Diva & 27th Anniv Trip w/1500+ Pics, Photopass starts #765!!

[TheColtonsMom]

I wish it had been that easy for me with the PPH fiasco in December. But, alas, not so.

As for Disney hotels, they still need to block a certain amount on a card when you check in, even if you come down on check-out day and hand them cash to cover anything that was incurred. They tell you that they have to have a card on file. This is just in case the guest skips out and doesn't come down to the front desk on check-out day to pay anything they have racked up during their stay, the hotel needs to be able to have a card to charge the balance. If you leave them a $50 cash deposit, you could still charge $400 worth of stuff to the room...and then skip out on check-out day.

I expected them to block something - like $50 or whatever - when I checked into the PPH in December. I've stayed onsite enough times to know the drill. Their mistake was that they blocked almost $300, and didn't tell me about it, even after I paid them in full for the room. They should have only blocked $50, or something like 3% of my total hotel room amount, whichever is greater, for incidentals.

I think the Good Neighbors are more inclined to take cash deposits for incidentals. Many of the Good Neigbors are much smaller establishments. The Disney hotels used to take cash deposits for incidentals in the old, old days, but now they need a card...although they will accept cash payment for a balance due on a room upon check-in. You have to pay the one-night deposit with a card, but whatever is still due when you check in they will accept in cash.



Anyway, wow - 85 degrees! That would have been too much for me in DLR. I don't like it when it's that hot to begin with, let alone running around for a scavenger hunt.

It sounds like some of the scavenger hunt stuff was quite hard and, yet, so creative at the same time. The amount of time and preparation that went into putting that together must have been incredible.

Isn't Jessica involved in the scavvy hunt committee for the Diva trip 2012? If so, I have a hunch she will come up with some really clever and unique ideas of things to look for.

Looking forward to the next installments!

I figured that tip would not work at on-site hotels not with the "charge it to my room" feature which is why I didn't give it to you after your fiasco LOL but it works well for us at the GN hotels and when we travel elsewhere.

 

[kaoden39]

I got a $50 put on my card too. John promised that it would be back off by the time I left. He was right but what I found ironic was the room charge did not come off until I had been home for a week.

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

I'm loving your trip report! I've only ever started one (for the Half Marathon last year) and I never finished it!

I think Naveen & Louis were added for the Family Fun Weekend.....because when we saw the show last summer they were not part of it. I was so excited to see Louis!!!

Yes, you may steal some photos!!!

The only time i have seem all three of them together was during the Disneyland Half Marathon and I got a picture as I ran by but there's someone else posing with them. There was no way I was stopping to stand in line for a picture. It was my first race ever and I wanted to be sure I finsihed in time.

3rd Place: I think this went to the Hollywood Court Jesters as well.

2nd Place: Our Team!!! WooHoo.......Jessica & Michelle did AWESOME!!!

1st Place: The Royal Brat Pack (Sarah, Jen, Rochelle, Marie)......this was the young uns'.......so we figured they would do really well on the hunt!!

Our team got a cute little tote with Mickey on it. Inside was a tube of Light-Up Bracelets, a Bottle of Hand Lotion, a beach themed Note Pad, a Pen & a $10 Disney Gift Card.

The Scavy Hunt committee did an incredible job.......a great mix of questions, Disney trivia & fun!!!

I don't know if it was announced but my mom made all the tote bags.

 

[mommaU4]

HI Laurie!

I finally made it over here to check out your TR. I love it!! Great job so far and really nice pics.
My favorite are the ones with the Mardi Gras decorations and with the characters dressed to party. Love it.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I got a $50 put on my card too. John promised that it would be back off by the time I left. He was right but what I found ironic was the room charge did not come off until I had been home for a week.

That is kinda weird....lol

I'm loving your trip report! I've only ever started one (for the Half Marathon last year) and I never finished it!



The only time i have seem all three of them together was during the Disneyland Half Marathon and I got a picture as I ran by but there's someone else posing with them. There was no way I was stopping to stand in line for a picture. It was my first race ever and I wanted to be sure I finsihed in time.



I don't know if it was announced but my mom made all the tote bags.

I think I saw your TR....you should finish it up!!

I don't think they announced that.....I'm so glad you told me.....I absolutely love mine!!!!!

HI Laurie!

I finally made it over here to check out your TR. I love it!! Great job so far and really nice pics.
My favorite are the ones with the Mardi Gras decorations and with the characters dressed to party. Love it.

Thanx Beth......The Mardi Gras was a highlight for my camera.....lol I just kept going back & taking more.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Day 4, started lazily at the motel. We were meeting with a group of ladies at HoJo's to carpool down to the Company D store (castmember store), with Jill as our host at 10am.

