California, Here We Come! DLR, Hollywood, and San Diego *OCTOBER 15-23, 2011*

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Welcome! I am so excited to share about the great time we had in California! Please feel free to join in!

There is a Table of Contents with links in post #2.

The Who:

DH: Stu is a test engineer that is looking forward to some time away from work! We have been to Florida the past three years and he decided that it was time for a change. He loves me enough to know that Disney needed to be involved in the decision on where to go, so California was the perfect choice!

My DD Erin is a second grader this year who loves soccer. She can't wait to see World of Color!

My DD Ava is so excited to be able to ride almost all of the rides this year. It is so hard to explain to her that she is too short for some rides because she thinks she is "big."

My name is Heidi and this will be the first time I have visited California! Needless to say, I am pretty excited. I work part-time as a Dental Hygienist and full-time as a Mom.

An exciting addition to our trip is my MIL Sandy! You hear all the stories about how awful mother-in-laws can be, but she is awesome. We have a lot of fun when we are together and she is so excited to go on a trip with two of her grandchildren. She has been faithfully hitting the gym since January to prepare for the trip. Here is a picture of Sandy with Stu.

The What: 9 days in Southern California!

The When: October 15-23, 2011

The Where: We will be spending 5 nights at the HOJO in Anaheim and 3 nights in San Diego.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Table of Contents:

October 15-Travel, Howard Johnson, and DTD:
October 15-Day 1
HoJo kids suite
Can we go swimming Mom?

October 16-Hollywood, LaBrea Tar Pits, Farmers Market, The Grove, Santa Monica Pier, and Venice Beach:
Hooray for Hollywood
Hooray for Hollywood continued
What is that smell?
Beach babes
Stu, you need to break this mess up!

October 17-Magic Morning, Bill Hill and the Hillbillies, Mickey's Soundsational Parade, Flag Retreat Ceremony, and the rest of our day at Disneyland!:
A Magical Morning
A Magical Morning-Part Two
She is going to be mad that Tink is on my shirt!
Billy Hill and the Hillbillies
Mickey's Soundsational Parade
Mickey's Soundsational Parade-Part 2
Mickey's Soundsational Parade-Part 3
Flag Retreat Ceremony
Flag Retreat Ceremony Part 2

October 18-Park opening at Disneyland, California Adventure, and World of Color:
The Rebel Spy
Rockin' and Rollin' with Phineas and Ferb
Hey Big Boy
Grandma Sandy's Promise and World of Color

October 19-Toontown Morning Madness and our last day at Disneyland and California Adventure:
Toontown Morning Madness Part 1
Toontown Morning Madness Part 2
Toontown Morning Madness Part 3
Rapunzel
Lovely Ladies
Revisiting Favorites
Saying Goodbye to California Adventure
A Very Magical 90 Minutes

October 20-Our day at Sea World:
Sea World Part 1
Sea World Part 2
Blue Horizons Part 1
Blue Horizons Part 2
Pets Rule!
One Ocean
Bayside Skyride
Sesame Street Bay of Play

October 21-Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Diego, Cabrillo National Monument, Tide Pools, Coronado Island, and Hotel del Coronado:
Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Diego Part 1
Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Diego Part 2
Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Deigo Part 3
Holiday Inn Bayside and Fort Rosecrans Cemetery
Cabrillo
Cabrillo Part 2
The Tide Pools
Coronado-Part 1
Coronado-Part 2
Coronado-Part 3

October 22-Trolley tour of San Diego with Gaslamp Quarter, Balboa Park, Old Town, and Seaport Village:
Touring San Diego By Trolley-Gaslamp Quarter and Coronado
Touring San Diego By Trolley-Coronado and the Trolley Ride
Touring San Diego By Trolley-Balboa Park and Old Town
Life Doesn't Get Much Better Than This

 

[albertamommyof4]

have a wonderful trip.
cant wait to read all about it

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

have a wonderful trip.
cant wait to read all about it

Thank you! I can't wait to share our adventures.

