Club 33 (No, Not that Club 33)-A Trip Report -1/21 Bonus! (Club 34)

[Eight]

Confession: I kind of wanted to leave the title at just "Club 33" and see how many people would come read the first post only to be sorely disappointed to find out that I was not really going to Club 33, but I decided that false titles were probably not the best way to introduce myself to the DIS.

Anyway.

Right now, I like to imagine you're wondering, "Club 33? If it's not THE Club 33, then what is this Eight person talking about?"

Well, obviously it's the club for people who are getting ready for their 33rd visit to Disneyland.

Confession: I just made this Club 33 up about five minutes ago.

Yes, I've gone 32 times before this, and I'm still as excited as ever to be planning a trip. And I should probably mention that by planning, I mean that I've been thinking about going a lot.

Confession: As of today, I have absolutely nothing booked or actually planned.

But all that's about to change! At least I hope it is. This is kind of the whole reason for starting a PTR. I like to think that if I start writing my plans down, I'll be more motivated to actually follow up on them, thus I'll actually get a trip planned. Ingenious, right? I think so.

Right now, I like to imagine you're wondering, "Who is this Eight person anyway?"

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is not actually Eight, as you may have guessed, but Rachel, and I'm 21, and maybe, kind of, sort of, just a little bit obsessed with Disneyland. I mean, it's not like I've been there 32 times or anything.
...
Oh wait.

Confession: I have, on more than one occasion, said that my AP was the greatest thing I ever owned. (alas, it expired in June.. )

Right now, I like to imagine you're wondering, "So why is this Eight person, er, this Rachel, taking a 33rd trip to Disneyland anyway? Isn't 32 times enough?"

(although actually, you're probably not wondering that as I suspect if you're here on the DIS, you understand that 32 times, while definitely a decent amount, is not enough.)

But there is a reason I'm planning this trip.

And to make this all dramatic and such, that reason will just have to wait until I next update. But I'm leave you with one last confession.

Confession: The only reason I'm not revealing the reason yet is so that I actually have something to update about next time.

Links!

Pre-Trip Report

1/11 - You just read it
2/11 - The sort of anticlimactic reason I'm going
3/11 - A really small update with really big news
4/11 - The PLANS
5/11 - More introductions that are really just an excuse to post pictures
6/11 - Actual plans for actual food: Part 1
7/11 - Actual plans for actual food: Part 2
8/11 - Mini updates
9/11 - Old photos!
10/11 - Going to Disneyland!
11/11 - Back home

Trip Report

1 - Getting There
2 - The Hotel, the Room, and Wait, Where is Everyone?
3 - Still Can't Find Everyone
4 - Short Lines and Fireworks
5 - The Most Repetitive Post Ever
6 - More Adventures in California Adventure and More Photos of Me Than Necessary
7 - Part 1: Slightly Irrelevant Pictures of Tiana's Showboat Jubilee
7 - Part 2: Bootstrapper Groupies and Apparently I Really Like Alcohol
7 - Part 3: I May Have Committed a Disney Sin
8 - World of Anxiety
9 - In Which My Mom Scares a Small Child
10 - The Part Where Nothing Really Exciting Happens
11 - Magical and World of Color in One Night
12 - THE END

Bonus!

Club 34

 

[DizNee Luver]

Got my attention.....hopefully you'll update before we leave Saturday....otherwise I will probably get a ways behind before we get back from Disneyland!!

I don't see anything wrong with 32 times.....I would be at that number if I could swing it!! I would live in Disneyland if I could!! We even tried to move our family down there but didn't have any luck with jobs....so maybe in the future we'll be able to do so....then we can go all the time!!

Here on the DIS....we all LVE Disney!!!!

Oh & WELCOME!!

 

[SurfinTX]

Confession: The only reason I'm not revealing the reason yet is so that I actually have something to update about next time.

That intro cought my attention as well. No dates or anything yet?
Well, it can't be all that long since you have been 32 times!

 

[sierranevada]

Okay - I'll bite and subscribe!!!

 

[deejdigsdis]

Ooohhh...this sounds good.

 

[Eight]

Woah, this is exciting, I have readers!
Welcome!

Got my attention.....hopefully you'll update before we leave Saturday....otherwise I will probably get a ways behind before we get back from Disneyland!!