I borrowed this photo....didn't get a group one on my camera. This was after the shopping was done!!

This was a fun little trip for me.....I'm huge on shopping when at Disneyland....so this was a real treat getting to go. They have merchandise that's currently in some of the shops, stuff from Christmas & Halloween, pins, collectibles, clothes, food, etc. The only thing we couldn't purchase was stuff labeled for CM's only. (that would have been fun to look thru.....lol)

I ended up getting: 2 fleece jackets, tee for me, tee for Mike, tee for each of the 4 littles, 2 coloring sets, car set (license plate holder, window clings, key chain & air freshener), set of coasters, small purse, hat, 3 WoC light up keychains, 2 pins, travel mug, antenna topper, Capt. Jack costume & Tangled dress all for $245!!!!!!!! SCORE!!!!

When we got back from the store, I decided to hang out at the motel & get stuff organized. I headed back to DL for the 1:30 BBQ with the group.

This was the last "group" activity of the trip & so we did the lunch at the Celebration BBQ.

Deb-Carol-Steph:

Bree-Linda-Tammy-Wendy:

Lisa-Trish-Jill-Chris:

Jessica & her camera!!

Donna-Tina-Michelle:

Jen-Capri-Katie-Melody:

Trudi-Rochelle-Sarah:

The performers were on stage & I went to take a picture & they of course....posed!! Ta-Da!! lol

Cheryl:

Our waiter (at least to start the meal, then we switched to a gal):

The group....I believe we had 22 in all!

The food!!
Chicken & Ribs:

Beans & Coleslaw:

Cornbread:

The entire spread for the lunches!

BBQ Dessert Menu:

Bring on the Desserts!!

Family Dessert--Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake with Vanilla Ice Cream & Hot Fudge:

Strawberry Shortcake:

Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream:

After the lunch, a lot of goodbyes were said, lots of hugs. After such a wonderful weekend.....it was sad to see it come to an end.

This was the end of my "Girls Only Trip"......Mike would be coming in later. At this point, I could now say that "I AM A DIS-DIVA"!!!

 

[kaoden39]

Yay!!

 

[goofycathy]

Im so excited that you are officially a "Dis-Diva"! Cant wait till I can say the same thing! and yum! those desserts look yummmmmmmmyyyy! Cant wait to read more! good job...

 

[DizNee Luver]

Yay!!

Im so excited that you are officially a "Dis-Diva"! Cant wait till I can say the same thing! and yum! those desserts look yummmmmmmmyyyy! Cant wait to read more! good job...

Thank you, thank you ladies!!!

Last summer I had some of the chocolate chip cookie bake.....it was decadent!!!! I passed this time around on the goodies.

 

[sierranevada]

Great trip report, Laurie! Glad you became a DisDiva!!

 

[TheColtonsMom]

We had planned to do celebration BBQ on our trip but decided to bump it to Halloween as it was going to be our lunch the day it rained. Looks WONDERFUL! I want that cookie thing ...on my mission quest for halloween for sure!

Glad it is not really over and your 2nd trip with Mike won't require you to take a plane to get there since you already were LOL

I can't wait to become official like you!

 

[DizNee Luver]

After all the goodbyes, I headed back thru Fantasyland & the band was playing:

Then coming to the end of Main Street, the Firemen Band was out & playing:

I went back to the motel for a short rest. I came back to the park around 4pm. I stopped & got a couple pics of the Mickey floral at the entry.

I also decided to get a picture of the Family Fun Weekend sign for the Mardi Gras weekend!!

When I headed out to Main Street, the Flag Retreat had already started (I'd be seeing this later in the week, so didn't stick around for it).

I took a few window display pictures. I'm sure there has got to be a way of photographing these without having the glare & reflections....but haven't figured it out yet.

The flag bearers as they were marching towards the flag pole.

I headed over towards Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln to look at the displays. I took a ton of pics in here.....I had the place almost to myself!!

So those will be coming in the next 2 installments.

 

[DizNee Luver]

We had planned to do celebration BBQ on our trip but decided to bump it to Halloween as it was going to be our lunch the day it rained. Looks WONDERFUL! I want that cookie thing ...on my mission quest for halloween for sure!

Glad it is not really over and your 2nd trip with Mike won't require you to take a plane to get there since you already were LOL

I can't wait to become official like you!

The food is really, REALLY good!!! The desserts are expensive for what they call the "individual" ones, but they are big enough to share. So the Cookie one is a family one & decently priced.....they also had a fruit cobbler one.

Yay....no flying....at least for me.....Mike was on his way, as I ventured to the park for a little more solo picture taking.

