no dipping sauce. Or peanut butter. Or cream cheese. Nothing. Just celery. Yeah, that’s right. Something healthy. Eww.

I’m not going to go into full detail of the last trip because that would be silly as I have already written a Trip Report (which you can read here). So I’m just going to do a short and sweet recap:
1. We left Thursday afternoon and sat in traffic for 2 extra hours
2. We went to Disneyland on Friday
3. We sat in line for 18 hours on Main Street on Saturday for the Pirates 3 Premiere
4. We did both parks on Sunday and then went home

Was that short and sweet enough for ya?

Since I’m briefly talking about our last trip, why not give some pictures to satisfy your need:

The plan for this trip is a little more complicated. You see, the participants of this trip are located in 2 different places – me in San Diego and the rest in the Central Valley (approximately 3.5 hours north of Disneyland). And some (not to mention any names…Kailyn) have these silly little tests called final exams (honestly, I don’t remember finals being so difficult in 7th grade) that apparently she can’t miss. So, I’m going to do my best to explain this clearly:

First, we are going (actually, we’ve gone already, obviously) May 29-31, which is a Friday-Sunday. My mom, Jess and myself are buying 2 day park-hoppers and upgrading to the Southern California AP’s on Saturday night so we can go to the parks on Sunday. Lisa & Kailyn have AP’s so they’ll just need to buy a block-out ticket on Saturday and Megan, I believe, is buying a 3 day park hopper. We’re staying at the Ramada Inn-At the Park Friday and Saturday night. We usually like to stay at the Candy Cane Inn but since we need two rooms this time, we decided to go with a cheaper hotel (and let me tell you, you get what you pay for…more on this later).

So…

I am driving up from San Diego early Friday morning and meeting my mom and Jess at our hotel. Lisa and the 12-year-olds are leaving after their final and meeting us in the park when they get there – probably (rather, HOPEFULLY) around 2:30ish.

The park opens at 9:00 on Friday due to a Grad Night the night before and we were instructed by Lisa to get there for the opening of the park. That entails my mom and Jess leaving around 3:30am in order to avoid LA traffic and me leaving around 5:30am in order to avoid San Diego AND LA traffic. So, we’ll meet up at the hotel hopefully around 7:00 or 7:30, check into our hotel, park our cars there and then head on over to the park for the rope drop.

The plan for Friday is to follow The Plan (not to be confused with “the plan”, which is simply the general, loose outline for the day, where The Plan is the strict, minute by minute written out guide for the day) and do Disneyland all day. Lisa and the girls will meet us at Disneyland early afternoon and at that point we’ll let Lisa take over. We have reservations for dinner at Café Orleans, which I’m super excited about, but other than that we’ll just wing it when it comes to food. Oh, and it is very very important for me to procure a Birthday Button. As this whole trip is happening because of Me and My Birthday (well, Unbirthday at this point!!! Shall we sing???
…A Very Merry Unbirthday to you.
To who?
To you!
A Very Merry Unbirthday to you.
To Me?
To you!
Now blow your candles out my dear and make your with come truuuuue!
A Very Merry Unbirthday…..tooooooo you!!!!!!).

The plan for Saturday is:
Disneyland from opening until DCA opens – collect FP for later
DCA most of the day
Back to Disneyland – use FP from earlier, watch fireworks(?), upgrade to AP’s and then back to hotel

The plan for Sunday is:
Disneyland from opening until we leave to go back to our respectful places.