 

[reyasmommy]

Beautiful family! Can't wait to read about your trip. Wish I was leaving next week too... This is the longest month ever and it's only the 7th.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm in! The trip sounds great!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Beautiful family! Can't wait to read about your trip. Wish I was leaving next week too... This is the longest month ever and it's only the 7th.

Thank you! I just caught up over on your report. Your plans sound great. Hopefully the rest of the month will go by faster for you!

I'm in! The trip sounds great!

Thanks for coming over! Planning for this trip has been so different since California is new for me, but I am really looking forward to our trip.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I have been having a great time with the planning of our trip. DISboards has been such a valuable part in the planning process.

Thanks to DISboards I learned about this fantastic thing called the Entertainment Rate! We don't live in a city that has an Entertainment Book, so this was entirely new to me. With the Entertainment Rate I was able to secure a kids suite at the HOJO for $99! My girls are hoping that it will be warm enough to enjoy the swimming area. Considering we typically have our first snow by mid-October I think they will be fine. I also like the fact that the suite has two bathrooms. This will come in handy considering there will be 3 adults getting ready and the one man in the group takes the longest to get ready in the morning!

Thanks to DISboards I learned that the ticket prices for DLR would be going up in June instead of August. This information allowed me to purchase our park tickets the day before the price increase!

Thanks to DISboards I learned about the AAA discount for Sea World tickets. With this discount we were able to get the tickets for the girls for free and our adult tickets at the childrens ticket price. That saved us almost $150!

Thanks to DISboards I found some great threads by Hydroguy. I have especially found the DLR Guide for WDW Vets thread and the World of Color Superthread helpful. I can't wait to use the hints in the World of Color thread for places to view the show.

Thanks to DISboards I have already received pixie dust! ttfn2u2pooh offered to be a "Fairy Godmailer" and sent my girls a postcard from "Mickey!" They were so excited to receive mail from Mickey. Even my DH was impressed!

I was also a recipient of some special pixie dust from smiles145 and Butterfly123. They were generous enough to share vouchers to TT Morning Madness that they did not use. Because of their generosity my girls will have a special surprise. Belle Ella is also pretty awesome in maintaining the list of people requesting vouchers.

The DIS rocks!

Up next: Our daily plans

 

[reyasmommy]

Wooo-Hoooo!!!! So happy for you!!!!

Speaking of snow, we recevied our first dusting today. We go from Record Highs to snow overnight. Ugh!

 

[DisneyPhreak]

LOL...funny we have the same itinerary.

We leave Oct 15th and stay at DL till Wed night then we're heading to SD and coming home on the 23rd. Have a blast and look forward to your TR. Heres to good weather!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Wooo-Hoooo!!!! So happy for you!!!!

Speaking of snow, we recevied our first dusting today. We go from Record Highs to snow overnight. Ugh!

Ugh is right! Isn't weather an amazing thing? September was awesome and October has been great so far. I'm just waiting for us to start seeing snowflakes. Hopefully it happens while I am gone and the weather will be great here when I get back!

LOL...funny we have the same itinerary.

We leave Oct 15th and stay at DL till Wed night then we're heading to SD and coming home on the 23rd. Have a blast and look forward to your TR. Heres to good weather!

I hope you have a great time too! Where are you staying in Anaheim? It sure will be great if the weather cooperates.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Disboards is such an amazing resource! I'm glad that made planning your trip easier. I didn't know you could get discounted Sea World tickets with AAA. We have AAA so I'm tucking that tip in my mind for future use. Does that apply to Sea World in FL as well?

 

[DisneyPhreak]

I hope you have a great time too! Where are you staying in Anaheim? It sure will be great if the weather cooperates.

Staying at the Fairfield Inn. Stayed there before and enjoyed it. Had good rates at the time we booked so we're staying there again. If you run into a guy strutting Seattle Seahawks or Washington Husky gear...say hi, its probably me

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Disboards is such an amazing resource! I'm glad that made planning your trip easier. I didn't know you could get discounted Sea World tickets with AAA. We have AAA so I'm tucking that tip in my mind for future use. Does that apply to Sea World in FL as well?

I don't know how I would have planned this trip without Disboards. The people here are just so helpful!