 

[DizNee Luver]

So here's the bench that started it all.

One of the horses from the Griffith Park Carousel.

Old Fashioned Peanut Cart.

Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Disneyland Display.

Splash Mountain Display.

Disneyland Map.

Walt Disney.

The Dedications for the 5 lands.

Opening Day Newspaper.

Yesterday:

Today:

Tomorrow:

 

[disney-super-mom]

The teams picked up dinner from the wharf while we waited for the results.

I had the best dinner of all!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Continuing on......

Smalll World.

Entering into the Lincoln exhibit area.

The Capitol....did I mention how excited I was, that this place was virtually empty!!!

The Statues:

Innovations-Knowledge-Individualism

Tomorrow-Pioneering-Adventure

Self Reliance-Discovery-Compassion

Heritage-Independence-Freedom

Burden of War Painting:

Fireplace & Painting:

Lincoln Portrait:

Beautiful Light Fixture:

The Lincoln Bust:

Gettysburg Address:

I really enjoyed my time in this exhibit area!!

Next installment will have some random shots, round trip train, Carousel Inn room pics & dinner with Mike.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I had the best dinner of all!

I have to admit, that really looks good!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

When I came out of the exhibit, I caught the Disneyland band heading to the fence to depart Main Street.

This was a cute display in the corner store across from the Emporium.

I decided to go thank the RN who had helped me during my panic attack on Saturday....but she wasn't on shift....so I left a note.

I decided to take a round trip ride on the train & tried to get some pictures....most came out blurry....but I did get a few.

From the Main Street Station:

The New Orleans Station:

They filled the engine with water, so I took a pic of the steam coming out the side:

The Haunted Mansion as we went by:

From the ToonTown Station:

Looking over Small World.....look at all those people!!!!

After passing thru the Tomorrowland station & entering the diaramas:

I headed back to the motel to wait for Mike's arrival!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Let's finish up day four!! I got back to the motel & found that our door sign had blown off the door & was barely hanging on the walkway.....so I put it up in our window.

The weather today went from being quite warm during the BBQ, to windy & you could see it was going to get wet. I blame Mike for bringing the Oregon weather with him on the plane.....lol

Here was our room at the Carousel Inn.

Here's pics of the room itself. I usually try & get these before we "move" in....but since I had to get up to the Meet-n-Greet to set up......I kinda forgot. At least I did get them after the rooms had been made up.

While I was taking the pictures, I got a text from Mike saying he was in the Super Shuttle & on his way. I finished up & went down to wait in the lobby.....not that I was a little excited to see him or anything......

He got there around 7pm & we went up to the room. Michelle came back to the room with Jen. Michelle decided she was going to go home. She was driving a few of the gals to the airport & figured she'd just go home from there. Lisa & Trish came up & waited, as they also were heading to the airport with Jen. We said our goodbyes & Mike helped them get their luggage downstairs.

Mike & I decided to stay close due to the wet weather, so we walked down to the Millie's Restaurant in front of the Fairfield Inn. We had dinner there last summer & really enjoyed it.

I got the fish-n-chips:

Mike got the quesadilla burger:

It was great to get all caught up on the home life & a nice dinner. We headed back to the motel. I showed Mike the pics from the girls trip. The fireworks started, so we headed out to the sidewalk to watch them. Only problem with this is the trees on Harbor have gotten pretty tall & they blocked a good portion of them. We went back up & watched a little tv. I got a text from Jessica asking where Michelle was & I told her she had headed home. She was having fun with the gals in the Villa & was going to come by the motel room & pick up a couple items so she could spend the night over there.......lol I had told Mike that she probably would stay elsewhere when she found out that Mike & I were the only ones there that night.......

That concludes Day Four!

 

[Sherry E]

Laurie - I totally lost my groove in commenting on your TR and other threads today, due to a variety of things (among them being the fact that my PC keeps locking up on the DIS and I can't get from thread to thread), but I just wanted to say before I forget - those desserts at the BBQ place look amazing!

I really didn't have much interest in eating at the BBQ restaurant before. I like chicken, but I didn't think it would be worth it to me to spend that much money just to eat a couple of pieces of chicken, and nothing else really appealed to me that much. However, now that I've seen the dessert photos, I have more of an interest! When that place opened, it was cupcakes only, I think. Then they revised the menu a bit, but I had no clue they added in cobblers and strawberry shortcake and that giant cookie thing!!

I love strawberry shortcake! I love cobbler! I love giant cookie things! Now I feel like I want to eat there just for the desserts! Or maybe I could justify it more now if I eat chicken and dessert!!