Arviso Family 2nd Disneyland Trip!!

ArvisoCa6

Father of 5 beautiful girls, Husband to 1 beautifu
Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
104
Ok, so i have been inspired by my fellow Dis'ers to start a Pre trip report. Which will evolve (hopefully), into a daily park report while we are on our trip. My DW found the boards, and ever since i have been HOOKED!!

Last trip i found that while everyone else was dead tired and fell right to sleep, was was wide awake. I plan to take advantage of of that time during the end of our day to update my report. Hopefully all will go well.

So if you have the time, sit back, grab a coffee, and come along with my family and I as we return to the happiest place on earth!!


:cool1:Disneyland!!! May 6th- May 11th, :cool1:
 
:thumbsup2 Can't wait to read more. Hope the days go by quickly until you get to go!
 
cant wait to hear all your plans, we are there from may 2nd-12th....the countdown is on :cool1:
sharon
 

Well if you are gonna come with us on our journey, it's only makes sense that you get to know us.


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My name is Aj (Armando Joseph), I am a 32 year old father of four wonderful girls. (You meet them in a moment). My wife and i have been married for nine years this past March. We have known each other for longer than that. (I forget exactly how long- :-o). I am Home Theater Master Installer for Geek Squad, which is the services division of Best Buy. I enjoy reading star trek novels, watching movies, playing video games, building scale model WWII airplanes, and spending time with my kids, although I don't get to spend as much as i would like. (Was life this busy when we were growing up?) My Disney addiction started young, when my parents were still married, they would take my sister and I once every couple of years. I have been to WDW, but it was so long ago that i don’t remember much. Prior to our trip last year my last DL visit was in 1995 for my senior trip. So needless to say a lot had changed since i had been, so it was almost like my first visit.


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My wife Linda, aka Californiamomof4grls, is a supermom to rival the best of them. SHe is also one of the more patient people i have met, she would have to be to put up with my shenanigans. :banana: She is a Preschool teacher, so she spends her ENTIRE day surrounded by kids, either her students or our small brood. I don't give her enough credit for all that she does so I will put it on the record here that she is one of the best people i know. Her Mischievous grin is infectious. It is a trait that my children have also inherited. She has always been a fan of all things Disney, as a mom of four girls it's kind of a requirement. Last year was her first ever trip to Disneyland. It was one of the greatest times for me as a husband and father, because I got to see my entire family gaze in wonderment at the coolness that is Disneyland, Their smiles are something i will never forget.

And now the Brood!!

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Emmalea (Emma), or Captain as I call her, is; in this biased parents opinion, the smartest 8 year old in the world. She is currently in second grade, reading at a 4 grade reading level. She was recently tested for G.A.T.E. (Gifted and Talented Education), following in her daddy's footsteps. Being the oldest sister has its own set of challenges, among them dealing with three littler sisters, who want to do everything she does. Despite the constant bickering with them, she loves her sisters like nothing else. She is also very mature for her age, the intellect sometimes puts her at odds with dear old dad, who finds himself forced to have logical arguments with an 8 yr old. It can be so frustrating sometimes!! She is growing up WAAAYYY to fast in this fathers opinion. I see that wonderment and innocence fading away and it breaks my heart a little bit. She came to me and told me that she might want to be something other than a princess this year for Halloween. She is creeping into the HSM and Hanna Montana phase. I fear that will be her last little kid experience at DL. :sad2: But on an upside I will soon have a BIG ride buddy!! But no matte what she will always be my little 'captain' sitting on the couch at 1 and a half playing on her leap-pad!

FAVORITE PRINCESS - Cinderella

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Maddisen, aka Goose/Supergoose/Gooseberg (age 6), is our creative one. She is crazy about dinosaurs! I plan on taking a picture of her in front of the dinosaur sunglass shop, trying to make it look like she is holding it in her hand. She luckily is still a cuddle bug! :goodvibes: She is also our asthma kid. A trait she unfortunately inherited from D.O.D. :-( But this actually brings us a little closer to each other. We can both have really days and sit together on the couch in allergy induced misery. She is still a princess. She loves to lead her little sisters in dress up time, and she likes to have 'performances' on the step into the living room. She loves dancing and being a little ham. She is beginning that same transition in to full big girl-dom, but it is much slower than her big sister, thankfully.

FAVORITE PRINCESS -Belle

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Cecily (age 4), aka C-monster/Ce Ce, is our enigma. On some days she is the most wonderful little girl, on others she can be a TWO handfuls!! :rolleyes: But she is still one of the coolest kids you will meet. She has that wide eye'd innocence that we see in kids in the movies. She is almost a living embodiment of a Disneyland commercial! She is totally attached to her mom and, in my opinion, is part ninja as she manages to sneak into our bed almost every night. She loves to watch Disney movies over and over and over and.... well you get the point. She also has a budding career as a hair stylist, well if you call cutting off all her hair, stylish. She too is also still a cuddlebug. It’s a classic case of a little person taking in the big world. Her favorite experience from our last trip has to be a tie between Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh.

