PPB's Super-Forever TR! DisDivas Trip TR Coming SOON!

[prettyprincessbelle]

I am sitting and watching View From The Bay, a show from San Francisco that is actually live right now from Disneyland and they are wearing short sleeves and they said the weather is lovely.

Woo!

Wednesday is supposed to be 70, Thursday 73, Friday 71, and Saturday 69. At night it's going to be in the mid 40's.



I'm pretty much packed. Woo!

 

[kaoden39]

The weather sounds great for this week. That's wonderful, I hope you have fun.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Thanks, Michele!!

Where's everyone else, hmmmm?

 

[Sherry E]

I am here, Courtney! I can't believe your trip is here (just about)!!! Remember, when you get back on the 5th, flip on the Guy Fieri special on the Food Network!

I am still trying to figure out how to get down to DLR. December crept up much faster than I expected!! So your TR will get me through if I am not able to go. I cannot fathom missing out on the DLR holiday activities and merriment, but my - as Kerri called them - "friends" are being flakes again. I swear, had I known for sure that they would only be good for one trip this year (a day trip at that), I would have totally skipped Halloweentime and gone with a December trip. But I will explain about this more in my own TR (which should be called the NO-Trip Report at this point!).

Anyway, I am so excited for you that your trip is here - it seems like it has been so long since you were last at DLR!

 

[wazowskiLOVER:)]

Oh my goodness! I've been so MIA on the DIS and I come back to you leaving for a trip TOMORROW !?!?!?!?

EEEEEEK! I'm sooo excited for you Courtney. I do have to admit I miss hearing from you, Sherry, and Kerri! There is no way for me to describe on how much I've been sidetracked from the DIS to other forums. Michele knows because she sees my twitter ! I really can't wait to hear about your trip when you get back. I am a little sad that I'm not going to DLR for the Christmas decorations! My mom was just saying the other day that she has the urge just to leave and drive there for one night! If only! Have a ton of fun and I'm so excited for you !!!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I am here, Courtney! I can't believe your trip is here (just about)!!! Remember, when you get back on the 5th, flip on the Guy Fieri special on the Food Network!

I am still trying to figure out how to get down to DLR. December crept up much faster than I expected!! So your TR will get me through if I am not able to go. I cannot fathom missing out on the DLR holiday activities and merriment, but my - as Kerri called them - "friends" are being flakes again. I swear, had I known for sure that they would only be good for one trip this year (a day trip at that), I would have totally skipped Halloweentime and gone with a December trip. But I will explain about this more in my own TR (which should be called the NO-Trip Report at this point!).

Anyway, I am so excited for you that your trip is here - it seems like it has been so long since you were last at DLR!

Hi Hi!!!! I have the Guy Fieri special set on the DVR in the living room!

I really hope you get to go. Your "friends" are being flakes? Bleh! What are their excuses now?

for you to get to DLR soon!! And I'll take a million pictures for you. And of the Christmas trees!

Oh my goodness! I've been so MIA on the DIS and I come back to you leaving for a trip TOMORROW !?!?!?!?

EEEEEEK! I'm sooo excited for you Courtney. I do have to admit I miss hearing from you, Sherry, and Kerri! There is no way for me to describe on how much I've been sidetracked from the DIS to other forums. Michele knows because she sees my twitter ! I really can't wait to hear about your trip when you get back. I am a little sad that I'm not going to DLR for the Christmas decorations! My mom was just saying the other day that she has the urge just to leave and drive there for one night! If only! Have a ton of fun and I'm so excited for you !!!

Jasmine! Where have you been all my life!!!

I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow! ACK! I missed hearing from you too. I hope everything is okay with you!! Busy busy girl!!

You guys should just wake up and drive down here! Wooo!!!

 

[goofycathy]

I just spent soooooo long reading all your TR's and PTR and they are awesome. You and your BF are the cutest ever....cant wait to read all about your trip when you get back! have fun!

