Disney_Ohana's (+ another ohana's) Surprise Trip! Feb 2013 COMPLETE TR

[Disney_Ohana]

ALOHA!!!

Welcome to my first ever Disneyland TR!

We surprised our daughters with a Disneyland trip- on our way to the airport.

We visited February 22 through February 28th.

Introductions


IMG_20130228_175845 by pua_ting, on Flickr

My name is Pua! I am a lover of all things Disney & writer of this trip report. My DH & I have 3 daughters ages 15, 7 & 3. My favorite ride at Disneyland is Pirates. My favorite characters (currently) are Rapunzel, Minnie Mouse & James Franco- I mean Oz The Great & Powerful


My DH is K. He is an attentive, loving husband & dad. He is an absolute goof ball that will try anything once. His favorite ride is Tower of Terror. Character that he is most like is Sulley

S (15) is our oldest. She has grown out of the Princess phase and is growing into quite an exceptional young lady. Her favorite ride at Disneyland is Screamin'. Her favorite characters are Tink, Belle & the Cheshire Cat.

A (7) is our middle. She is sweet albeit strong willed. She is our FIERCE child. Knows what she wants & who, what, where, when, why & how to get it. She is adventurous, hysterical & down for whatever. Her favorite ride is Splash Mountain. Favorite characters are Cinderella, Rapunzel & Jessie.

T is 3 years old. She is our cruiser. She is mellow, super outgoing, silly, cuddly, talkative & our eater. She loves Peter Pan, Tea Cups, the carousels. Her favorite characters are Snow White & Dumbo.


Thanks for reading!


Up next: Surprise! & Travel Day!

 

[Disney_Ohana]

We've been to WDW many times, my oldest has been to Disneyland a few times but it was the 2 little ones first visit. We were also celebrating our birthday- my DH & I share birthdays.

Our plan, early on, was to Surprise our girls to avoid "Are we leaving tomorrow?" "Is it time yet?" "When?!" "Next month is too far away!"

Our flight was at 11:55 pm on Friday evening 2/22. We go to church Friday nights and because I was already packed and ready to go we decided to go then head to the airport after. I had our suitcases in the trunk- ready to go, Aliya asked why we had them in there and my response was that we were going to give them to "Auntie Jencey" after church. She didnt question it. After church was done Aliya (the 7 year old) always asks to go somewhere whether it be to get dessert, a smoothie, to eat or some crazy impossible off-the-wall request. This we knew and we planned on using that as a way to break the news to her that we were really headed to the airport. So we piled into our van and sure enough she asked to get a smoothie in which my DH replied "How about we just go to the airport & go to Disneyland right now?" She looked at us with her "You guys are dumb" face. Then she smiled & said "Really?! Yayy! Are you serious?! Not. *scream* Yayyy!" We explained that all of our bags were packed, we have our tickets, it's REALLY where we were going By now, we were ALL VERY excited & it was time we headed to the airport.


We got there at about 10:30pm after picking up a late night snack. Check-in was a breeze. We decided to do all carry-ons this trip. Worked really well. I only forgot all of our toothbrushes

We like red-eyes normally. Except about 2 hours into our flight a 3 (or so) year old, seated directly in front of us started fussing then screaming at the top of her lungs. Her dad had headphones on and I was thinking he probably didnt hear her. And the mother kept loudly shushing her while the kid was yelling "I don't wanna be down here!!" This went on for about 1 1/2 hours. I stood up to just see what was going on. Apparently, the mother had made a bed on the floor for her child and was making her stay down there! WTH?! So anyway, everyone on our flight was now UP including my kids. Little girl quieted once her mom put Dora on the iPad in which she watched WITHOUT headphones. Seriously?!

Everyone glared at them when exiting our flight.

We had a short layover in San Fran. We had breakfast, checked emails, charged our phones & much needed COFFEE & hot chocolate.

20130223_080412 by pua_ting, on Flickr

We had a nice uneventful flight to LAX. This is the 'We're here!' dance!

20130223_095105 by pua_ting, on Flickr

Made our way to our Disneyland Resort Express & to our hotel with no problems at all.

