*A Family Affair - My 1st trip to Disneyland!*

[*Stacie*]

Hello and welcome to my trip report! I am quite new to this site, as you can tell by my post count, but I am so excited to start my trip report!! I will start off by telling you all who was on the trip!

The Gang

Me - Stacie, 24, first time to Disneyland
Husband - Bryan, 28, his second time, first was when he was 8
Mom - Deneen, 44, her first time to Disneyland
Brother - Lance, 21, his first time to Disneyland
Uncle - Nathan, 37, his second time, first time was last summer
Aunt - Naomi, 34, her second time, first time was last summer
Cousin - Sierra, 14, her second time, first time was last summer


My husband Bryan and I at a wedding recently

My Mom and brother on his 21 birthday

My Uncle and Cousin Sierra

My aunt and Cousin

How this trip came about

Back in June we were all over at my Mom's house for dinner. Bryan and I were talking about how we wanted to go to LA this summer. My aunt and uncle were telling us about their trip to DL last year and how AMAZING it really is! I have always been a Disney nut since I was a little girl. I had the biggest Minnie Mouse collection and Belle was my favourite princess! My Mom called me her Belle and even had that written on birthday cakes and in my cards "Happy Birthday to my Belle". Immediately I was psyched at the idea of doing a family trip there. The only thing is I didn't want to go for my first time without my Mom. After she saw the excitement on my uncle's face (who refers to himself as a grumpy old man) she knew we had to do it!!!! My brother was also in and that was that! We were on our way to start planning our family trip to DISNEYLAND!

The planning

We originally wanted to go in September of this year, but my uncle was so set on seeing Fantasmic, and after finding out it only ran during the summer (according to the website I think!) and ended at the end of August we had to do it before it was done this year! Which meant going in August, meaning more kids and families in the park and longer lines. Oh well! We wanted to see Fantasmic, the show that lights up my uncles eyes! After finding what we thought was a pretty sweet deal that included air, hotel and park hopper passes for 4 nights we booked the trip! We were all planning to leave August 11 and return August 15. After a few days of mulling it over my aunt and uncle decided they wanted to go even earlier as 3 full days in the park was not nearly enough! So the travel agent bumped their trip up and they were to leave on August 9. I was so jealous that they were going earlier, not that I could have went on the 9th anyways as Bryan and I had a very good friends wedding to attend! After a few kinks to work out we were all looking forward to our family vacation!

 

[*Stacie*]

August 11

I woke that morning so incredibly excited for our trip! Our flight didn't leave until 8pm that night so I had the whole day to pack, clean the house and get ready! My friend Tasha was coming to doggy sit for us so I wanted everything to be super tidy for when she was there. I was so sad to leave my little dog Dash for 4 nights! Thats the longest I have been away from him but I knew he would be in good hands. I had everything ready and I was good to go! Just had to wait for Bryan to come home from work. By this point I was sick to my stomach with pure excitement I thought I was going to throw up! LOL I ate a bunch of soda crackers and that helped to settle my stomach.

Here I am all happy and ready to go!

Wearing my pink mary jane crocs with the Princess jibbets!!

My texting conversation with my aunt

In the car on the way to the airport

Here I am reading my Disney facts to everyone that I think I got from another girl's trip report on here!

Ready to board the plane!

View from the plane

 

[reyasmommy]

Great start! Can't wait to hear more! You and your husband are such a cute couple

 

[heatherleigh]

I'm glad you're starting it early. That way it's still fresh in your mind. I like all the pics too.

I am going to do that when I do my trip. I started taking pics last year, for the purpose of a tr, but never wound up doing it. I think lots of photos will make things easier to remember when I come back to write it. Did you take notes? That's something I'm committed to doing on this trip, each night when we return from the parks.

 

[kmab00]

LOVE those shoes! How cute!!!! Thanks for sending the link to me!! Great start...can't wait to read more!

 

[travelmel]

Hi,
I stole the link to your TR from kmab00 .. hope you don't mind if I jump onboard!

Are you a dental hygienist??? You kinda look like a dental hygienist.