 

[Sherry E]

Hi Hi!!!! I have the Guy Fieri special set on the DVR in the living room!

I really hope you get to go. Your "friends" are being flakes? Bleh! What are their excuses now?

for you to get to DLR soon!! And I'll take a million pictures for you. And of the Christmas trees!

I can't wait for Guy's special on Saturday! I am even re-recording the Samantha Brown Disney Holiday special that airs tomorrow on Travel Channel, and there was an amazing WDW Holiday special on HGTV the other night, so I am trying to fully immerse myself in all things Disney Holiday, but hopefully I will be able to go to DLR myself and soak in the Christmas cheer.

Yes, the friends are being flakes. I posted all about it (the non-update) in my TR this monring. It is getting to the point where it is not just frustrating. They are being rude and inconsiderate and taking things (or me) for granted, and it is really ticking me off now. There are plenty of people in the world who would LOVE to go to DLR, and would LOVE to have a friend who is nice enough to plan everything and usually pay for most everything, and they will never have the chance to go, but my flaky friends don't seem to realize that they are lucky.

Yes, I can't wait to see the trees, as many as you can capture!! Thank you for taking on that mission for me, Courtney! I mean, I am curious about the most random, obscure trees. Like what kind of tree is in the gift shop in Frontierland, or in the New Orleans Square shops? What do the trees look like in the DCA shops (I did not pay any attention to those trees in DCA last year - at all!)? Does the tree in Coke Corner still have the red and white ornaments to match the color scheme? Last year, my stupid 35 mm camera died just as I was trying to get photos of Mickey's and Minnie's trees in front of their houses in ToonTown, so I totally missed those. I am really interested to see if each tree kind of has a theme that fits its land or designated area or fits the theme of whatever shop or restaurant it is located in!! How exciting!!!

 

[Yakety76]

Have a wonderful trip. Cannot wait to read all about it when you return.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I just spent soooooo long reading all your TR's and PTR and they are awesome. You and your BF are the cutest ever....cant wait to read all about your trip when you get back! have fun!

Aww, thank you so much!!!

I can't wait to go!!! I'll have tons to report and tons of pictures when I come back. Stay tuned!

I can't wait for Guy's special on Saturday! I am even re-recording the Samantha Brown Disney Holiday special that airs tomorrow on Travel Channel, and there was an amazing WDW Holiday special on HGTV the other night, so I am trying to fully immerse myself in all things Disney Holiday, but hopefully I will be able to go to DLR myself and soak in the Christmas cheer.

Yes, the friends are being flakes. I posted all about it (the non-update) in my TR this monring. It is getting to the point where it is not just frustrating. They are being rude and inconsiderate and taking things (or me) for granted, and it is really ticking me off now. There are plenty of people in the world who would LOVE to go to DLR, and would LOVE to have a friend who is nice enough to plan everything and usually pay for most everything, and they will never have the chance to go, but my flaky friends don't seem to realize that they are lucky.

Yes, I can't wait to see the trees, as many as you can capture!! Thank you for taking on that mission for me, Courtney! I mean, I am curious about the most random, obscure trees. Like what kind of tree is in the gift shop in Frontierland, or in the New Orleans Square shops? What do the trees look like in the DCA shops (I did not pay any attention to those trees in DCA last year - at all!)? Does the tree in Coke Corner still have the red and white ornaments to match the color scheme? Last year, my stupid 35 mm camera died just as I was trying to get photos of Mickey's and Minnie's trees in front of their houses in ToonTown, so I totally missed those. I am really interested to see if each tree kind of has a theme that fits its land or designated area or fits the theme of whatever shop or restaurant it is
located in!! How exciting!!!

Your friends are very lucky, Sherry. Us Dis Sisters (Kerri, Jasmine and me!) all love you and are very thankful and lucky to have you as a friend. I wish we all lived closer (and closer to DL!) so we could all go together all the time!! I really hope they realize what an awesome person you are. And especially to spend time with DL with you is even better.