I am pretty sure you can get a $5 per ticket discount at Sea World in FL, but definitely keep an eye out for better deals. I found the awesome deal that we got on the Mousesavers site. Someone had posted that the deal was in the California AAA magazine and they included the promo code to purchase online. It was also nice because the tickets don't expire until one year from the date of purchase.

Staying at the Fairfield Inn. Stayed there before and enjoyed it. Had good rates at the time we booked so we're staying there again. If you run into a guy strutting Seattle Seahawks or Washington Husky gear...say hi, its probably me

I will have to keep an eye out for you. We know two of the guys coaching for the Seahawks this year, so I have been paying attention to the team a bit more. I am a Minnesota Vikings gal, but I am a little embarrassed to admit that this year! Thankfully my North Dakota State Bison are now 5-0 or I don't know what I would do! I'm sure there aren't too many NDSU shirts running around, so if you see one it will probably be us.

 

[DisneyPhreak]

I will have to keep an eye out for you. We know two of the guys coaching for the Seahawks this year, so I have been paying attention to the team a bit more. I am a Minnesota Vikings gal, but I am a little embarrassed to admit that this year! Thankfully my North Dakota State Bison are now 5-0 or I don't know what I would do! I'm sure there aren't too many NDSU shirts running around, so if you see one it will probably be us.

I'll definitely keep my eye out. If I dont see you there, have a great trip!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I don't know how I would have planned this trip without Disboards. The people here are just so helpful!

I am pretty sure you can get a $5 per ticket discount at Sea World in FL, but definitely keep an eye out for better deals. I found the awesome deal that we got on the Mousesavers site. Someone had posted that the deal was in the California AAA magazine and they included the promo code to purchase online. It was also nice because the tickets don't expire until one year from the date of purchase.



I will have to keep an eye out for you. We know two of the guys coaching for the Seahawks this year, so I have been paying attention to the team a bit more. I am a Minnesota Vikings gal, but I am a little embarrassed to admit that this year! Thankfully my North Dakota State Bison are now 5-0 or I don't know what I would do! I'm sure there aren't too many NDSU shirts running around, so if you see one it will probably be us.

Thank you for the tip on SW tickets. I also am a Vikings fan. Thank goodness we finally got a win today! It was about time!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I'll definitely keep my eye out. If I dont see you there, have a great trip!

I just looked at the 10 day extended forecast. If it stays the way it looks right now it will be great. Hope you have a great trip also!

Thank you for the tip on SW tickets. I also am a Vikings fan. Thank goodness we finally got a win today! It was about time!

You are very welcome!

You are so right-it is about time! The Vikings break my heart every year, but I still love 'em.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Day one will begin bright and early. Our flight leaves at 6:15 a.m.! We booked our flights way back in December because the price was definitely right. The bad thing about booking so early is that our flight times have changed three times. I can’t complain too much because the prices were that good. The bonus of leaving early is arriving early! We will be arriving at John Wayne shortly after noon. Every person that I have talked to about airports in L.A. have said that John Wayne is the way to go. I hope we find that to be the case.

We will be renting a car, so our first task on our agenda will be to pick the car up. On the way to the HOJO we will be making a pit stop at a Target or Walmart for some supplies. Does anybody have information about where a good stop would be near HOJO?

Once we get checked in I am sure the kids will be ready to hit the pool. After eight hours of travel and an early wake-up call, I am sure they will be ready to blow off some steam! I am pretty sure I will be ready too.

After spending some time swimming we plan to head over to Downtown Disney for a bite to eat and a little bit of shopping at the World of Disney store. I hope to get the girls some autograph books so that I won’t have to worry about it later. Does anyone have a suggestion of where we should eat?

We hope to have an early evening so we will be ready for our next days adventures!

Up next: Day 2 plans

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Early flights are tiring but you are right, that means you arrive earlier! I think swimming is a good idea after a flight. The girls will have fun letting out some of their energy!

 

[dismagiclover]

I'm glad I made it over here before you leave! 2 days!!!! Exciting! We spent a few days in CA this past summer and had a great time! The HoJo was great. Just a hop, skip and a jump away. San Diego is beautiful! I'm excited to hear about your trip! Have a great time!