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We checked-in. They held onto our luggage while we made our way over to Downtown Disney.

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We explored for awhile. Had some lunch at Jazz Kitchen. I had a shrimp platter which was pretty filling. We went there for the beignets though They were so delish!

Our room was ready and so we decided to shower & rest because we had another surprise for our girls!


At about 5pm I got a text from my cousin. He said that they had just checked-in and that they were in the lobby. Everyone was asleep when I took the 7 year old downstairs to the lobby for her surprise. My cousin & his wife surprised their kids (15, 12, 8 & 6) too & they were here at Disneyland with us! Aliya was going to FLIP when she sees that her cousins were HERE too! And FLIP she did

We let them get settled & shortly thereafter we were on the #16 ART Shuttle to The Outlets at Orange to grab some dinner, a bubble drink (for me) and get my H&M on. We don't have one at home so I was really looking forward to it

After shopping to my hearts content. We boarded the shuttle back to the hotel & fell into bed & konked out. Soooo excited for first day in the park!

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Sunday, Feb 24th- Disneyland

I've only seen pictures of Dapper Day & didn't know that today- our first day in the park- was Dapper Day! It was so cool seeing everyone dressed up.

These Hawaiians were fuh-reezing on this day. Cuddled alot to keep warm!

We had to have our photo taken first thing.

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The cousins!

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Made our way to the castle! Love walking down an empty Main Street

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Walt, Mickey & Aurora's hizz-ouse! So peaceful & quiet, no one around.

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Until our loud dancing tribe came!

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The pink castle

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We rode Peter Pan then made our way to Storyland Canal Boats.

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Rode Tea Cups with Tayani while everyone else rode the Matterhorn.

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We met up and met Alice & The Mad Hatter.

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We rode Nemo, which was a first for me. So cute and claustraphobic. And I had to pee the entire time But fun!

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Space Mountain Child Swap was in full effect. Couldnt fit all 9 of us in one pic but that's ok.

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Passed by Tarzans Treehouse on our way to Pirates!

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Some of us!

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My oldest & I

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How sad is this face? Sad enough that daddy sat out with her and bought her a toy.

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<----me in the back row

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Continued in next post......

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Best ride photo! Had to take a quick shot of the group photo after ours Splash Mountain Gangnam Style!

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We had lunch reservations at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. Group shot of all the kiddies while we waited.

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Aliya took a pic of my DH & I

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We're cute, starving & fuh-reezing!

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Dig in!

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Tayani was ALL over this when they called kids to the stage

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After lunch we went back to the hotel for a quick nap & to wait for our grocery delivery. We were to meet up with some friends to watch Wishes later on that evening.


Next up.....Wishes & my Abuelita!

 

[Disney_Ohana]

We returned to DLP after a short nap.

Looks like we kidnapped Minnie Mouse huh?

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It was kind of crowded that night. You can kind of see the crowd in this pic where my DH is eating the castle

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We met up with our friends, rode Buzz Lightyear. He is a drummer at DLP! Some of you might recognize him

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It's a bad photo but you can see that we got a good spot minus the 7 foot tall guy with his kid on his shoulders

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We hopped on Star Tours! One of my DH's faves and we browsed the shop alittle.

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By now we were ready to call it a night but not before I got my abuelita & jalapeno cheese stuffed pretzel!

We were so excited for our first peek at Carsland and the new DCA!

Next up.....Day 2: DCA 2/25

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Got up bright and early with time to spare. And it was a good thing we did because the security bag check was packed this day, congested on the Harbor Blvd side all the way back to the shuttle area Took awhile to get through. Once at the gate, they toook our photo for our passes. We sent the dads to RSR to get fastpasses. They stood 45 min in line for those babies!

We headed over to Paradise Pier to wait for them and get a few rides in. First up was the Mickey Fun Wheel. Everyone got into the Swinging Gondola line and we waved good bye as they passed by.

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We were smart & rode Non- Swinging

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View from on top. Snow on the mountain beyond Matterhorn. So pretty!