 

[Sarah84]

Great start to your trippie, really looking forward to the rest. I'm a newbie here too, looking forward to my first trip to Disneyland California next september

Had to add you & your husband are such a gorgeous couple

 

[*Stacie*]

Great start! Can't wait to hear more! You and your husband are such a cute couple

Thank you

I'm glad you're starting it early. That way it's still fresh in your mind. I like all the pics too.

I am going to do that when I do my trip. I started taking pics last year, for the purpose of a tr, but never wound up doing it. I think lots of photos will make things easier to remember when I come back to write it. Did you take notes? That's something I'm committed to doing on this trip, each night when we return from the parks.

I'm glad I am starting early too!! I didn't take any notes, I just have a good memory But that is a great idea and maybe I will do it next time!

LOVE those shoes! How cute!!!! Thanks for sending the link to me!! Great start...can't wait to read more!

Thanks!!! I was so excited about my crocs!

Hi,
I stole the link to your TR from kmab00 .. hope you don't mind if I jump onboard!

Are you a dental hygienist??? You kinda look like a dental hygienist.

I don't mind at all!!! The more the merrier And no I am not a dental hygienist. Funny you would ask though as that is what I wanted to do!!! But the inside of people's mouth's Not for me!

Great start to your trippie, really looking forward to the rest. I'm a newbie here too, looking forward to my first trip to Disneyland California next september

Had to add you & your husband are such a gorgeous couple

Awww thanks so much!!! Glad you are enjoying it thus far!

 

[*Stacie*]

August 11th con't....

We arrived late Monday night at 11:15pm. LAX was so dirty compared to the Vancouver airport. Maybe I am just spoiled with such a pretty airport but dirty diapers and abandoned bra's littering the place is just plain EWW! Our bags arrived quite quickly off the plane. I have a great big huge purple hawaiian suitcase that I love and it is easy to spot. Well when I got it this time my entire wheel was ripped off and I had a hole the size of a giant grapefruit in my bag. The only thing that was protecting my clothes from the outside world was a thin layer of nylon. I was not impressed!

We managed to find a shuttle to take us to our hotel. The weird thing though is this family of 3 got on the shuttle and we all assumed they were going to a hotel as well. About 40 mins into our trip the dad turned around to all of us and said "So does anybody else live around here?" Uhhhh??? By this point it is 12:45am and we are exhausted and just want to get to our hotel. My brother, who is quite the smartalec , piped up and said "Umm we have never been here in our life!" Then the guy proceeded to give directions for our hotel shuttle van to drop him at his front door!!! The rest of us in the van were not the least bit impressed. It was me, my husband, my brother, my mom and a very nice British lady. None of us had heard of a hotel shuttle taking people to their house!!!!! Usually a taxi does the trick! Anyways, after that random situation were on our way to our hotel. Thankfully it was only like a 10 minute drive away.

We got to our hotel (Sheraton Anaheim) and checked in. The front desk guy was not friendly at all. I saw my very first Mickey sighting in our lobby and took a picture!

We got the keys to our room and were on our way! Our travel agent screwed up our rooms. My mom and brother wanted their own rooms because they have such different sleeping times and then of course Bryan and I were going to share a room. My Mom was very disappointed by this mistake made by the travel agent. My wonderful husband offered to share the room with Lance so my Mom and I could share a room. It worked out so well because the boys could sleep in and we could be ready to go first thing in the morning! We got to our rooms and it was so awesome that they were adjoining! So it felt like we were all in one big room!

Pictures from the first night at 2am and then we were off to bed!

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12

Our alarm went off at 6:15am for us to get ready for the day. It felt like Christmas morning to me. I woke up right away and went into the bathroom to put it in my contacts while my Mom called my Dad. Oh and for those of you wondering why my Dad wasn't on the trip it's because the thought of Disneyland makes him break out into hives! Small children and crowds are not his idea of a vacation! He was more than happy to stay at home and send us on our happy way!