I don't see anything wrong with 32 times.....I would be at that number if I could swing it!! I would live in Disneyland if I could!! We even tried to move our family down there but didn't have any luck with jobs....so maybe in the future we'll be able to do so....then we can go all the time!!

Here on the DIS....we all LVE Disney!!!!

Oh & WELCOME!!

You're going to Disneyland on Saturday? How exciting! I hope you have a great trip!

I lived in Los Angeles for a while, that's the only reason I'm at 32. I'd try to go at least once or twice a month, it was pretty great.

That intro cought my attention as well. No dates or anything yet?
Well, it can't be all that long since you have been 32 times!

Nope, no dates. I know generally when I want to go (there's a two week period, and I want to go for about three days sometime within those two weeks), but I just really need to actually book something.

Okay - I'll bite and subscribe!!!

Thanks! And to my PTR!

Ooohhh...this sounds good.

Glad to have you reading.

 

[Eight]

When I last left off, I made an attempt to be dramatic, and not yet reveal the reason for this trip. I suppose I've kept you in suspense long enough, so here it is, the big reason why I'm planning this trip.

World of Color.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I know, not that exciting.

You know, if you had asked me a few months ago whether or not I was excited for World of Color, I would probably would have said to you, "It's just a fountain show. I mean, really?"

My experience with fountain shows pretty much consists of seeing the fountain show outside of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas that was synced to My Heart Will Go On. I don't want to say it was unimpressive, but a fountain show synced to My Heart Will Go On? I mean, really?

So only having that experience to go off of, I must admit that I was pretty unexcited for World of Color.

Until the promo pics started coming out.

I love anything bright and colorful. And guess what those promo pictures were? Oh yes, they were incredibly bright and colorful. I was enthralled. The idea that a fountain show could be more than jets of water swaying back and forth to My Heart Will Go On entered my head. Which was immediately followed by the thought that I needed to get myself to Disneyland as soon as possible.

Clearly, those promo pics did exactly what they were intended to do. Good job Disney Marketing!

I began trying to plan this trip in my head, but much to my dismay, I was pretty sure there was no way I could swing it.

However, one night, as I was talking to my mom about how much I wanted to go back to Disneyland to see World of Color, she brought up something I had totally forgotten about, something that would change everything.
(and by everything, I mean just this trip, but I have to make it sound exciting, you know? )

"You know, you still have an airline voucher for a flight, and you could use that to go to Disneyland."

 

[Eight]

I've got some big, exciting news.

And by big and exciting, I mean that this trip is booked! Yes!

I have dates, a room, an plane ticket, and a parkhopper pass. Pretty awesome, considering that a little over a week ago, this trip was still just an idea.

I'm away this weekend, so I don't have time to write up the details right now, but expect a bigger update when I get back. Like, where I'll be staying, who I'm going with, when I'm going, and most importantly, what sort of World of Color picnic meal I'm going to get. Exciting stuff, guys. Trust me.

 

[SurfinTX]

Well a flight voucher that you forgot about can certainly be a boon! I'm going to DL for the first time only because my work is picking up my airfare as well as part of the lodging.

I'll stay tuned for the details.

 

[tinksdreamwishes]

 

[Eight]

Well a flight voucher that you forgot about can certainly be a boon! I'm going to DL for the first time only because my work is picking up my airfare as well as part of the lodging.

I'll stay tuned for the details.

Nice! Your first trip to Disneyland? That'll be exciting!

That pretty much sums up my feelings for the past few days.


I'm working on finishing up an entry that has all the exciting details. Hopefully I'll have it up later today.

 

[Eight]

Confession: Despite the fact that I've been talking about this trip since June, I'm not really the one who planned this trip.

Yeah, it was my mom.

See, while I may talk incessantly about a trip, I'm never the one who actually books anything. It's all my mom. She's like my own personal travel agent.

She is also, as it turns out, going to be my travel partner on this trip. Originally, I really wanted to go with a friend, but after asking around, it seemed that everyone had either work or school or some other reason they couldn't go. I was disappointed, but I can't really complain. I travel well with my mom, and while she may not get excited about going to Disneyland like I do, she more or less understands how my love for it. Not to mention, she doesn't make fun of me if I get excited over seeing Stitch, or if I get teary eyed watching the fireworks, or if I know some little minute detail about a ride, or if I explain the historical significance of having the processional before Tiana's Showboat Jubilee.

