Ellie's Trip Report- July 13th-20th 2013 TR Post #1- Now with photos!

[Vancouver2Disneyland]

Hi, I'm Ellie and this is my trip report. I am hesitant to even start a pre-trip report because so much is up in the air right now and it will be a miracle if everything goes to plan and we get to Disney. This all started before X-mas when my sister and I decided to go on a trip to celebrate her graduating High School and we are both disney fanatics, so of course the choice was natural. Some family friends have graciously arranged for us to stay at the Worldmark Anaheim and we bought our 5 day hopper pass in Feb. We have not booked flights yet and are going to hold off until June for one VERY BIG REASON! In March I ended up in hospital with blood clots in my lungs as a result of my pre-existing condition, a rare vascular syndrome. I still really want to go and I have been cleared for flying but some other complications have put a cloud of doubt over whether or not this trip will get off the ground. Right now it's okay and fingers crossed nothing changes. So send me some pixie dust please

Our dates are July 13th-20th, we'll fly out from Vancouver, take the express bus from LAX, and we will probably spend Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in the park (or some similar plan). Were going to buy the ART shuttle because I wont be able to walk both ways to the park each day and we want to check out the outlet mall near by. Im also going to put in an order at Vons to be delivered to our room since we will have a full kitchen. Well probably take a break most days and either eat lunch or dinner in the park, and have the other 2 meals back at the hotel. We have been to DL twice, once when I was 10, and most recently when I was 15.

The Cast: Me, Ellie (maybe some pictures to follow). I am 20 and an archaeology student here in Vancouver. I love hanging out with friends and my school work and maintaining my health keep me pretty busy. I'm also a foodie that is in the kitchen all the time. I am gluten intolerant, but can have some wheat products in moderation. Therefore I plan on trying the monte cristo as my big gluten treat. I will be traveling in the parks in a wheelchair due to my condition but that won't stop me from going on all of the rides, especially TOT and IJ. I will be sad that BTMM will be closed but I love CS too. My favourite DL ride is IJ and in CA my favourite is CS. My favourite character is Eeyore. My least favourite ride is IASW

My sister (her name and picture to follow if she says okay, but for now I'll call her L) L is 18 and finishing high school this year and plans on doing volunteering for the next year while she finds her passion in life but she's leaning towards going into a vet tech program in which case she needs a ton of volunteer hours. (I'm pushing for a job at Disney ) L's favourite DL ride by far is Pirates and in CA is GRR but when we were last there she pinky promised me that she would try all of the big rides like TOT. Her favourite character is probably Jack Sparrow. Her least favourite ride is IASW too.

 

[Vancouver2Disneyland]

We don't have a lot of set plans for our trip yet. It was L's 18th birthday back in March and our brother and I were going to treat her to a san diego zoo tour as her gift. She is now thinking that a special dinner at the BB and other place might be better, so input there would be much appreciated.
In general, we're going to try to get to park opening every day, especially because I don't want DL to have run out of wheelchairs for the day and if we want to get a FP for RSR, that will be a must. On our first day, the first ride we must go on is Jungle Cruise, which is a family tradition that my mom started when she visited as a kid. If L decides on going to BB, I think going on the first day at 11:30 or so would be ideal because we'll spend the first part of the day in that area of the park, hitting up JC, IJ, Pirates, HM, Splash, and Winnie the Pooh. Then probably go back for a rest and swim and return at 3 or 4 for hopefully another 8 hours. We haven't seen WOC or Fantasmic, so those will be a must during the trip but fireworks aren't a necessity. We've seen them before, and will be able to see them from our hotel, but if we're walking by at the right time we might catch a bit of the show. We really enjoyed Aladdin last time and may catch that one afternoon, perhaps rather than going back to the hotel for a rest. I won't get too tired out in the chair but L will and can be prone to nose bleeds in the heat, so we've got to watch out for that in the mid-day heat. If you notice any flaws in my planning, please let me know

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Might I suggest, instead of renting a wheelchair at DL, rent a scooter or wheelchair off site. It'll cost less and you don't have to drop it off before you head back to your hotel.