*A look back on being 12: 12-year-olds always travel in packs. Everywhere. All the time. You can’t function without having 8 of your closest friends with you. This is especially important when going to the restroom. You do NOT go alone (and somehow that rule still kind of applies when you get older too). Anyway, when you’re 12 you always want a friend to go with you. Everywhere. To talk to a teacher, to the mall, on vacation, to the restroom…you name the location, there will always be another 12 year old accompanying you. This kind of makes it difficult to talk to a member of the opposite gender. Because not only do YOU have YOUR swarm, but THEY have THEIRS. And when you do happen to get them alone, there are two groups of packs watching. Very closely watching. Anyway, I remember, very clearly, when I was 12 – there was a group of 4 of us on the swim team and we were basically inseparable (it is interesting now that the only one I talk to any more is Jess). Anyway, all of our families planned on going over to Morro Bay together. I just remember the chaos. There were like 15 children between all the families and we were loud and obnoxious and it was so much fun. You could hear the pack of us coming from blocks away. We all bought Hurley or Roxy sweatshirts and all wore them at the same time. And we all went to the San Luis Obispo street fair. It was a blast. So basically, if you see a group of youngish kids – they’re most likely 12.

Next up: Preparation for the trip!!!! You HAVE to make matching shirts, right?

 

[PirateFish989]

I am subscribing! You have a wonderful gift for words. I AM a procrastinator and I am also addicted to books, chocolate and french fries! (shoes, not so much)
We are (hopefully) going to DL in August. My 3 daughters and I. They are 17, 13 and 9. Leaving dad at home this trip.
Looking forward to more...........

Welcome! And thank you - I'm not too sure my college writing professor would agree with my "wonderful gift for words" but then again I don't get to write fun stuff like this in college

I'm in. I'm also a teenager addicted to Disneyland.

YAY! Glad you're in!

Joining in for the report!

Hope you enjoy the rest!

 

[basketballmom]

LOVE the shirts from the previous trip!

 

[Sarah84]

I'm subscribing. Love all the intro and you are so lucky to live in San Diego (well you're lucky to live in the states full stop ) i have never been to SD going for the first time in september but it just looks like such a nice place.

Can't wait to read more, plus everytime i come and read your posts on here i get to drool over the pics in your sig of Chad michael murrey & Kris Allen

 

[disneynerd420]

Can't wait to see more!

You should check out my TR too. Let me know what you think!

 

[PirateFish989]

LOVE the shirts from the previous trip!

Thanks! Someone actually asked us where we got those shirts, which I thought was quite flattering.

I'm subscribing. Love all the intro and you are so lucky to live in San Diego (well you're lucky to live in the states full stop ) i have never been to SD going for the first time in september but it just looks like such a nice place.

Can't wait to read more, plus everytime i come and read your posts on here i get to drool over the pics in your sig of Chad michael murrey & Kris Allen

San Diego is such a cool place, I'm sure you'll love it! There is so much to see and do - definitely go to Old Town to a Mexican Restaurant and go see the hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island. And it is hard not to drool over Chad Michael Murray and Kris Allen - I feel ya there.

Can't wait to see more!

You should check out my TR too. Let me know what you think!

And more you shall see soon!

 

[PirateFish989]

IT'S PARTY TIME!!! A planning/preparation party that is

Okie dokie, so the date has been set, the hotel picked (The Ramada Inn-At the Park) and reserved (two rooms, next to each other), and even the kind of ticket chosen (not purchased, because Lisa won’t let us buy the park hoppers yet and we all know Lisa is in charge here). In the time since the dates were chosen and Memorial Day Weekend (remember, we’re going the weekend after Memorial Day Weekend), when I’d be home so we could make our matching shirts, Lisa was kind of relentless about the dates we had chosen. You see, all spring ticket deals ended the week before we were going and all new summer ticket deals started the next weekend so we were left paying full price. Fabulous, right? But the dates were set and this was the only weekend that I could really go (and this is all about me, of course) because finals week was the week after the next weekend after the dates we picked (got that?) so we weren’t giving in to dear Disney Queen Extraordinaire Lisa.

ANYWAY, we were all meeting up to make our shirts for the Saturday we’d be at the park. My mom and I had decided that we should tie dye Mickey heads on our shirts. When I was home for spring break in March, we did a trial run and it came out really cute, so we got all of the necessary materials and were ready to tie dye!