I watched the HGTV special and for some reason was thinking they would show DLR, but no, they didn't. It was still interesting. Through the whole resort there are like 1300 Christmas trees! That's insane! It was something like that. Totally crazy. I am ready to take all those tree pictures for you! Oh and I had a dream the other night (nightmare?) that I went to DLR with NO CAMERA! I was freaking the heez out! It was terrifying!

Have a wonderful trip. Cannot wait to read all about it when you return.

Thank you soooooo much!!!!

 

[kaoden39]

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Oh boy it's tomorrow!

 

[Sherry E]

Woo hoo, Courtney! You are back home now! I can't wait to start hearing all about the trip and seeing photos! I know you are probaby tired and resting, but never mind all that rest and let's get going on the TR! Just kidding! You got back just in time too, because it supposed to rain quite substantially in the next couple of days. And I know lots of folks love Disneyland in the rain, but unless you have a waterproof protective gizmo for your camera, taking photos can be a real pain.

And did you watch the Guy Fieri DLR Holiday show? I was commenting on it in that Guy Fieri DLR Holiday Special thread, but I thought it was really interesting and fun.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Oh my gosh I'm home!! And I rested all day and I'm still tired!!!

I'm uploading our first day of pictures on photobucket right now, I'll probably officially start the TR Tuesday or even tomorrow.

Here's a few thoughts though!

Wednesday and Thursday during the day was fantastic, the crowds were minimal and the weather was so nice.

Thursday and especially Friday night the crowds were INSANE. Friday night's 9:00pm Fantasmic was cancelled. I'm not sure if 10:30s played or not.

If you do not have a Premium AP and you use your AP 2 times for dining discounts, you will get a 20% merchandise coupon on the bottom of your receipt. We got 2 (one on my AP and one on Jesus'). They came in handy for our shopping we did Saturday!

I was so thankful we made PS's for Cafe Orleans for Friday night, they were taking NO walkups at all. We were 20 minutes earlier than our PS and we had to wait until the time of our PS (7:40pm). So many people were getting turned down.

Okay, so I will be back!

 

[kaoden39]

Welcome back!!

I can hardly wait to read your trip report and see the pictures!!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Welcome back!!

I can hardly wait to read your trip report and see the pictures!!

Thanks, Michele! It's coming soon. I'm going to start tonight and I'll post as soon as I get to 25 pictures! WOO!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I was home sick today! AGAIN! What the heez!? Thank goodness it's just a cold. I should have started this during the day, but I was sleeping.

Okay, everyone ready?

 

[Sherry E]

I am! I am!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Wednesday, December 2nd - DLR Day 1

So we got a late start this day. We were planning on leaving Oxnard between 9am and 10am. We didn't get on the freeway until almost 11, I think? We had an issue with a hoodie that I bought Jesus from Old Navy the night before. They were on sale for $20, so Tuesday night I went and bought myself and him one. Well, when he tried on the one I bought him Wednesday morning, the sleeve was sewn all weird and it he couldn't put his arm through the hole. SO, we decided to just go to Old Navy and return it. Well, Old Navy doesn't open until 10am, by the time we got ready to go, it was 10am. We ended up going to the Old Navy in Thousand Oaks (which is on the way to DL for us, about 20 minutes from us). So we stopped at Old Navy, exchanged the hoodie and we were on our way! Oh and we also had to stop by my house to get the receipt and go get gas.

We got to DL at around 12:30 I believe. I need to check the pictures on my computer (I'm on my parents). I went and checked us into the Hojo and was surprised that our room was ready. We were in building 2 on the first floor. We had a patio and our room was facing the garden pool. It was very very quiet and we were really glad we chose the Hojo for this stay (more on this later!).

This is our room.

The TV and work desk.

This awesome bench thing we put our baggage on.

Microwave, fridge, super cool coffee maker.