So this is where I thought "OH NO! THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAPPEN!" I can be a little over dramatic at time I go into the bathroom and put my right contact lens in. I open the left side of the container, dip my finger and pull out half a contact! WTH?! Half a contact?! Where did the other half go???? I yell out "OH NO!!!!!!!!" My mom comes running in and I tell her what happened. Of course I did not bring an extra pair. I was totally planning on it but completely forgot! I even thought on the way to the airport "I hope nothing happens to my contacts, I forgot to bring an extra pair!" Thank God I brought my glasses! My Mom called down to the front desk and asked where the closest place to buy contacts were and the lady said Wal-Mart was only a 10 minute drive away. YAY! We were in luck!!!!! The only problem was that I did NOT want to leave Disneyland for the entire time were there. Oh well, I guess 30 mins out of my day was not going to kill me!

We got ready to go and met my aunt and uncle in the front lobby at 7:45 in order to catch the 8:00am shuttle.

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12 cont'd

We met my aunt, uncle and cousin in the lobby and were on our way!

Here I am in the shuttle super excited to get to Disneyland!!!

Right off the shuttle

That is my uncle behind me just in case anyone is wondering and I took my glasses off whenever I could for a picture

When I saw this sign I burst into tears. It is so true!!!!

And my Mom was there to get it on camera

I heard the music playing and I felt like I was in some kind of magical dream as I looked around and saw the gates to Disney and the gates to California Adventure!

Right away I instructed Bryan to be the videographer and catch these first few moments on tape

We took half a group photo after we got our park passes

Walking through the gates I felt like I was entering heaven!

 

[reyasmommy]

Great update! That sucks about your contact. My poor husband lost one of his contacts in the ocean while we were on our Disney Cruise for our honeymoon. It really put a damper on things, especially because he forgot his glasses. Once we got back to Orlando we rushed to Walmart to pick another pair up.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Sarah84]

What lovely photos, you seem so excited to be at Disney *remind me of myself hehe*. What a pain about your contacts though. Looking forward to reading more..

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12th con't

I had seen so many people's pictures and I knew that I wanted to see this sign. When I did, I felt like crying again!

I love this photo because I didn't know my picture was being taken and it captures the little kid in me so well!

First order of business was to go to City Hall and book our premium seats for Fantasmic. It was a little steep ($59 per person) but we got the best seats and a yummy dessert buffet tray! The 9:30 show was sold out so we opted for the 10:30!

After that we stopped at the Emporium on the corner to buy our landyards to keep our park hopper passes in as well as whatever fast passes we collected. My brother got right into the pin trading and bought a starter kit right away! After we left the Emporium we turned the corner and there it was!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I handed my camera to someone, I think my uncle, and I insisted on pictures! Even though I was starving and have very low blood sugar I didn't care, I needed pictures!

My Mom and her "1st Time here" button

We stopped for breakfast at the Carnation Cafe. It was so wonderful and everyone was so happy! I was picture happy so I took pictures while we waited the 30 second for our table!

My cousin was collecting the pressed pennies

My aunt and her landyard with her tink pins!

I was so excited to see Mickey waffles on the menu!

After we ordered there was a moment straight out of Cinderella I thought! A little bird came and sat in the tree by our table and sang us a song. My mom tried to snap a picture.

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12th cont'd

Some more pictures from breakfast

My Mickey waffle arrived!!

This is when we met Oscar the chef. He is probably the sweetest man I have ever met! I fell in love with him and so did the rest of my family. More about him later though

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12th con't

After Breakfast I was so eager to start our day and go explore the Magical World of Disney! First stop, Walt's statue and the castle!

After our picture there it was off to Adventure Land to get fast passes for Indiana Jones!

My Mom gets her very first fast pass!

How uber exciting!!

After getting our fast passes we jumped in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. I was so excited to be in line for my very first ride I got a picture with some random people standing in front of it!

My cousin Sierra and I in line for POTC

My uncle, mom and aunt were behind us

And the four of us "kids" sat in front

I LOVED this ride even though I wasn't crazy about the movie. I could not believe how real everything and everyone looked!!!! This became one of my favourites very quickly!