My mom rented a scooter (from Mobile Mikes I think). I want to say it ran her $150 for three days. The place brings it to your hotel and picks it up when you're done. At the end of each day, she'd drop her chair off at the hotel lobby and charge the battery at night. The battery lasted all day without any issues.

 

[Vancouver2Disneyland]

Thank you for your suggestion Goofy_Mom, I don't want the hassel of getting to and from the park with a scooter or store one in the room. I may have wheelchair at home that I can borrow and bring with me that would fold and stay out of the way. So I can look into that.

I have just booked the flights and DSis and I have an addition DBFF is joining us and will have just turned 21 a few days before we go! We are both super excited that she is joining us. We will arrive before noon on the 13th and need to decide to take the Express or do some sort of ride share from the airport. Other than that decision, everything is done. So now the fun count down begins

 

[Dizneydaz]

Glad it's all working out! Can't wait to read your review.

 

[Vancouver2Disneyland]

I realized that I have mis-numbered my planning posts... oh well.
I have make our BB reservation for the Monday. My game plan will be to arrive as close to 8 as possible (aka, as soon as I can wake up the others ), enter DL, enjoy a stroll up Main Street, grab an Indy FP, then go on Jungle Cruise first (as per the family tradition). We'll probably check out Adventureland until our FP is ready, then move on to NOS, CC, and Frontierland before our 12:00 reservation. I maybe flexible and go on SM at some point in the morning because it's one the other 2's favourite ride. We'll then head back to the room and have a swim/relax, and dinner before going back for the evening.

Because we have a full kitchen, we'll be ordering groceries from Vons. Any tips?

 

[wiigirl]

In for your TR

 

[Vancouver2Disneyland]

A quick little update. At the crack of dawn we (DMom- the driver, DSis, and I) went down to the States. We hit up Trader Joe's where we got a bag of 13 (I think) snack bags of roasted almonds, which make a great gluten free snack for me while in the parks. And some other trail mix with smarties... m&m's maybe, not sure
I also went to Lane Bryant to spend my real women dollars and got a great tank top for the Land.

 

[Vancouver2Disneyland]

We are officially at the 7 DAYS mark (I don't think any of the emoticons fully describe my excitement, but I'll try)
That probably sums it up, lol!

Anyways, back to the point of the post. We have decided to take the Disneyland Express from LAX, rather than deal with the shared ride thing. Never having done that in my travels, I feel more comfortable with a big bus that is only going to the DLR area, not all over hell's half acre. We have also decided that listening to me (the planner of the group) in the mornings so we can accomplish as much as possible when it's cooler and less busy is going to be a really good idea, and I have promised to go more with the flow in the afternoons. Our plans are to start with DL on Monday (as previously outlined in another post), DCA on Tuesday so we can grab RSR FP and go on TSMM before it gets too busy, Wednesday is left flexible, DL on Thursday for our MM that came with our tickets, and Friday we'll leave open as well.... For now

At home I have a lengthy to do list which includes a letter from my doc saying I'm fit to travel, a hair cut, and lots of laundry so I can pack. I am also going to be doing 3 sets of Disney manis and pedis for the trip. I'm going to have Cheshire Cat nails, DSis wants Tinkerbell, and DBFF want Pocahontas. I'll have to figure out how to post photos on here (notice the lack of them lol).
I can't promise that I'll do any TR posting while away, as the hotel doesn't have free wifi in the rooms but I may find free wifi somewhere in DTD, anyone have a suggestion?

 

[Vancouver2Disneyland]

After searching high and low, I have finally founded a fairly recent (read 14 months old) picture of myself. My family is pretty bad at taking pictures on holidays or Birthdays, so here's one I took myself while in Hawaii last April/May


I will be 'getting up' in 2 hours to then have one last hour to prep at home before we leave for the airport! I will try and post something while away, but my hotel doesn't have wifi, so if I have my iPad and am near wifi, then I'll update. Maybe with photos too.

Having previewed the post- the photo is huge! Anyway I can shrink it in Photobucket?

 

[heaven2dc]

How was your trip? Anxious to read all about it I went on July 13th for the first time on my Annual Pass (moved to CA a year ago and finally made it down to Disneyland and had a great yet exhausting day lol).

Hope you post some pics and updates of your trip soon!