Table and chairs.

I didn't take a picture of the bathroom, but it had 2 sinks, a potty and a shower. It was big enough that the both of us could do our hair and not bump each other. We will definitely be staying in building 2 again! Plus the beds were very super really comfy.

This was our buddy for the trip. Christmas Stitch!

We got ready and headed to the parks. It took us about 7 minutes to walk to the Esplanade. It took us about 2 walks to DL to figure out a short cut, but before that, we walked by Pirates Cove at the Hojo.

Yay!! The turnstiles!

As soon as we got our tickets scanned, the CM who scanned our tickets kept telling us and other CMs "look at the bird!!" and there was a hawk sitting right on this fence. It was soo pretty and was just looking around. By the time I went to take a picture, he flew right over our heads. But I did catch him flying. Do you see him? He's right above the bush and kind of blends in with the scanning computer things.

Our first thing was to go to the AP processing center and upgrade my PH to an AP and exchange Jesus' AP voucher to a real AP. So off we go.

My first Christmas tree picture. Sherry E gave me a mission to take a picture of every Christmas tree I came across and I had a hard time with this. Most of the Christmas trees were in the stores, but I still took as many pictures as I could!

As we were walking by the Coke Corner, Jasmine and Aladdin were coming out of that backstage door that's right there. I tried to get a picture, but this is the best I got.

We finally made it to the bank and the line wasn't very long at all, maybe about 5 people in front of us. We get to the front of the line and the CM who we got was very nice. I went first and to put your AP on the payment plan is very very easy. My payments came out to $16/month. They ask if you have an ATM or credit card that you want to your payment automatically taken out of. And they used the same picture from my last AP (which I was very happy with). I signed a contract and I was done! Plus they had my new address in their system, which I have no idea how they got it. Jesus then got his AP and we were on our way!

Our new APs! They have celebration balloons on them!

The wait board. No lines really except for Autopia. Huh.

We made a left and headed to Adventureland.

And saw that the line for Indy was only 10 minutes so we got in line.

I didn't time our wait, but it was about 10 minutes. Once you get to the stairs, I chose the stairs on the right hand side and we just passed everyone and ended up going straight down the next set of stairs and right away the CM asked for a party of 2 and we were ready to board! The girls next to us never been on it before and they were freaking out the whole time, it was amusing.

After that we figured out we were hungry, so Hungry Bear it was. Looking back at my other TRs, we always eat there our first meal. I don't know why!

The train went by as we were waiting in line to order.

We both ordered cheese burgers, I got mine with apples and Jesus got his with fries. We got onion rings to share.

Ahh, that meal was so good. I cleaned my plate and ate all my apples! Yummy!

The Mark Twain came on by..

...CONT...

 

[Sherry E]

I love that the bird was so comfortable around people to just be hanging out by the turnstiles! I guess it is used to all those thousands of people piling into DLR every day.

Oh no! The Christmas tree mission was hard? I figured most of the 'good' trees (the overlooked ones) were in shops or restaurants, but was it hard to get near them? That si kind of what I thought - that maybe if people are crowded around the trees, it would be hard to snap photos.

As for the AP, where is the AP processing center now? By the Plaza Pavilion? Is that the new Bank? And how much did you pay up front to get the monthly payment so low? It must have been more than the $72 they require, right? Also, on what date every month do they deduct the payment? Do they select a day of their own or do they just choose the same date you came in to get the AP every month?

Anyway, I am tuned in, so can't wait for the rest of the fun and merriment!!!

 

[Yakety76]

Sorry that you have been sick.

I loved the coffee maker at the HOJO. DH had to go buy me one for Christmas after our stay there. You two figured out the short cut after only two walks to DL? I don't think I figured it out until our last day...and that was because DH showed me.

Having an AP sounds like such a great deal. Makes me want to move closer so I could go more often and have a need for an AP.

Great start. Cannot wait to read more.