Not that I would ever do any of those things, I'm just saying IF I did. You know. It's rhetorical.

Anyway.

It was actually her who started bugging me about getting this trip booked, not the other way around as you might think.

"If you really want to go to Disneyland, you need to plan it."

And by planning, she meant that I first really needed to decide what dates I wanted to go. Since, you know, you can't really book anything without those. And I while I had an idea of when I wanted to go, it was still sort of vague, like, "oh, I want to go sometime in August. Or maybe September. And during a week. Wait, I don't know.."

Despite my vagueness and my chronic indecisiveness, it was surprisingly easy to pick dates. Once my mom forced me to really think about when I wanted to go, it probably only took about two minutes to pick the dates.

Here's what I chose.

August 31 - September 3.

Since I had originally planned on staying off site within walking distance, I was then surprised when my mom suggest looking at the prices for the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian. I was not about to argue. We put in the dates and waited for the page to load.

"Huh, that's not too bad."

"No, that's probably the price for just one night."

"Maybe you're right. Click on 'continue', and see if it gives the total price."

Another page loaded.

"Wait, you mean that first number was the total price? That's pretty good."

"At that price, let's stay the at the Grand Californian."

Wait, wait, what? Was my mom really suggesting the Grand Californian?

"Let's book it!" I was not about to let a good thing slip by.

"We're not booking anything today. I'm going to call AAA and see if they can get a better price."

Well, I tried.

Anyway, to condense the following few days into a sentence, multiple phone calls were made between my mom and AAA to get the best deal, but eventually we ended up booking the room online.

Yes, the room at the Grand Californian.


(I'm excited, as by the next time I update, I should have 10 posts, thus allowing pictures. Which is good, as I'm one of those people who likes pictures as large chunks of text can get a bit boring after a while. )

 

[deejdigsdis]

Sounds great...can't wait to see some pics!

 

[Eight]

Sounds great...can't wait to see some pics!

This is my tenth post, so pictures will be coming soon! I'll probably go overboard and post a visual history of my trips to Disneyland or something..
Not really, but I'm really tempted to go find pictures from when I was a kid. Wonder where they are..

 

[Eight]

Alright, I thought I'd try to do some better introductions.

(Okay, it's really just an excuse to flex my new power to post a few pictures.)

This is me.

Well, it's me about twenty years ago.

That's me on my first trip to Disneyland with my late aunt. I don't remember anything about the trip, but I like to think it started my love of Disneyland.

And since I posted a picture of me on my first trip, I think it's only appropriate to post a picture of me on my last trip, which was last May.

As you can see, I was pretty excited to see Captain EO for the first time. You can tell by the fact that I have jazz hands.
(for the record, I thought it was amazing. It was so ridiculous, ALIENS! MICHEAL JACKSON! SINGING! DANCING! RANDOM SEAT BOUNCING! How could I not love it?)

Let's see, you know I'm twentyone, that I love Disney, and what else can I tell you about myself that is sort of relevant, somewhat interesting, and not so long?

...

Um.

I guess I'm a pretty boring person. I like collecting Vinylmation (I'm hoping that Park Series 5 will be released by the time I go. I really want the Stitch one!), I'm a bit of a musical theatre geek (I love that they have songs from musicals on the Main Street music loop. Granted, I'm not quite as familiar with the older, classic musicals as I am with more contemporary ones, so I only recognize a few songs [although I know there's more] but I always point them out when I hear them), I was going to college, but now I'm taking a break (I was going to college in Los Angeles, which is the reason I was able to go to Disneyland so much the past year. Almost half of my 32 trips were taken in the past year.), and okay, this is getting long (I have a tendency to ramble if left unattended).

So, yes, that's me, more or less. I'm sure you'll get to know more about me as this PTR goes along, and once I do my actual trip report.

I don't know what to tell you about my mom. She knows I'm writing this, but I'm not sure she really wants to be included, other than being mentioned.

She's pretty awesome. Like I said, she's the whole reason this trip is really happening, and the reason most of my trips to anywhere have happened. She's not as big of a Disney fan as I am, but I know she enjoys herself, even if she claims she's been too many times.

And where is my dad in all this? He'll be at home taking care of our dog.

(Yes, I needed an excuse to post pictures of my dog. Her name is Dumott, and if you can tell me what musical that's from, I'll be impressed.)

