PTR: We're (almost) all going to Disneyland! May 22-24, 2016

[DisneymoonJess07]

Hello and welcome!!

Yes, those dates are right - just about a month to go and we made all the decisions basically yesterday!!

My parents were talking about coming to visit us for my birthday (May 20) and they wanted to do something special. They were talking about the beach, but I suggested maybe Disneyland after my mom was having trouble finding what she wanted. She was TOTALLY into it, which surprised me. So this is a birthday present for me, my dad (April 24) plus Mother's Day for me and my mom (and maybe Father's Day for my dad, depending...). DH and I have lived in LA since JULY and we still haven't been to Disneyland! Something about settling in and working and stuff...?

We're a multigenerational group - my parents (in their 60s), me (early 30s) and my daughter (17 months). My DH has a work conference in Baltimore, so he'll miss the trip. I'm not sure he's that sad about it...he likes Disney but it's not his "thing."


A little about us:

Me (Jess) - 31, mom of one (Baby P) and one on the way (I'll be about 20 weeks when we hit Disneyland). As I mentioned, we live in LA, but we just moved here in LA. I love Disney but haven't been in ages - we went to WDW for our honeymoon in 2009 (although we got married in 2007 - we were young and broke). Every time we have tried to go, something has come up.

Baby P - 17 months by the time of our trip, super adorable little girl who is all over the place. I anticipate it will be really magical to see her reaction to the parks, and kind of exhausting keeping up with her. We chose a hotel close to the parks so we can easily go back for breaks, etc.

Mom - 65, former Psychologist, cancer survivor and general badass. She has some foot problems stemming from chemo, but is excited for our trip. I figure with a toddler and a pregnant lady, we'll be moving slowly anyway...

Dad - 68, Physician, currently in the process of retiring. They're moving to Florida in August, so I'm hoping we can sneak a few trips to WDW with them in the near future...He's a former marathon runner, now into swimming. I'm assuming he will be doing several rides that the rest of us can't go on, lol.


The trip:

Sunday, May 22 - Tuesday, May 24

My parents arrive in LA on the 20th, and we'll hang out at home together the 20 & 21. That way they'll get to see my husband before he gets on the redeye on Saturday night. Sunday morning, time to head to Disney (about 45 minutes without traffic) and then we'll stay till Tuesday afternoon/evening. My parents fly back Wednesday morning.

We are staying at the Howard Johnson, right now booked into a two-room suite, which should be enough space for all of us and give enough privacy so everyone can sleep. Luckily, P is an excellent sleeper, so hopefully that won't be an issue (watch me have to eat my words!). I'll get a SoCal ticket, and my parents will just get regular three day tickets. Probably park hoppers since those seem to be more useful at DL than WDW.

More to come - I'm open to all suggestions, especially about restaurants with good ambiance or character meetings (P is good in a restaurant) and toddler-wrangling tips and rides you recommend! Or really anything.

 

[missangelalexis]

Joining in! Your trip sounds like it's going to be great! You will enjoy staying at a hotel nearby- it's easy to go back and forth for breaks! Excited to hear what you have planned

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

Joining in! Your trip sounds like it's going to be great! You will enjoy staying at a hotel nearby- it's easy to go back and forth for breaks! Excited to hear what you have planned

I am also excited to see what we have planned!! I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed as we haven't done Disneyland before and it's a whole new thing, and I'm SUCH A PLANNER. But it's exciting also to learn all about another park, etc. Also, I think it'll help, in a way, that it's short - I know going in we can only do so much, so that helps too. :yes:

I'm reading the Unofficial Guide like a fiend, which is hard with a 17 month old, and my in-laws are visiting right now for Passover. So it's been hectic. But great. And yes, I did plan a trip with my parents while my in-laws are here. Oops.

 

[missangelalexis]

It's definitely overwhelming! And I'm a hardcore planner too so I can relate

If you have any questions at all, I'd be happy to help!

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

Okay, so I'm thinking about our days there, and just realizing how different this trip is going to be.

My daughter, thank goodness, is not an early waker. Today, she woke up at 8:20 AM. Seriously, I'm NOT going to mess with that for a few days at Disney. I will be sad to miss rope drop, but seriously. And she goes to bed at 8PM, so that puts a damper on late nights. Although maybe we can have my parents go out after her bedtime one night, and then I can go out myself the other night? Hmmm.