So the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we were all meeting at my house to do this little project. We had the shirts and they were washed and ready to be tied. We needed gloves so as to not get dye all over our hands and we also needed string with which to tie the shirts (hence the TIE dye). I called Lisa and asked her to pick up the gloves (just like cheap, latex gloves…like what you use in a hospital). She said she would and that she might be a little late. I realized that we didn’t have any string so I went to get that. I went to the grocery store and they didn’t have string. I went to another grocery store and THEY didn’t have string. I went to Kmart and THEY DIDN’T HAVE STRING EITHER. So 3 stores later and still no string, my mom calls me and says that Jess is at our house. So, having not seen her since, like, February (that is like a really long time to not see your best friend, you know?), so I really have no choice but to go by my house and pick her up to go with me to FIND A STORE THAT SELLS STRING. Seriously, finding a store that sells string is like looking for a Hidden Mickey in the Matterhorn (alright alright, I must confess, I don’t know if finding a Hidden Mickey in the Matterhorn is difficult, having never attempted it. Shoot, does a Hidden Mickey even exist in the Matterhorn?). So back to the story – I FINALLY OBTAINED THE STRING! I had to go to a hardware store in order to do so, but I GOT THE STRING.

I think it is kind of sad that my joy in life comes from finding a store that sells string.

When we get back to my house, Lisa is still not there (and it is clearly way past the time we were supposed to meet) so my mom, Jess and I get the dye ready. And we're each wearing our Mickey ears because we HAVE to get into the mood. Right?

Finally, Lisa arrives with the gloves. And the 12-year-olds.

Ok, let me rephrase. She arrives with ONE pair of gloves. And the 12-year-olds.

This is the first time any of us (us meaning me, Jess and my mom) have met Megan. She was very quiet. Probably because she was with me, Jess, my mom, Lisa and Kailyn. If you haven’t picked up on it already, we’re all a little overbearing. Maybe a little intimidating. Just maybe. We are all a little bit too comfortable around each other. And it could be possible that those amazingly good looking, smart, sarcastic 19-year-olds are intimidating. Or not. Heh heh.

*A look back on being 12: 12-year-olds can be very shy in the presence of older teenagers. I’m pretty sure that this is due to the fact that many times, 12–year-olds think that these older teenagers are judging them, when in reality we aren’t! Too much, at least. But then again, please note that I said that 12-year-olds *CAN* be very shy. Can. They may be shy at first. But then they warm up to you. And the quiet, sweet, innocent 12-year-old is no longer. Now you’ve got a hyper, loud, obnoxious 12-year-old. But what would we do without them, huh? The world would be a much more boring, peaceful place if 12-year-olds didn’t exist. WE LOVE 12-YEAR-OLDS.

Moving on…

Apparently I wasn’t clear enough when I asked Lisa to get gloveS. Plural. So we sent her back to the store. And she came back with 12 pairs of gloves. Nice work Lisa!

Anyway, we congregate in the living room to tie our shirts. We all tied our shirts differently so that each shirt is unique. The only requirement for making the shirts was that you had to have a large Mickey head on the front.

So here we are, tying and chatting and laughing, and probably arguing.

Can you FEEL the death stare?

We all think that Kailyn looks like Violet from The Incredibles. She certainly has got the "I hate the world" look down, don't you think so?

Jess and I worked as a team and became tie dyeing tying masters. For all you potential tie dyers out there, let me just say that the secret to making a very cool tie dyed shirt (or article of cloth of your choice) is tying the string super tight. The tighter, the better.

Anyway, Kailyn and Megan were being 12 and working on tying their shirts and doing a hand game which kept popping up all throughout the trip and was contagious too. Those darn hand slappy games.

We finally get all out shirts tied and ready to dye so we move outside on the grass to where everything is set up:

Something about speaking softly and carrying a big stick...

Proof of the hand slappy-ing going on

Such diligent little workers, no? This reminds me of a song:

"We dye dye dye dye dye dye dye on the lawn the whole day through,
To dye dye dye dye dye dye dye is what we like to do,
It ain't no trick
To look good quick,
If you dye dye dye with a bottle or a stick,
On the lawn (on the lawn)
On the lawn (on the lawn)
Where shirts are dyed
upon!!!!!