FAVORITE PRINCESS - Tie - Mermaid and Snow White


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Payton can be best described as the light of our family she is such a doll. A little petite princess! She is always full of life and comical. She can go from O-60 in nothing flat! She loves all things Disney. Among her favorites is Wall-E. Woody and Buzzy! Her vocabulary grows exponentially each day. Being the littlest also can have it's drawbacks. Like Flik says it's tough to be a BUG!! But she makes the most of it, she has taken on the impromptu role of enforcer. On a daily basis she can be heard..."Mom, cece got into tha movies and took them to the ground!!” If you have seen Phenias and Ferb, she sounds just like Candace complaining about her brothers.

FAVORITE PRINCESS –Mermaid (Ariel)

So that’s the Cast and Crew. Next up we will explore our last trip in brief, (no honest), give you a run down on where we are for our current trip.

Stay Tuned!!!
 
Ok, so we are t-minus 14 days now and they can't get over fast enough. Our tickets arrived in the mail last week. My DW LOVED the character pic on them and has already decided that the one with Minne and Mickey on it is hers. :rotfl:

We also made a side trip to Home Depot to pick up our LGMH's. It felt like a spy mission as we went in with the sole purpose of pickeing these up. We took a 'few' extra so my DW could scrapbook them when we get back. I also thought about printing vital info on them and hole punching and lamaniting them to put on the 4 DD shoelaces in the event that something were to happen. This year I forsee a lot of wanting to get out of the stroller so i am a bit worried about them wandering.

I called HoJo to verify our reservations as i read about a fellow DIS'er losing hers. All good on that front. I also have made sure that our PS reservations are set. We are currently doing Goofy's kitchen on our first day, my b-day, and Ariel's grotto on mothers day, after the pixar parade. I'm a little worried about the Ariels grotto as my DD's can be picky eaters!! I might make a ps somewhere else just in case we change our minds.

I have collected my electronics and put them into the bag which will carry them to the hotel. I now have to make sure everything functions as it should. I also have the camera CHARGER which i forgot last year, as well as an extra memory card. I'm determined to get some good pics this time. I have also gotten confirmation on our photopass share, so i wil haev those this time. Too expensive last year.

Well i think that is it for now. Internet is spotty so sorry for the lack of updates to whomever might be following.

Next time - Part 3 - The night before!! :scared1:
 
I'm so excited for you all! You have the cutest little girls, and don't worry, as they get older they just love Disneyland in different ways. I know I broke my dad's heart as I got older but we found other things to bond about that we couldn't before because I was too little (going on roller coasters since my mom and brother hated them, fixing computers, photography, etc). I'm still his little girl even though I'm almost 24 and married! :)

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!
 
We also made a side trip to Home Depot to pick up our LGMH's. It felt like a spy mission as we went in with the sole purpose of pickeing these up. We took a 'few' extra so my DW could scrapbook them when we get back. I also thought about printing vital info on them and hole punching and lamaniting them to put on the 4 DD shoelaces in the event that something were to happen. This year I forsee a lot of wanting to get out of the stroller so i am a bit worried about them wandering.

You're 2 weeks out!! That's so exciting. I really hope they speed by. By the way, your girls are absolutely adorable!!

I felt the same way when going to Home Depot to pick up ours. I swear I ended up making about 4 trips in the end because I messed mine up and of course we needed more colors to make our countdown calender. It was like, reach the board *peekovershoulder* *grabwhatyouneed* *peekovershoulder* and then dart out like everything was perfectly natural and boring.

2 weeks! 2 weeks! Wishing you a magical time.
 
Thank you for introducing your beautiful family!!!! Under the 2 week mark.......very exciting!!! Can't wait to see the pics on your return!!!
Have a great trip! :banana:
 
AJ, We are one day behind you, we arrive at Hojos on the 7th.
Just 1 1/2 weeks left of work, the serious end of countdown is now on, yay!!:)
 
Great start to your PTR! I've enjoyed meeting your family in print and hope we get to to the same in person on Thursday. Will you be able to meet at Disney Visa MnG around 10:30? I've already got one for sure and the other one I will call to verify since she's already there.

Your oldest sounds like my only DD-she's 9-1/2 going on 30! She is in GATE and on her last comprehension test she's reading from 5-12.9 grade (she's tested here the last few years-I think 12.9 is the highest they go in elementary school). My DSis keeps telling me that I'm going to have to finish college so I'll know what DD is talking about. She knows what she's talking about since her DD26 is getting her Masters this weekend in Geology and then going to Kansas for her PHD.

I know what you mean when you say you'll be glad when you have a Big Ride Buddy. My DD9 is small for her age and it took awhile for her to be able to ride the big ones with me. Then when she got big enough it took awhile to convince her she would love them. I couldn't get her on Screamin' until another girl we meet at DCA (and they became BFF! :goodvibes) got her to go. Now she loves it. She's been able to ride ToT for years now but after riding it when she was younger, she hated it! Now, it's one of her favorites. She's become my thrill ride girl! Only thing she can't ride is Maliboomer since she's not tall enough. I don't think she'll be able to ride it before they tear it down-too bad as it's one of my favs. :scared1:

Hope we can meet up Thursday, glad I could help a little by getting you and your beautiful family get in a photopass share (before they disappeared :scared1:). Now I at least know what you all look like.

Have a great :bday:
 
Great to 'meet' you & your beautiful girls, can't wait to hear all about your trip popcorn::
 















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