Anyway, my dad is not really a Disney fan at all. He gets motion sick, so he won't go on most of the rides, and so I suspect most of his memories of Disneyland are of sitting outside, reading a book, waiting for my mom and I while we're on a ride. I have to give him credit though, when it turned out that none of my friends would be able to come, he volunteered to go with me.

"But you hate going on rides, and you'd just be waiting for me the whole time."

"I know, but I'd go anyway. Besides, wasn't it a show you wanted to see?"

So, yes, I have a pretty awesome dad too, even if he doesn't like Disney too much.

Alright, I think that just about covers introductions.

Coming up next: I actually made actual plans for food? This is not normal.

 

[Belle Ella]

Signing up

(Yes, I needed an excuse to post pictures of my dog. Her name is Dumott, and if you can tell me what musical that's from, I'll be impressed.

And the only thing that comes to mind is Rent (Angel Dumott Schunard )

 

[Eight]

Signing up

And the only thing that comes to mind is Rent (Angel Dumott Schunard )

Welcome!

Okay, I'm definitely impressed! I haven't met many people who have gotten that.

 

[Belle Ella]

Welcome!

Okay, I'm definitely impressed! I haven't met many people who have gotten that.

Never got to see it in person, but enjoyed the movie, and have the songs on my iPod (both from Broadway and from the movie) that I listen to frequently

 

[Eight]

Never got to see it in person, but enjoyed the movie, and have the songs on my iPod (both from Broadway and from the movie) that I listen to frequently

Cool. Have you seen the filmed stage version?

 

[Eight]

(since for whatever reason, I was in a very rambling mood this morning when I wrote this [it ended up being about three pages long], so I've divided it up in to two parts. I'll probably post the second part later today, provided I have time.)

I have done something completely out of character.

I actually made dining reservations at Disneyland.

I think this has only happened once before. It was 2005, the first time I stayed at the Grand Californian, and also the first time I think my family bothered to make a dining reservation. Don't quote me on that, as it's entirely possible we made one or two when I was kid, but I think the fact that I can only remember doing that once is a sign that it's not exactly common.

We had dinner one night at the Blue Bayou, and I thought it was the greatest thing ever as we got a table right on the waterfront, and I spent the whole dinner trying to get a good photo of the boats passing by our table. I pretty much failed due my lack of knowledge of my dad's DSLR, although even know, with my greater knowledge of cameras, I'm still not sure I could have taken a good picture. I tried bringing my (old) Canon 20D on rides a while ago, and I'm pretty sure the pictures I took with a point and shoot turned out better. Tell me your secrets, ride photographers!

Ahem.

Here's just one of the many photos I took that night.

Oh, look! An empty boat! Must be haunted by ghost pirates!
(yeah, back in the day, I thought this was a pretty cool photo. )

Anyway.

True, we have made dining reservations the past two times we've gone to Disney World, but it just never seems to occur to me to make dining reservations at Disneyland. I suspect this is because most of the recent trips have been short, and I'm not a big food person. Which is not to say I don't enjoy food or eating, but it always seems like such a waste of time when I could be watching shows or riding rides or doing fun stuff that isn't eating!

I mean, it takes like an hour. Or more. Do you know what I could get done in a hour? A lot.
(er, I guess that would really depend on crowd size, but I think it's much more dramatic if I say "a lot". It really drives my point home.)

Here's a true story for you. I went to Disneyland with my friend and her family for five days last summer, and my friend and I ate counter service the whole trip, with the exception of the two times we went to the Denny's on Harbor Boulevard. Granted, I was getting pretty sick of Redd Rockett's Pizza Port's Count Down Chicken Fusilli by the end of the trip, but we spent that time we could have been on eating on better stuff. Like sitting along the Rivers of America for five hours to guarantee we had front row seating for Fantasmic! You can't tell me that eating at sit down restaurant would be been more fun or productive or anything. Plus, we got paid $20 to watch some guy's blanket while he went and got dinner with his family. I think I spent my half on Vinylmation.

So, I think the point of my long spiel there was to point out how weird it is then, that I actually made dining reservations on this trip. Yes, reservations, plural. As if it wasn't out of character enough for me to make just one, I went all out and made three.

Once again, it's mostly thanks to my mom that we're doing this.