We dye dye dye dye dye dye dye from early morn till night,
We dye dye dye dye dye dye dye every shirt in sight!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho,
it's off to dye we go
*whistling*"

Continuing with pictures:

So there isn’t much more to tell about this adventure except that the shirts turned out amazingly cool. And that I don’t have any good pictures of all the shirts (I know, shame on me). Oh, and the hand slapping continued until everyone left.

These are pictures of the left over dye that was collected in buckets so as not to get onto our shirts in places we didn’t want dye to be. I thought it looked kinda cool:

Oh, and one more of me and Jess.
*WARNING: there are a LOT of self-portraits of me and Jess throughout the entire trip. It's because we're so good looking...*

Up next: DAY 1! WE’RE AT DISNEYLAND! IT’S DAY ONE OF MY UNBIRTHDAY!!

 

[chickyann]

I loved your last trip report & can't wait to hear more

 

[cannp123165]

Great trip report! The tie-dying looks fun.

 

[PirateFish989]

So, I last left off, um……oh yes, I’M GOING TO DISNEYLAND IN A WEEK!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!

Our way cool tie dyed shirts were made and ready to go. Memorial Day weekend was almost over and I had to go back to school so I needed to get everything at home that I needed for Disneyland (that I didn’t have with me at school) ready. I was leaving my shirt with my mom to bring with her. I packed my ears and took my spending money (now, I don’t recommend carrying hundreds of dollars in your wallet on an everyday base…your wallet gets a little bulky) and was off to San Diego.

Now I only had to endure 3 days of classes and work until I WAS FREE.

That week seemed to drag on FOR-E-VER. Jess and I kept texting each other – 3 more days, 2 more days, 12 more hours…

I can’t remember if I’ve already explained what is happening here and honestly I’m too lazy to check if I have or not so I’m going to say it again. And chances are that you people have forgotten anyway.

So here goes:

Jess is spending the night at my house so she and my mom can leave well before the crack of dawn (3:30 am to be exact) on Friday morning. I am leaving San Diego at approximately 5:30 am and am meeting my mom and Jess at our hotel at approximately 7:00-7:30ish. We're all hoping that we'll avoid traffic. I’m hoping that I won’t get there before them because that means that I’ll have to wait, by myself, until they arrive and I'm not good at occupying myself. I can just picture me sitting in the lobby of the hotel, twiddling my thumbs, the hotel employees behind the check in counter leaning over to one another, whispering things about my ears. My Mickey ears, that is. Because what other ears would I be referring to? Huh?

Okaaayyyy, continuing with my story:

The night before, aka Thursday, May 28, aka one more sleep
I can hardly contain my excitement all day. I finally get done with classes and work and somehow it ends up being nighttime and I’m starting to pack. I end up talking on the phone with Jess for a bit (because neither of us can hardly contain ourselves). And then I talk to my mom. And then Jess again. Oh, then my mom. Jeez people! I need to pack! I was fortunate enough to get a parking spot close to my apartment so I easily load as much of my stuff in my car that night – who knew 3 days of being gone could warrant so much stuff?!?!? I end up going to bed around 11:00, which isn’t too bad considering I don’t have to get up until 4:30 where my mom and Jess are getting up at 2:30. Ew – 2:30.

At about 11:30, I’m still not asleep and I sit up with a jolt – THE TICKETS. My mom is in charge of them and I certainly don’t want her to forget them! I’m such a huge worry wart. I seriously worry about everything. I text Jess and she immediately texts back, assuring me that the tickets are packed and will be there. Whew!

I have no idea exactly how much I actually slept that night, but I know it wasn’t much. At one point I was lying on my back, looking at the ceiling with a huge grin on my face because I knew that in approximately 6 hours I would be in my Happy Place.

