Cousins Causing Chaos - Trip Report for June 28 - July 4

[NMMickeymom]

Here we gooooooooo………………….. think of a wonderful thought………..

Me – 39 year old Disney addict.
DH 38 – a bit reluctant but a goofy school boy once we get there
DD-7 and DD- 8 – addicts in training.
Our current adventure plan is a week at Disneyland. We are meeting my sisters with their husbands and children (2 sisters, 2 Out-law brothers, and 5 nieces and nephews). My parents (divorced) will join us at different times as will our Goddaughter and her bo. Total participants – 18!!

The original plan was not to have such a large crew but my parents could not resist the draw of all the grandkids in one spot. Our Goddaughter is in college and joins us when she can. We are so excited that she will be able to come.
Plans so far…
Sister from Michigan arrives in New Mexico on Friday June 26. Re-group, play and shop a bit on Saturday. Leave on Sunday at 5 PM. We had much debate about when to leave but the drive from NM is 15 hours too short for 2 days, a very long single day. Ultimately, we decided to drive through the night. We have done it many times before and we will have 4 drivers. Other considerations for this decision, Needles is blazing hot to drive through mid day – hard on cars and kids. Additionally, we would like to be able to check in to the DLH early enough that our 6 rooms have a prayer of being close to each other. We are all piling into our Expedition rather than taking two cars. It will be snug with 8 people but fun (I hope). I made a patriotic Mickey Wreath out of red-white-and blue garland for the front of the Truck. I love it, but my girlfriends think it looks like I mauled a cheerleader!

Our original plan was to do 4 days at DL and 3 in San Diego. We eventually cancelled the SD end as it was getting rather complicated and the Disneyland hotel had started their summer offer. I used some very sketchy logic to convince my DH that for only a “few” dollars more we could stay at the DLH rather than HoJo + a San Diego hotel for 6 nights. Part of the conversation is also that we are picking up the room portion of the trip for my sisters. As soon as I booked the DLH my attitude improved about our vacation and I felt more relaxed. We will need to get to SD again at some point but hauling 18 people around So California does not sound like much fun to me.

My other sister will be joining us from Seattle. We will meet up with them on Monday when we arrive at the park.

More Later.......

 

[NMMickeymom]

Some of our pre planning details.... I made 3 reservations for our crew so we could eat a few meals all together. We have one night at Goofy's - they had to have a manager call me back to confirm the reservation for 15 as that is considered a "special" booking. Another night we are doing the WOC dinner at AG with 16. I was told that they we will have to sit outside as that is the only place that will accommodate our party. Not a big deal. It is pricy but I just could not imagine figuring out how to see WOC with so many people. Our last reservation is for BB at lunch. We had to separate our crew with 7 and 8 per table. My hope is that by having smaller tables we won't get stuck in the bussing station. Sisters have never been to BB and I'm so excited we will get to go. I like BB at lunch because it is a cool and relaxing and a great place to re-group. The food is good but not fantastic. To me, it is more about a nice break in the day and hearing the "frogs/crickets?" as you dine. DLR drives me crazy that it does not give out reservation numbers like WDW does. I guess that is where the faith, hope, trust and pixie dust come in.

A little more background....My sisters have been to Disneyland as kids with our family, pre-divorce, but not as adults. We have been a number of times on our own. We did a WDW trip with everyone when my oldest niece was 11 months. Other than that, none of my nieces or nephews have ever been. My sisters are going to freak when they see DCA, DowntownD, and all the improvements for Disney Way. It was amazing to me how much a few palm trees can spruce up a street! They are also going to love love love the DLH.
More about the players
Michigan Sister - DH(Teacher), DD6, DD9
Seattle Sister(Teacher) - DH, DS9, DS5, DS6 (My nephews were all adopted and such a wonderful addition to our family!!)
God Daughter (Student) - 22 - was our foster child in HS
My mom(retired Teacher) + her best friend
Dad (retired Teacher)

As you can see our trip was dictated by our school schedules. Seattle was the latest school out as they just finished this Tuesday. I was done (School Counselor) on Memorial Day. It makes it tough as I am back mid August. We waited until the grad nights were over and went for it!

 

[basketballmom]

Sounds like you are going to have a great trip! The cousins will have so much fun together!

We are leaving in one week and driving from Texas. This year, my husband's brother and family are coming with us. They have never been and have 3 kids age 7, 7 and 2. I am very interested to see how the "group" thing will work with us. We are staying at different hotels and my 3 DD are old enough to go off on their own.

Keep us posted on your trip! I have always wanted to drive through the night, but we never have.

 

[NMMickeymom]

my 3 DD are old enough to go off on their own.