Food issues: Lots of various food accommodations will be needed, so I feel like food planning will be a big deal. Plus, we need it to be YUMMY

Clothes: I want t-shirts for at least me and DD. Not sure if mom or dad will want them, so I'll ask them soon if they're interested...I'm going to guess not, but that's just my thought

 

[missangelalexis]

I hope you can get your parents to take DD back to the room while you can stay out late one night. There are some great nighttime shows and you should definitely try to see some if you can!

DL has a lot of different food options, so I think you will be ok in finding things! If you are looking to do a character meal, breakfast at Plaza Inn is awesome! SO many characters and yummy food!

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

I agree - I talked to my friend whose son is Celiac - talk about food restrictions! And she said Disneyland was amazing for them, so I hope it will be just as good for us. I really liked the character meals at WDW, so I'm hoping we can get Plaza Inn or something similar while we are there!

I think even just the experience of getting to go the park at night by myself would be cool, even if I don't get fireworks or whatever.

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

Feeling a little grumpy at my past self. I thought about adding another night to our stay, since my parents don't leave until Wednesday morning. There's almost nothing available at the hotel for Tuesday night - certainly not the in the two room suites. Ugh. It just cuts our day short because we'd have to leave at the latest by 3, since my daughter would absolutely have to nap by then. Sigh.

 

[missangelalexis]

Aww bummer would you be able to get a smaller room just for the night or maybe stay at a different hotel?

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

I found another suite at a different hotel for the same price for all three nights - the thing about moving rooms is that it would be right when she usually naps.

So, right now we're in a suite at the Camelot instead of the Howard Johnson. It's just a little bit closer to Disneyland, so that's nice too. I've heard parking can be an issue, but we won't need to move the car until it's time for us to leave, so once we get parked the first time it should be okay.

Now, I'm just going to hang onto that HoJo reservation for a little while just to be sure, but I think we're okay. Maybe. LoL. Next, I need to change where the stroller rental is being delivered and actually buy tickets to Disneyland!! And work some more on our plans for the days in the park. I got a reservation at Plaza Inn for Monday for breakfast, so I also need to put in our food needs for that. But we're slowly getting there, I think!!

 

[Jaina]

I'm excited for your trip too! How fun when you've never been to DL before! It is nice that you'll have your parents' help with one that age. They are so busy, and just want to do their own thing! As long as you stay flexible with what she needs/wants, I'll bet you have a great trip! It's also nice that your first day or two will be busier and Tuesday will hopefully be a little slower, so you can enjoy the difference! I went once when I was 8 weeks pregnant (and sick) and it was definitely a different kind of trip (since we've always been all about the big rides) but so much fun. Definitely spend some time in Toontown earlier one day so it's not too crowded and your LO can walk around and explore some. Have you figured out what you're going to do shirt-wise yet? My family never did matching shirts growing up, and I absolutely loved it (and the pictures) when we took our 3 oldest in 2013 (trip report in my sig if you want to see them). Also, my husband is basically celiac and he didn't have any trouble at Disney finding stuff to eat. What restrictions do you have? They're pretty good about trying to work with you, and I know there are some food-sensitivity threads on here.

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

I'm excited for your trip too! How fun when you've never been to DL before! It is nice that you'll have your parents' help with one that age. They are so busy, and just want to do their own thing! As long as you stay flexible with what she needs/wants, I'll bet you have a great trip! It's also nice that your first day or two will be busier and Tuesday will hopefully be a little slower, so you can enjoy the difference! I went once when I was 8 weeks pregnant (and sick) and it was definitely a different kind of trip (since we've always been all about the big rides) but so much fun. Definitely spend some time in Toontown earlier one day so it's not too crowded and your LO can walk around and explore some. Have you figured out what you're going to do shirt-wise yet? My family never did matching shirts growing up, and I absolutely loved it (and the pictures) when we took our 3 oldest in 2013 (trip report in my sig if you want to see them). Also, my husband is basically celiac and he didn't have any trouble at Disney finding stuff to eat. What restrictions do you have? They're pretty good about trying to work with you, and I know there are some food-sensitivity threads on here.

Thank you for stopping by!!

She really does want to do her own thing, but I'm hoping she will be interested enough in what's going on to stick with at least some of the program I'm not holding my breath though.

I haven't figured out the t-shirts thing yet - I want to do them for at least me and DD, but we'll see about my parents. I just need to email my mom re: planning stuff - they are in the middle of selling their house, so they are super, duper busy. Hence, quick trip to see us to get away!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad you made a reservation for Plaza Inn!

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

Okay, a week to go!