Finally, my alarm goes off and I hop out of bed, which is very unusual for me because I am known for setting my alarm at a random time some 30 minutes BEFORE I actually need to and do get up so I can pretend that I am sleeping in. So I’m up and ready to go at about 5:00. Jess calls me and lets me know their location. I manage to do some fuzzy calculations of my approximate departure time so that I get there around the same time as they do. I grab something to eat, take the rest of my stuff down to my car, plug in my iPod (making sure that my Disney playlist is on) and I’m off. To get gas that is. It is a moist morning – clouds in the sky, mist hanging around like an annoying little sibling. This is NOT good news for my hair.

I get gas and NOW I’m off. I can’t help but smile. And giggle. And belt out Disney songs at the top of my lungs. Which isn’t pretty, let me tell you.

The weather is acting very strange this morning. At one point during the 80 mile journey up I-5 it is raining. But I don’t care. I’m going to Disneyland.

I get close to my exit and all of a sudden I hear "Under the Sea" and "Under the Sea" is not the song that is playing so it must be my phone! It is Jess calling, wondering where I am in relation to the hotel. I tell her I’m about 2 exits away and then my mom starts chatting away in the background. Like I can hear her. And like I have nary a care in the world let alone trying to navigate one of the busiest freeways in the state. I finally say I’m about to exit and I have to go. Jess responds, “OH, we’re about to exit too!”

So I exit and proceed along. Still with a goofy grin on my face. As I’m stopped at a red light, I see a very familiar car at the next signal. THAT IS MY MOM’S CAR!!!

I pull up next to them and they wave. I can’t believe that we arrived at the exact same time! THE EXACT SAME TIME!!! Freaky.

(I really can't get over the fact that we arrived at the same time. I am still in awe of this)

Man, I’m good. My fuzzy calculations are dead on. Go me! Because this story is about me. And the world revolves around me.

I’m vain, what can I say?

We pull in to the hotel parking lot (Oh the grandeur of the Ramada Inn!) and all jump out of the car and embrace like we haven’t seen each other in a week. I’m still giggling. And smiling.

My mom checks us in. Our room isn’t ready (duh, it’s only 7:15 am) but we get our parking passes and all the other paper work done and move the cars to over by our room.

We spend a good amount of time in the parking lot. Mainly laughing and organizing and taking ridiculously fun, ridiculous pictures:

And then it hits. You had to have known this was coming if you read my last trip report. You see, my mother has a problem. Everytime we go to Disneyland she must use every bathroom in the park. It’s weird. And annoying. And time consuming. And here we are, in the parking lot of the HOTEL (not even at the park yet) and she announces that she needs to use the facilities. Great. Wonderful. Spectacular.

So we go in search of a bathroom. And somehow she manages to get something all over her leg. And then she tried to get it off. And this was the result:

So NOW we’re off! Off to Disneyland! My Happy Place. The One and Only.

Some more pictures:

THE backpack - everyone has one, no?

Our lovely hotel...not.

Up next: I’ve spent 4 long “chapters” yapping about stuff and I’m not even in the park yet!

 

[PirateFish989]

I loved your last trip report & can't wait to hear more

Great trip report! The tie-dying looks fun.

Thanks! Glad to have you guys on board!

 

[PirateFish989]

It was a short walk from our hotel to the security check thing before entering the esplanade. The weather was moist and the size of my hair was growing at an alarming rate. I put my hood over my head to protect others from being attacked by my hair. It has a mind of its own, you see.

We had to wait to enter the esplanade until 8:00 and we arrived about 12 minutes before 8:00. Once let in, we did a classic walk-run to the gates and were first. Because that is what The Plan dictated. And we were NOT allowed to stray from The Plan.

So we waited at the gate and when the gates opened we did another amazing walk-run to the rope drop. We were the only ones on Main St. for a good 7 seconds and I have the pictures to prove it.

We sent Jess to get Cinnamon Rolls the blue Ribbon Bakery. My mom headed straight for the bathroom (because it had only been 39 minutes since she had last gone and apparently her bladder is the size of a nickel). I went straight to the rope to guard our spot. My mom met me there and I went to check on Jess. When I got there she was about to carry three HUGE cinnamon rolls. We kinda forgot to tell her that we probably didn’t each need one. Whoops. Heh heh.