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We met up with the dads and chit chatted with this guy & rode TSM.

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We rode Screamin', Goofy's Sky School & Golden Zepphyr.

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Had some lunch at Taste Pilots Grill before heading over to Tower of Terror. Took Tayani to see Turtle Talk with Crush, Beasts Library & relaxed in the Animation Building while we waited to meet up with our TOT riders. Look! It's home!

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By now it was time to ride RSR, Finally!! We made our way to Carsland.

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We did a child swap and had some extra FP so we got to take the cousins for a ride with us.

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I wish I could have seen their faces better while riding

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Such a fun ride, gorgeous views

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Continued in next post.....

 

[Disney_Ohana]

After RSR we went to Bugs Land to watch It's Tough To Be A Bug.

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Little Mermaid was a first for us too. The 3 year old LOVED this so much

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We found a nice spot for The Pixar Play Parade & enjoyed that.

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I was impressed with this guy!!

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We watched the sunset over Paradise Pier.

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Wanted to experience TOT at night so we rode again & another time after that. We took up the back row.

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FP for WOC slipped my mind that morning and we ended up having an awful view.

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We had another night in DCA so we were determined to grab a rail and a good spot next time.

Park closed early that night (8pm). After the WOC's only show (8:15) we made our way back to the hotel. We were having such a magical time but we were exhausted.

Up next.....Day 3- DLP 2/26

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Day 3- DLP 2/26

We ate breakfast in our room before heading to the park. Today was the day we thought we were aclimatating to the weather but I think it may have been that it was just a warmer day haha!

This was a EMH morning (opened at 9am) and they opened Fantasyland & Tomorrowland. We headed to Astro Orbitors I was looking forward to capturing some nice photos of my family here. One of my favorite photos of all time is a photo of my son & I riding together on a trip in 2004. He passed away in 2011 and we missed him terribly during this trip. Being on that ride brought back awesome memories and making new ones was the main goal of this trip so it was bittersweet being on this ride again

Tried to get everyone in the shot

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Hit up Space Mountain! You can see that I commited and my DH 'almost forgot' LOL & my cousin was making fun of us

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We were waiting for the 10am rope drop in Adventureland so we could do Indy ASAP. While everyone rode Tayani & I visited Jack again at Pirates

We met up at to grab mint juleps & Mickey beignets

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We rode Splash Mountain a bunch of times since there was a 5 min wait!

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They love Splash!

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One of our ride photos haha!

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We made our way back to French Market for lunch.

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We headed to Toontown after lunch. IASW was closed

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We checked out Mickey's pad.

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Continued in next post.....

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Cruised around Toontown for a bit.

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Her favorite purchase

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My fave purchase was this Mouseketeer hat. Bummed they couldn't embroider on this particular one though

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Tayani wanted to ride the Tea Cups again

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We all piled into our seats on the Matterhorn but shortly thereafter they announced that they were experiencing some technical difficulties and we'd have to come back later.

We decided to leave DLP and go back to the Outlets at Orange after a quick stop at some Main St shops. We said aloha to DLP (for now) & hopped onboard Shuttle #16. There were some things at H&M that I wish I had bought and my DH & our whole group were up for going again.

We checked out many of the shops that we don't have at home. And wanted to go & see the Vans Store & Skatepark once more. Such a cool MASSIVE space!

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Okay, I lied. The REAL reason I needed to go back was for these yummy boba drinks haha! Honeydew, Taro & Thai Tea with boba.

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It was a fun night!


Up next....Day 4 DCA- our last day in the park!

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Day 4- DCA 2/26- Last Day in the parks

We had ADRs for Ariels at 9:20am. We were so excited to meet the Princesses!