Some of my best memories are running around Disneyland with my older sisters on our own! How Fun!

I hope to post daily while we are there.

 

[disneydreamer74]

Hello fellow New Mexican!! Your trip sounds like a lot of fun! The more family...the more fun! Our trip started out with 3 of us,,,expanded to 4..and now is 6!! With 2 months to go I wonder who else will join us!!

 

[tinksdreamwishes]

wow sounds like fun- and sounds like its really expensive! I will be there on fri- to sun- and will keep my eye out for a huge group of 18! hehe

 

[NMMickeymom]

wow sounds like fun- and sounds like its really expensive! I will be there on fri- to sun- and will keep my eye out for a huge group of 18! hehe

We will be easy to spot or at least hear. My dad was a band and choir director and insists on singing in every ride. (He has an amazing tenor voice but not everyone wants to hear it all the time!) It does not take long before my sisters chime in. Only now, as a parent, I understand the "joy" of having your children roll their eyes at you in embarrassment. That said, I tend to be more reserved than most of my family so there are times I just walk slowly behind them. (Unless I'm trapped in a boat on small world!!) So yes, I rolled my eyes a lot as a kid and DD8 has learned the art from the master.

In the meantime, my house looks like a mouse threw up in it! I tend to pull out hats, mini fans, lanyards, pirate ears, and T-shirts from previous trips so my kids don't ask for them AGAIN. I guess we will eat dinner at the table again after we get back. Somehow I went a bit overboard on my planning (go figure!) and purchased 6 disposable rain ponchos and enough Propel drink mix to hydrate half the park. I think we may go for the "splash zone" at WOC just to justify the $5.49 I spent on ponchos.

I made T-shirts for the kids a while back with some of the cute Mickey heads they have on the Cruise board. It was fun to try and find the perfect Mickey theme for each kid. The shirts all say Cousins Causing Chaos.

We plan to eat breakfast in the room. I remember the pain of finding quick morning food from our last trip so we are packing a fair amount of in-room goodies. I've been following the morning food threads and have some pretty good ideas. I plan to try ww snacks at GC as I've never managed to go there. It seems worth a shot one morning (although I'm pretty sure the breakfast burritos cannot top our local NM favorites). My kids will be in heaven as they get "vacation cereal" when we are out and about. Otherwise, it's the healthy stuff.
Well, off to bed --- a big day with sister, brother-out-law and sweet nieces arriving.

 

[NMMickeymom]

Hello fellow New Mexican!!

Hi there!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Sounds like you'll have a blast!!! We're doing 10 people on our trip in a month....and I thought that was a big group....lol
I would have loved to been a fly on the wall when Disney Dining asked you how many people in your party...... "18 people???".....lol

Are you still doing foster care?? I noticed your Goddaughter was a foster kiddo you had.....we did foster care for 8 yrs & adopted 4 of the kiddos we had. It's like starting parenthood all over again. I already had 3 boys (24, 23 20) & now we've also got boy (9) & 3 girls (4, 3 & 3). Such a blessing in our lives but I do have to question my sanity at times!!

Hope you take lots of pics & can't wait to read your report on your return!!! Have a *+*+*Magical*+*+* trip!!!

 

[NMMickeymom]

My Michigan sister has arrived and we are packing the Expedition. Wish us luck! She overpacks like I do. The excitement of 4 little girls talking about all the rides they are going to go on is fun! I can't believe we are finally going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DizNee - We don't do foster care anymore but found it a very rewarding experience. We still have like to have a big open family so there are always additional "family members" around.

I better get packing...... it is going to be a looooooong night. See you in the park!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Have a great trip!!!

(PS: we don't do foster care anymore either....after adding 4 children to our home.....we decided we were maxed out....but a wonderful experience!)

 

[Karenann*]

On board(figuratively-sounds like that expedition is FULL!). Woot Woot, have a great trip, ready to hear all about it.

If you really want to get to SeaWorld easily for just one day, Greyline has a tour that picks you up at the hotel and drops you off there. Adults are only $60 for bus and entrance. AAA takes 10% off that.

We drove from Wenatchee (WA) straight through when we had only 2 drivers(my sister and myself). 23 hours to DL! We had 6 kids with us under age 7 including a nursing 2 mo old! WHAT were we THINKING?? It was a blast though and I'm sending good travel thoughts your way for a great trip to see the Mouse Himself!

 

[NMMickeymom]

We are into day 2 and doing OK.

The drive through the night was tough. Seems like the kids did better with overnight treks when they were younger. We did OK but not much sleep was had in the car.