 

[Sarah84]

The Mickey waffle looks yummy Great updates and more fab pics

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12th con't

After we rode Pirates of the Caribbean we went over to the Haunted Mansion and there was no wait so we got on so quickly!

I really enjoyed this ride. I am not someone for ghost stories and supernatural stuff but I just enjoyed it. Although at the end when it says that a ghost is going to come home with you, I just prayed hehehe

After that we went for a ride on Big Thunder I think it's called. That was tons of fun and my Mom's first rollercoaster ride! That one seemed to go by in a blur after all the stuff we had done that morning and I don't even think it was 10:30 at this point!

Some waiting in line pics

By this point it had gotten so warm out so we stopped and got some water and McDonalds fries! That was random but neat!

After we were all hydrated up we had to go back to Indiana Jones as it was time for our ride! I LOVED INDIANA JONES!!!! Again, another movie I could care less about seeing, but this ride was friggin' amazing!!!!! My aunt asked the CM to take our pictures in the jeep! We got front row and it was so sweet!! It was so exhilarating I wish we rode it again, but we didn't.

After that I decided I wanted to go to TOON TOWN! So we walked to the train station in New Orleans square and hopped on the train! I was so glad my family had been there before as we would have been lost and wouldn't have known the train would take us to Toon Town!

DH and I at the train station

I loved the narration during the trip! It was so awesome!!! We arrived at Toon Town and it was so amazing!! I felt like I was walking into a cartoon! I loved every short second we spent there!!

I love this photo! I saw the gazebo as soon as we walked in and I knew exactly what kind of pose I wanted to do in it! This picture has quickly become one of my very favourites from the trip!

I was so happy to see Minnie's House and so we all took a tour!

Minnie's Wishing well

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12th con't

Next we went to Mickey's house! His was so much bigger than Minnie's! Whata rip off!

Oops!! hehehehe

We didn't bother to wait in line to meet Mickey. We left and my brother wanted to meet Tweedle Dum!

We left Toon Town and had to make it to Splash Mountain because we had FP's! On our way my Mom wanted a giant pickle so we stopped to grab one and Bryan and I had some veggies and dip! We made a super, and I mean SUPER, fast trip through Critter Country and that was the only time we were there the whole trip! I saw Winnie the Pooh super quick and that was it!

Splash Mountain

After Splash Mountain the boys wanted to try on some hats!

My aunt had ordered a parasol while we were eating lunch earlier (can not remember when we did that to be honest!) and it was time for her to pick it up! She didn't want to burn so it was great to keep the sun off her back.

And my cousin got a mini one!

After they got their parasol's we jumped on one of those old cars (again, SO COOL!) and it took us to the front gates so we could make our way to California Adventure!

 

[*Stacie*]

August 12th con't

When we got to CA I was so excited!!! I couldn't wait to take pictures in a letter!

My brother wanted to get a pic in an L - L for Lance!

I don't know why I got mine done in the C

I like this photo DH took of me!

We walked in to CA and it was so different than DL but still breathtaking!

My first real Mickey sighting!

And Minnie too!

We walked over to California Screamin' right away to get FP for later on.

My mom loved these HUGE murals so she took my picture in front of them.

I wish I could remember the exact order of events but this day was sooooo packed full it's hard. But somehow we also had FP's for Grizzly River Run so we went there right after and rode it. It was sweet!!!

After that ride it was around 3:00 so we decided to head back to the hotel for everyone to rest up for a bit while my Mom, me and my aunt went to Wal-mart so I could get some contacts! When we got there I had no problem at all getting some lenses! The girl was sooooo nice and I was able to see again super quick. The best part is she gave me a trial pair so they were FREE!! I was not expecting that at all! We loaded up on some junk food for the boys and a 30 case of beer for my brother and DH and went back to the hotel. My brother and DH were thrilled with the beer. They couldn't believe we paid less than $10 for 30 cans of beer AND that we bought it at Wal-mart! Back home they said that would have been at least $50 and the only place you can by alcohol is at a liquor store!

My Mom and I freshened up and we all hopped on the 5:00pm shuttle back to CA and got in line for California Screamin'!