Our princesses waiting patiently

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Ariel

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Snow White

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Aurora

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Hamming it up with Belle

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The breakfast here was just ok. I don't think we'll do it again. I wasn't very impressed with the character interaction. The princesses here aren't as pretty (IMO) as the WDW's Akershus or 1900 Park Fare. They weren't as chatty, silly or in character as WDW's either I think Belle was the only one that engaged my 7 year old when she told her that we were excited to see her castle the next time we went to WDW. She answered with a "I'll see you there next time then"

We saw Jessie in the character spot in front of Screamin' Over California (as DH calls it) and so we ran, lined up to meet her. Aliya was so excited! Her castmember escort explained that she was leaving and that Woody will be coming shortly. Here is the bummed 7 year old haha

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She was happy Jessie saw her doll and waved to her and blew kisses though Better character interaction than we had at Ariels Woody was sweet too. He played with Aliya's Jessie doll. It was so cute!

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We visited the Animation Building again. Love this place The sight of this + the song made my eyes well up with tears.

Beast Library!

She was happy with hers! Her favorite princess!

Continued in next post.......

 

[Disney_Ohana]

hahaha!

bwahaha!

We found Jake! My teenager said he was the cutest boy she saw at Disneyland

I grabbed FP for WOC before finally getting my Starbucks in a Disney cup! Another first for me Then we hit up Soarin'

We had lunch at Taste Pilots Grill AGAIN. We love it there 7 year old had a meltdown and so DH tried dancing it out of her It worked.

While everyone rode Screamin' and TOT again I took the littles (the too shorts) to Bugs Land.

We visited Carsland one last time. Saw DJ in the street

Cute!

Rode Luigi's Flying Tires! I'm tall enough!! haha!

We played some Boardwalk games and rode Mickey's Fun Wheel again.

At about 7:10 we got into the yellow section, positioned our strollers, children & 'selves on the rail where we decided based on HydroGuy's WOC suggested viewing areas TY TY! We sat there for one hour eating jalapeno cheese stuffed pretzels while our kids entertained us until the show.

I don't have any pics from the show because I was way to busy soaking it in and enjoying it, enjoying the look on my kids faces. It was so magical! I'm glad we got our FP this night and watched it in an awesome area- how it was intended to be I liked it more than Illuminations. <---Did I just say that outloud? It was the perfect way to end our stay!

We exited with the sea of people and said aloha to DCA, until next time

We arrived back at the hotel. I wanted to shower & go straight to bed. Instead I packed, until about 11:45 and called it a night.

Up next......Bye Disney! Our last day

 

[Disney_Ohana]

2/28- Good bye Disneyland

I woke up earlier than everyone else to finish up packing. At about 9:30 I was ready to check out.

We all headed to DTD to do some shopping and to have lunch before heading to the airport.

I almost bought him

We had lunch at Jazz Kitchen Express again. Bought some beignets for the plane ride

It was almost time for our shuttle pick-up so we went (RAN) back to the hotel to get our luggage. We waited for about 10 minutes and the shuttle arrived at almost 1pm. We had the bus to ourselves.

Everyone with their pillowpets

We arrived at the airport at almost 2pm. The family line at LAX was a breeze. We boarded soon after.

The pillowpets came in handy

We had a short layover in San Francisco again.

The flights were uneventful. It was on the way home that I started planning out our next Disney trip. I can't stay away too long Disney_Ohana takes on WDW in May 2014

Thank you so much for letting me share our trip with you!

 

[roberrl187]

Fabulous trip report.

 

[disneykiwi]

Really enjoyed that

Thank you

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Fabulous trip report.

Thank you!!

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Really enjoyed that

Thank you

Thank you for reading!

 

[leinalani]

Yay! I love hearing about fellow Hawaii family trip reports. Mahalo nui for sharing. :0). Have you folks tried out Aulani yet?

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Great TR, thank you for sharing!

 

[Linda67]

Great TR - I really love your photos

 

[Disney_Ohana]

Yay! I love hearing about fellow Hawaii family trip reports. Mahalo nui for sharing. :0). Have you folks tried out Aulani yet?

Mahalo for reading!! We haven't stayed at Aulani just yet but hopefully one day soon

Great TR, thank you for sharing!

Thank you for stopping by & reading!!

Great TR - I really love your photos

Thank you!! I forgot my camera this trip So all of my photos were from my Galaxy S3. Luckily they came out pretty good considering