I made reservations for the Carnation Cafe for the first day lunch, so that's our first thing that we have to be there for. I'm hoping things go smoothly and we can get to Disney before that, but at least we'll get into Disney for lunch. Then DD will go back for her nap if we have a hotel room, or we'll be trying to get her to nap in the stroller. Then we'll head back to Disneyland, and see what we can see.

Monday morning is Plaza Inn, and then Disneyland for the rest of the day.

Tuesday is DCA, and I'm trying to figure out what to do for dinner. We're also hoping to meet up with a friend on Tuesday - she's coming to Disneyland at the same time as us!!

Wednesday we leave early to get my parents to LAX and back to real life (waaah).

I also bought some shirts and things, but I don't think all of them are going to arrive in time Sigh. Hopefully it will!!

 

[missangelalexis]

One week!!

I've heard great things about Carnation Cafe so I hope you enjoy it!

DCA has a lot of different Quick Service options. Check out the menus for the Pacific Wharf area! Or if you're interested in doing a character meal, they have a princess meal at Ariel's Grotto.

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

We're back!!

It was a really great trip - it turned out a little differently than expected, but it was really a lot of fun. i kind of want to go back with DH before the new baby is born, but i have no idea when we would do that. An idea would be for us to go for our anniversary, but that would be like 32 weeks prego, so we'll see. Thinking about it though, lol.

Be back later tonight with a full trip report!

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

Sunday, May 22

We managed to get out of the house mostly on time (amazing!) and got to the hotel at around 11:30. We checked in and they had a room ready (yay!) plus the stroller was there (yay!). So we got everything out of the car and up to the room before heading to Disney for our Carnation Cafe reservation.

The hotel is basically a nicer end motel, but the room was just what we needed - the first room had a sofa sleeper (which we didn't use), a king bed (I slept in), a table and chairs and a kitchenette. The other room (conjoining doors) had two queen beds (my parents each took one), another refrigerator, and the bathroom. While the HoJo did advertise having a second bathroom, having the extra space in the other room was great because it meant I could put the crib far away from me so we weren't disturbing each other, especially since I get up at least once a night to pee (yay pregnancy!).

The walk to Disneyland is hard to beat - there are like two or three hotels before the cross over to Disney. Very convenient. It was very cool to walk onto the property and suddenly cross that line when you can hear the music vs. when you can't.

Anyway, as we walked in, we actually saw the Dapper Dans and the Disneyland band walking down Main Street with Mickey and Minnie! It was a very cool moment, but I was so overwhelmed and excited I got like one off center picture. LoL. We made it to the Carnation Cafe, and were seated pretty quickly. They gave my mom and allergy menu and we ordered pretty easily. The meal was good, although my daughter ate differently than I was expecting. This was a theme for the trip! We did order the ice cream for dessert and she LOVED it. And stole all of our spoons at various points. Several of the cast members came over because it was super adorable - tiny toddler, with ice cream all over her face, holding four spoons like a prize. There was something of a tantrum when it was time to go, but we had to head back for her (already a little late) nap.

We got the crib into the room, got her asleep and then all of us took a break too. Then, it was time to head back to the park. We decided after a little deliberation to go to It's a Small World first. This was my favorite ride at WDW as a kid, and P ADORED it. Like, she was mesmerized. My mom said she wished she had just gotten video of P's face the whole time, lol. We then did the Storyland Boats, which were cute but not up to par after IASW. Oh well. Then it was time for dinner, which ended up being at Jolly Holiday. Again, my mom had no trouble getting a gluten free meal, although another family came in right after her that also needed gluten free meals, so it was a little delayed. But we all ate and were satisfied. My DD ate a bunch of my meal, so I ended up eating a bunch of hers. By the end of the trip, I would buy a meal for her and a meal for me, and then she'd pick what she wanted. Of course, the last meal, she actually ended up eating off my dad's plate! Ha!

After dinner, we wandered a little around Main Street, and then headed back to the room. P was asleep very quickly, and we hung out for a little while. We were all too exhausted by then to go back to the park or even go upstairs to watch the fireworks. Yes, lame! Oh well.

I will say we only saw two attractions because it was very crowded and I didn't really understand my way around the park very well. So, I tried to be satisfied, although it was hard. I had hope that we'd get more done on Monday, since we were starting early with Plaza Inn at 9:10.

 

[missangelalexis]

Welcome back!

It sounds like you took your first day at a nice place! I'm glad the meals were good and that you got to get on IASW!