The rope was then dropped and we walk-ran around the Matterhorn to Nemo but it was closed so we headed straight for Space Mountain and grabbed fastpasses on our way in. As we were going along that outdoor area before you go inside we saw a woman and three children (all about age 10-14) climbing over all the ropes, cutting in front of everyone in line. My mom pointed and started scolding them and two kids stopped but the mother and son kept going! Everyone was horrified at what they were doing. When we got to the CM semi-controlling the line my mom went right up to her and said:

“There was a woman and her son who climbed the stanchions and cut in front of everyone!”

The CM gave her a blank stare and I was pretty sure she was going to ask “what is a stanchion?” but she gave some lame answer and was completely unhelpful. Thanks a lot woman.

By the way, for those of you that don’t know, a stanchion is one of the poles that holds up the chains or rope that guide the queues.

After Space Mountain we went to the Matterhorn and then Fantasyland and then to Adventureland and all those other lands, grabbing fast passes along the way. We eventually stopped for lunch at the French Market, which was very disappointing. Jess and I each had a child’s macaroni and cheese, which was to die for.

We had a good collection of fastpasses now and it was nearing the time of Lisa and the 12-year-olds arrival so we headed towards the hub, stopping in Adventureland to shop. Shopping clearly wears you out so when we were done we needed a snack and settled on a Mickey Head Ice Cream. Because it had only been about 17 minutes since we had lunch.

My mom managed to sneak away and came back with an Un-birthday button, which is simply a Birthday Button but upside down. I proudly wore it everyday. What can I say, I loved the attention I got. If you haven’t learned by now, I like attention.

Backtracking for pictures:

First on Main St.

The Cinnamon Roll:

Look at the creepy guy in the background:

Up next: Disneyland with 12-year-olds

 

[justliketink]

Your trip report is so good! I have a 12 year old daughter and completely agree with EVERYTHING you've said so far

 

[WebmasterJackie]

Subscribing!

 

[PirateFish989]

Disneyland with 12-year-olds:

As we were getting our Mickey Head Ice Creams, Lisa and the girls walked up. They had just arrived and checked into the hotel and were ready for some Tiki Room Lovin’. I take that back. Lisa was ready for some Tiki RoomLovin’. The rest of us…not so much. Or not at all. Ever.

Anyway, while we were finishing up our ice cream, Lisa went to grab some fast passes, as they had non. Kailyn and Megan were being 12 – I’m not really sure how to explain it. They had made shirts and were all giddy and loud and glad that finals were over. My mom, Jess and I, on the other hand, were dead tired.

Lisa got back and we decided to go ride It’s A Small World. The line wasn’t long and the afternoon parade was about to start so while in line we got to see some of it before we were beat over the head by the It’s A Small World song. Apparently Kailyn and Megan were too cool to see thousands of dancing dolls so they opted to get popcorn and people watch.

Did I mention we gave them a walkie talkie? That they didn’t really know how to use?

Boy, was THAT fun.

Happy happy happy to be here!

Self-portrait #93:

While in Small World, we pointed out all the new characters, which, in my opinion, looked good! I know I’m going to get reamed for saying that, but I liked the new additions. When I first heard that they had added classic characters, I imagined things like a huge animated Goofy, singing along in his already difficult to understand voice.

At one point, about half way through, our boat stopped moving. There was no boat in front of us.

“IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!!”

Boats were piling up behind us.

In German!
“IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!”

Sighs are heard from Jess sitting beside me.

In Aborigine!
“IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!”

Oh, hey look, that doll, who is trying to imitate the Rockettes, must have broken her leg.

In Mermaid!
“IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL”

Wow, I guess Nemo still can’t be found, even in this small world.

In Swahili!
“IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!”

FINALLY, we started moving. Only to be stopped again. And then we moved. It was a rough trip through such a small world.

I do love that ride, despite that song. I love all the dolls and the decorations for each country.

After we got off, Lisa swept us over to Nemo, thinking that the line wouldn’t be too horrible because of the parade still going. Everyone kept getting distracted so at one point, Lisa shouted, “FOLLOW” and pointed to the ground. Definitely one of her best moments.

