OK here goes another attempt at writing my March 2010 Trip Report! Glad you all are on board for this crazy ride, hopefully I can write something that will keep you all interested in reading all of it, LOL
Or trip began at 3a.m. on Sunday March 7th. DH and I both woke up about 2 minutes before the alarm went off, guess we were both way too excited! We managed to get the last stuff packed and all three kids in the car by 4a.m. Topped off the gas tank here in Grants Pass at the local Chevron and then we got on I-5 and we were on our way! Our plan was to have the kids go straight from the bed to the car and sleep to at least Redding, which would have been like maybe 2-3 hours and then they would wake up nice and happy and be ready for breakfast. WRONG-O. They never fell back asleep, just got in the car and at 4:15 were already asking when we were going to stop for breakfast?!?! Are you serious? Im still seeing cross-eyed from lack of sleep AND coffee and they wanna eat? Well we convinced them to put a movie on and we would stop shortly. We made it to Weed California and the kids couldnt stand it any longer so we stopped at a McDonalds. I forgot to take pics but we all had the Egg McMuffin Meal (use your imagination, lol) and then we were back on the road! Our next stop would be in Dunnigan to pick up my BFF. The kids didnt know she was going but I was keeping in touch with her via text. We got to the Pilot truck stop and I took the kids in to use the restroom while my DH got my BFF's bags in the car and my BFF waited in the car for us to come out. I got the text saying they were all situated and I brought the kids out, the boys were the first to see her and their reaction was "what the heck??" My DD was more confused than anything else. I guess I thought they would be more excited but she does alot with us, so maybe they were used to it??
Here is DD8 when she opened the car door and saw BFF.
After we all got situated in the car, sleepyness set in and we all took a nice nap.
Well....most of us slept, I just noticed DS12 in the background nice and wide awake, LOL
We drove until we got to Kettleman City where we stopped for gas and In-n-Out, again I forgot to take pics but we had a delicious cheeseburger, fries and chocolate milkshakes, deeee-lish! After lunch we drove straight thru to Anaheim and pulled into the hotel at 4p.m.
Disneyland was in our sights! yay! I finally started to see some excitement out of the kids! We got two rooms, the guys in one room and the girls in the other and they were both next door to each other so we were never far apart, this really worked out! My BFF and I had to run to Target to pick up a few essentials and DH stayed behind with the kids and finished unpacking and then took them to the pool for some R&R. BFF and I stopped at DelTaco for a quick dinner and brought it back to the hotel to share with everyone. Nothing spectacular, in fact I wasnt impressed. We dont have a DelTaco here in Grants Pass and I would be totally ok if we never got one either. ewww. After dinner we retired to our rooms and watched a little tv before we fell asleep with dreams of Disneyland in the morning. Luckily it only took us about 5 minutes to fall asleep.
We woke up nice and early and met in front of the hotel at 7a.m, drove over to Mimis Cafe for breakfast. None of us had ever been there in the past but we were all very impressed with the service and the food. No one oredered a big breakfast but mostly just muffins and fruit. I think I had two scrambled eggs and toast. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to drop off the van and catch the ART to the Park. Here we are waiting for the bus.
And a few of us on the ART.
We made it into Disneyland with time to spare, they had opened the gates but everyone was stopped at the end of Main St waiting for the rope drop. It gave me a chance to look around at all the windows on Main St, which I love doing. After the roap drop we headed towards Adventureland and rode Pirates and then Haunted Mansion. We love doing Disneyland during the week, there is virtually no one in the park and EVERYTHING is walk on, even Indiana Jones. I have no idea what rides we went on after that but we pretty much just made our way around the park until we got hungry again. One of the restaurants we wanted to try was Cafe Orleans and I am SO glad we did. We walked up and asked how long it would of a wait it would be for a party of 6, the waiter looked at the book and said "we can seat you now" another reason I LOVE weekdays on off season! We sat down looked at the menu for about 2 seconds, DH and I already knew what we wanted to try. We each ordered a small bowl of gumbo and the Monte Cristo to split. The boys had the Pommes Frites, DD had the chicken breast kids meal and my BFF had the Gumbo and Pommes Frites also. Here are the pics.
My food was AWESOME I had no complaints and neither did anyone else except for DD, she said the pasta and the chicken were dry. I told her to put the marinara sauce on the pasta and the chicken but she all of a sudden decided that she didnt like marinara sauce, so she ate my fruit and her fruit and was satisfied. DH on the other had thought her chicken was awesome and finished it for her. I can always count on him to finish what she doesnt eat! LOL
As we were leaving we saw Princess Tiana and DD HAD to get a pic with her, so after waiting about 2 minutes in line we were able to meet her, what a beautiful princess! DD thought she was really cool!
The jungle cruise was next and then we were off to Tomorrowland for some Space Mountain! a family favorite!
I always try to put my hands up and smile when I know the camera is about to take our picture but this time I guess I couldnt contain my excitement, Im pretty sure I could win an award with how ridiculous I look in this picture, LOL
After we finished up in TomorrowLand we were headed over towards Its a Small World and DD wanted to get her face painted, who can resist?
Then it was time for the famous churro and off to get in line for IASW
For some reason I dont have many more pics between this last one and when we left DL and were waiting in front of DL for the ART bus. Heres the last pic of the day.
By the time we got back to the hotel we were all pretty tired but hungry. I had a coupon for Buca Di Beppo and I know this place doesnt get the best reviews on this board but I truely liked it! We had awesome pasta and garlic bread and salad and I left there totally happy and very full!
This is all im going to do right now, got to get ready for the day and do some grocery shopping. Hope you all enjoyed the first day of our trip to Disneyland!