Just briefly as we are just taking a quick break. Rooms at the DLH have been a fiasco. I'm terribly disappointed in the quality of the rooms and the cast members ability to fix things. We were all placed in the same tower the Wonder which they just started working on. We were awakened by construction noise. On top of that there was mold in the shower and toothpaste slimed on the wall. They were only able to move us further down the same hall but that took at least 45 minutes. I wanted out of the building all together. The front desk guy said to check back after 11 to see about moving towers. When we came after 11 they front desk person said we should have come before 11 as they would have more room options. Sheesh!! After another 40 minutes we were told the only option available was to move to a double room. We have been trying to move the 2 rooms closest to construction. We said no as both rooms have 6'4" men in them. Soooooo we wait till tomorrow to see if they can move us to a different tower. I'm really thinking this may be the last straw for my love affair with the Disneyland Hotel. The rooms are tattered and while every one is nice, no one is willing to make things right.

But Glass Half Full!!!! We had a Great dinner at Goofy's lots of hysterical interaction with the characters. Fun and the food was better than I expected. Lines have been great! I keep expecting mobs everywhere I go but we have not found them. That head start in the morning with Magic Morning and just getting ahead of the crowd has been great. A priceless moment was Grandpa in the Monkey Cage on Casy Jr with 7 grandkids! Too Cute.

Monday - with little sleep and getting in about 9am we did Big THunder, Indy, Splash, Buzz, Small World, Pooh, all by 2. We left to relax and check in. Monorail was more convenient than I remember. We left to Anaheim Garden walk for a great dinner at California Pizza kitchen. it is kids eat free week and we had a totally yummy meal with great service. We ran to Target for Milk and crashed.

Tuesday - Early Entry. Made it at 7:10 AM. My dad had ticket issues (his fault) that slowed us down. We did Dumbo, Peter Pan, Tea Cups, Alice, Matterhorn, Casey, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Autotopia, Nemo, and we broke for lunch.

More later just want to give a taste. Back to use soaring fastpasses. I'm counting my blessings enjoying the moments with family that are making me cry and breathing a lot. The rooms are just rooms. I will live and learn. After all, I'm at Disneyland!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

What a shame about the DLH......I actually was disappointed to see the new renovations being done. I really loved the old rooms & the look to them....they were different & felt Disney like.....the pics I've seen of the new rooms are like any other nice hotel room........bummer!!

Hope things smooth out in regards to the rooms!!! Enjoy your time in the parks!!

 

[Karenann*]

Great update, you are getting to do so much! Love those fast passes! Hope your room issue is resolved and you can get some good rest.

 

[NMMickeymom]

We are back. Man, what an amazing trip. I had posted an update mid week but lost my post. Sorry about not keeping updated.

Tuesday evening we returned to the parks and rode Soaring. We also met up with God D and Bo who just arrived. We split up for much of the evening as we were quickly finding we had many different levels of tolerance for rides. My nieces 6 and 9 were being very timid about any roller coaster. My nephews 5,6 and 9 had the **** scared out of them on Space M and were refusing to try anything remotely fast.

We ate at the Tomorrowland Pizza port Tues evening. It was good, we like the pastas and salads and it seems like a better portion than some other places.

Wed Am we hit "rope drop" at CA, sort of. We were walking to the toy story line and some of our party had to stop at the bathroom. We arrived at the TSMM spot just as they stopped letting people walk up to the ride 10 minutes early. Bummer! We walked to the ride with the masses 10 minutes later and walked right on. We rode Screaming and worked our way around the pier. My thrill seeking DD7 rode Screamin and we HAD to buy the picture. It was awesome!!

On a side note, my super pooh sized sister did not fit on Mulholland. That sucked. The CM's were OK with the situation. Just matter of fact. I jumped in with my nephews so they would not have to get off too. We exited the ride and all shared a good cry. This was the only ride that did not work for her. Indy was a bit tough with getting the seatbelt situated but she rode everything else with no issues. She had to squeeze through the thousands of turnstiles all over the park but did ok. We did have to do some shuffling of her boys on some rides as they could not go together. In general, she was pleased with how she was able to get around fit on all the rides.

WOC with 18 people next......

 

[DizNee Luver]

Welcome Back!!!!

Its funny how one ride can totally change a kids idea of all the rides!! My almost 4 yr old LOVED space mtn & rode it every day of our trip!! The faster, the better for her. My 8 yr old was afraid to do the Haunted Mansion & we finally made him go last year........two totally different kids when it comes to being thrill-seekers.....lol

I'm glad your sister was able to enjoy the rides with little problem!!! My feeling on Mulholland Madness is ........ SHE DIDN'T MISS ANYTHING!! That ride scared the crap out of me!!!! And being bigger myself, I felt like I was going to tip the whole car over on every turn!!!