Nemo was cute. I can’t believe how long a ride it is. Very well done.

*A look back on being 12: 12-year-olds are way too cool for anything and everything. Especially things that their parents want to do. Like ride It’s A Small World and the Nemo Submarines.

I forget what we did next but I do remember it was on the other side of the park.

Despite our best efforts, Lisa somehow found out that Jess had never been in the Tiki Room. That was a mistake. Lisa LOVES the Tiki Room. The rest of us…not so much. Some people say the Tiki Room is a rite of passage, a tradition even. I say off with traditions head!

We had never noticed the spouting Maui god before:

This is apparently what buying things at Disneyland does to a person:

It was nearing dinner and we had reservations at Café Orleans. We got seated and our waitress was less than polite – clearly annoyed that we didn’t order something besides water to drink. Well, excuse me. At this point we were all giddy. My mom pulled out some individually wrapped hand wipes from her first aid kit. Jess pulls out hers and wipes her hands off. I pull out mine and think, huh, this package feels kind of thin. I pull it out and what do I find, but a teeny tiny wipe thing…clearly not for wiping hands.

After catching our breath from laughing, we captured the moment. Notice the look of Jess's face - yeah, she clearly does not see the seriousness of the situation.

Self-portrait #108:

Dinner was amazingly good. I had the three cheese Monte Cristo and it was to die for!

Food porn for ya:

the amazing "Pompous Freets"

The regular Monte Cristo:

MY Three Cheese Monte Cristo:

Our Mickey Big-nets (what normals people call beignets):

After dinner we made our way towards the Matterhorn and then the fireworks started. We were in a less that desirable location and watched for about 10 minutes before deciding to wait for the next night.

At that point, my mom, Jess and I decided to head back to the hotel because we were dead tired. Lisa and the girls decided to stay. We walked back to the hotel, got our room keys, showered and immediately fell asleep.

Review on the Ramada: gross

Up next: DAY TWO

 

[PirateFish989]

Disneyland Day 2

Today is Saturday and our plan for the day is to do Disneyland from opening until DCA opens and then go over to DCA and do everything we want there and then head back over to Disneyland, watch fireworks, upgrade to AP’s for me, Jess and my mom and do as we pleased until we were too tired to function.

We woke up at like 6:30 and all did our morning thing. We had adjoining rooms with Lisa and the girls and Lisa knocked on the door to show us the magnificent free breakfast provided for us:

Jess and I headed over to see what else they had. It wasn’t much, let me tell you. We brought back cereal for my mom and, if you read my last report, I wasn’t going to throw away my mom’s cereal before she had eaten the last cheerio. Because that results in bad things happening. Bad. Things.

I guess that Lisa thought we were taking too long to get all our stuff ready so she, Kailyn and Megan left before us. Each group had a walkie talkie so when we got there, we’d just buzz them and get in line with them.

We left kinda not really, shortly after them and met them in line. Of course my mom coerced the kind people behind us to take pictures of us. We were all wearing our way cool tie dyed Mickey shirts. But it was a little chilly so you can’t really see them because of our sweatshirts.

Self-Portrait #397

So we when the park opened (it was an Early Entry day so no rope drop), I think we headed straight to Thunder Mountain because we had yet to ride that and it is one of our favorites. Lisa and my mom had headed over to Space Mountain to get fastpasses and then met us over there. It was closed when we first got there but upon careful inspection (i.e. waiting around not sure what to do) we saw the CM’s start to do the “getting the ride ready” dance. The mom’s hadn’t arrived yet so we went in anyway. AS we were boarding the train, we saw the moms ask for the back and, as there was only one train running at the time, they had to wait for the next ride. This would give us ample time to take pictures of them on the ride.
What they want people to think they look like:

What they REALLY look like:

After Thunder Mountain, we went over to Splash Mountain. The mom’s decided not to go. Party Poopers. They were smart because we got really wet. Mostly me. Drenched is more like it. Especially my shorts. Completely soaked.

After wards, Lisa really really really wanted to go on Pooh, and the 12-year-olds being 12-years-old refused. As did my mom. And Jess, I think. Maybe. So Lisa and I went.

I think we may have gone on Indiana Jones next, but my memory of that morning is quite fuzzy at this time. And I don’t have a Plan to go off of because it was all in Lisa’s head.

I do remember exiting the park and heading over to DCA. The rope hadn’t dropped yet and we were all hungry, due to the completely wretched breakfast we had at the hotel, so we stopped at the Bakersfield Bakery (or whatever it is called. I do know it has Bakersfield in it because I always think that is kind of cool as Bakersfield is only an hour from my house). Anyway, we all got our goodies and Lisa headed over to Soarin’ over CA for fastpasses. When she returned we all went towards Tower of Terror.

Now, my experience with Tower of Terror is limited and not good. The only time I’ve been on it is when I was 16 and I had gripped the handles so hard that my hands were tingly for the next 20 minutes. And I fear free falling.

So you’re asking, why the heck is she going on this?

I’ll be honest. I don’t know. But why not give it a second chance?

So through the entire queue I was nervous. Really nervous. My mom decided not to go on it, so I kind of clung to Jess. We got on and my heart started beating very fast. I almost started hyperventilating, but didn’t. That was Megan. And no one really sympathized with her. Because Jess was trying to make me not panic and I was panicking myself. We’re a tough group – no sympathy whatsoever. We never let anyone forget anything stupid that they have done. No matter how long ago it happened. You better have so pretty thick skin to hang with us. But it is so much fun.

So to make a long story short, I survived. And it was fun. And I learned that while I’m screaming my brains out (as is everyone else), Jess giggles. A lot. Uncontrollable giggling.

*A look back on being 12: 12-year-olds scream. Loudly. A lot.

So I don’t really remember what we did next. I think we went over to the Boardwalk area and got fastpasses for Mulholland Madness and then went towards California Screamin’ and Toy Story Midway Mania and got in line for that.

We flirted with Mr. Potato Head and made our way through the line. And took the obligatory picture all wearing the 3-D glasses. Most of us had never been on this ride before and had no idea what to expect. I was expecting more of a Buzz Lightyear type ride but this is nothing like Buzz. This is better. So much better. It makes me smile just thinking about it. Completely amazing. I was paired with Jess, the moms were together and then the 12-year-olds. Jess beat me that time, but Kailyn won overall.

Oh man, what a blast that was. Give me a minute to reminisce.






Thank you.

So by that time we could get more fastpasses so we got some for California Screamin’ (they removed the Mickey Head!!!! And put a huge sun in its place. I dislike it. A lot. I miss Mickey). This whole afternoon is kind of a blur. At this point I think we went back to Soarin’ over California and did that. Then back to Mulholland Madness and did that and then went back to California Screamin’ and got more fastpasses and rode that with our old fastpasses.

At this point I’m thinking that I’m starting to love DCA. A lot. There are so many great rides here. Why does it get so much flack. True, it isn’t Disneyland and it never will be, but it has its own charm and feel and it really is a lot of fun.

We went over to the wharf area as we were starting to get really really hungry. We split up and the moms got something in the Wharf area and the rest of us got chicken strip things at the Farmer’s Market in a Bug’s Land. Except Jess – she got a salad. Because she’s healthy.

We all met in the Bug’s Land area and ate at the picnic area there.

Half way through I was sent over to Tower of Terror to get another set of fastpasses. When I got back, we headed over to Monster’s Inc. and did that. Jess had never done that before and it is so cute. Next we went towards Grizzly River Run and Lisa got fastpasses for that, much to our dismay. We went over to Mulholland Madness and did that (the 12-year-olds continued with their Hand Slappy-ing) and then went all the way back to Tower of Terror. Kailyn and Megan were doing their Hand Slapping while waiting to enter our elevator. The CM caught on and on our way out, when the elevator opens to let us off, the CM was doing it with another CM.

(Continued in next post)