Can't wait to see the rest!!

 

[NMMickeymom]

We had WOC dinner reservations at AG at 5:30. When I made the original reservation we had 16 people but my mom and friend decided to come a day early. I went to guest relations at the hotel Wed morning and they were able to add 2 people to our party with no issues. I was worried about them being sold out for WOC but it was no problem. I was told when I reserved that the terrace was the only location available for our large party.

The food was good. Better than I expected. DH and I like good wine, good cheese and great food. While this was not over the top... it was good/tasty. Everyone was able to find something they liked. The service started out great but then puttered out as they got busy. I had to hunt down the server for take out boxes, dessert, and our check. Kind of bugs me that we paid over $100 in automatic 18% gratuity. One additional issue was that we absolutely cooked in the sun! Our table was situated where there was no shade until the last 30 minutes of our meal. It was blazing hot and everyone was wearing sunglasses at the table. I would say that 80% of the tables are shaded and fine on the patio but be aware that there are some very toasty spots for the earlier seating.

Dinner took quite a while so we just walked to our viewing spot at about 7:15. We found a section on the second set of stairs and just chilled. The kids sat and played games, I pulled out the glow sticks I brought, the guys went on a beer run, and we visited. It was a nice time for people to catch up and chat. Each section had a CM assigned and our guy was great ( I can't remember his name). He asked everyone in the area if they had questions and reminded people to not put kids on shoulders. I quizzed him about our viewing spot and he thought we were in the best spot for our group. He also said along the fence was good as there would be no one in front of you. We were some of the earlier people there but it never got that crowded.

The show was awesome. I wish I had watched Fantasia before just to remember some of the characters. I had DD7 on my hip supported by the rail and she did fine. The kids were all able to see and enjoy the show. We were in the blue section by the circle fountain. We had the genie dancing directly in front of us for the pre-show. Others have reviewed the show so I will spare you the details. That said, the whole crew loved it and it was a highlight of our trip. Worth every penny for the dinner package. I cannot imagine dealing with the complications of standing in line for FP's and standing in line again to find a spot. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

After the show we went with GodD, Bo and our kids to T of T. My little one rode with Me and Bo. She loved it. We waited about 30 min right after the show. DH, GodD, and DD8 stayed at Glow Fest and danced, and danced, and danced. We joined up with them and danced some more. We LOVED glow fest. Lots of super family friendly dance music. My girls liked the projection of themselves on the Hyperion theater wall. The dancers were very nice and did things that the kids could follow. The weekend Glow Fest was a little crazier but still fun. It seemed there were lots of locals there for the evening later in the week. The dancers were fantastic and kept everything "PG". We got a kick out of the Bollywood dancing.

 

[NMMickeymom]

I didn't care for Mulholland either and I'm glad the plan is to update the ride.

DD8 can be timid about the rides and we made a deal with her that she needed to do one ride a day that "challenged" her. She was albe to try lots of things she never had and loved them. We got her on Indy, SpaceM, the Matterhorn, and T of T. She manages to get herself worked up quite a bit in line so we planned her "challenges" when there was little to no line so she would not freak herself out . She only missed Screamin and she still does not care for the Haunted M. Both my sisters did better when they figured out their kid's pace. Michigan sis DD6 and DD8 did a princess hunt for an entire morning and Seattle Sis DS5, 6 and 9 spent hours and hours in Toontown. (both highlights for them )

 

[NMMickeymom]

I forgot to update the room resolution. On Wednesday we were finally moved out of the Wonder tower. They moved the 2 rooms closest to the construction to the Magic Tower. Everyone else was fine with their rooms and did not move. The rooms were very nice and on the 11th floor. Still the older rooms but not near as tattered. The rooms were a bit bigger as well. It was a pain to move but I'm glad we did, it definitely helped improve my attitude about the DLH. To Disneyland Hotel's credit, they completely dismantled the room I was originally in with the mold issues. My sister was further down the hallway and said they were hauling out the beds the very next day.

The past 2 times at DLR we stayed at the Grand Calif. I opted for the DLH for the charm and my sisters had never been. If I were to do it again, I would pick the Grand Calif. Grand C. is very nice, I just wish it had more Disney touches. I will return to DLH but it will be after all the renovations are complete. The pool additions and removing the waterfalls are overdue. There is a crystal shop that sits empty and a fountain in the corner that was obviously out of commission for a long time. The Neverland pool was always packed and the other smaller pools are very plain. I would still pick the DLH over staying off property for the early entry and easy walk and it is very nice in general, it is just showing it's age.