DIS Divas, Take Two & Tyler....WooHoo!! COMPLETED!...OVER 1400 PICS!!

[DizNee Luver]

Hi Everybody!!! Got in super late last night & then up early this morning......so not feeling very peppy today. The kids stayed home so they could spend some time with me & ........ ready for this?? Opened Christmas presents!!! The presents are from Mike's mom....just took a while to arrange to get them here......lol I will hopefully get this started tomorrow. The kids will be back at school & Mike at work.....so I should be able to work on things.

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Hi Everybody!!! Got in super late last night & then up early this morning......so not feeling very peppy today. The kids stayed home so they could spend some time with me & ........ ready for this?? Opened Christmas presents!!! The presents are from Mike's mom....just took a while to arrange to get them here......lol I will hopefully get this started tomorrow. The kids will be back at school & Mike at work.....so I should be able to work on things.

Yay! Looking forward to hearing all about it.

A late Christmas is still a good Christmas. Better late than never, right?

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Looking forward to your review and pictures! And I think it is very cool to still have a little bit of Christmas!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Yay! Looking forward to hearing all about it.

A late Christmas is still a good Christmas. Better late than never, right?

Looking forward to your review and pictures! And I think it is very cool to still have a little bit of Christmas!

Thanx Andrea & Vicki!! Christmas is always welcomed in my house!!! I kinda had forgotten about these gifts still coming.....so it was a nice welcome home!!

I'll start on my report very soon!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Are You Ready??? Time for the Dis Diva's, Take Two & Tyler......Woo Hoo!!! We had a great time & I can't wait to share our 5 day adventure!! So let's get started at the beginning...........

Tyler & I drove our van up to Nick's house in the Portland area on Wednesday evening. We got up there shortly after 7pm & spent a few hours visiting with Nick & his fiance Marie. We all headed to bed about 10pm.......our 4am wake up call would be there way too soon!! As most of you know.....its very hard to sleep the night before the trip......so we "rested" more than slept. Up at 4am, got ready & out the door around 4:30am & heading towards the airport. Nick drove us & then was going to take our van & drive it back to our home & stay to help with the kids while we were gone.

We stood out in the cold at curbside check-in to drop off our suitcases.....usually this is a 3 minute process.....today it was closer to 15 mins. (brrrrrrrr) (and the inside was just as bad or worse). Once that was taken care of, we headed inside & towards security. These lines move pretty quickly.....we had just finished putting our stuff on the conveyor belt, we hear "EVERYBODY FREEZE!!" As most of you know....I'm not the biggest fan of flying & a few days earlier they had an incident at this airport with a guy refusing to turn off his electronic cigarette & mumbling things about Osama Bin Laden......so I was already a tad tense........we see security following an older gentlemen & telling him to stop....they were talking to him & then they gave the "All Clear" & the machines started back up & we proceeded through. We get to our Gate:

Guess who I found already waiting? Yupikgal aka Kelly!! Her connecting flight from Alaska was the same one we were taking to Orange County. It was nice to meet her in person (and her friend Selena).

Kelly was going to Disneyland for a Travel Agent conference/trainings.....so it was nice to get to talk with her before our flight loaded. (she was also across the aisle from me but we had a couple people between us). I did see Kelly one more time in passing at the parks but unfortunately didn't get to spend any park time together.

Here's our plane:

We sat in our parking spot for a bit.....we had to wait for a plane to be towed out of the way.....the truck that was moving it had the tow bar snap on it. Once the other plane was out of our way......we were up, up & away......above the clouds!!

As we were turning inland on the Southern California Coastline:

Hard to see here.....but almost dead center of the picture is Disneyland!!

And we've landed at the Orange County/John Wayne Airport:

We said our goodbyes to Kelly & Selena & picked up our luggage (my suitcase was the very last one to appear on the conveyer belt.....everyone else was gone.....lol)

We headed out to the transportation area & jumped into a taxi........in no time we were on our way!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

We really were doing awesome on time.....our flight wasn't supposed to arrive until 9:20 & we were half way between the airport & our motel at that time. (The pilot had commented on a good tailwind).

We're on Disney Way!! Look what was in our sights:

We arrive at the Ramada Inn Maingate & check in at 9:30am......our room was ready!!!! YAY!!! We had pre-paid for our room, so we only needed to put a $20 deposit on the room. We were in one of their taller buildings, towards the back of the complex. We had a Premium Room.

I believe the reason I went with the premium room, was they were pretty newly renovated, new furniture & view of fireworks. This was our view, standing outside our door.

I will get back to the fireworks view later in the report. As for these being called a Premium Room......I wasn't impressed. It was clean & we had some room to move around but there was absolutely nothing "special" or noteworthy about these rooms. The pics on the website show plants in the room.....things that made it look nicer/more of what I would call "Premium"......as you can see.....not a lot of decor at all (including artwork on the walls). There's also something about the bedspreads that make them look messy, even after being freshly made.

Now, with all that being said.......the staff is wonderful!!! They call your room to make sure we have everything & if there are any issues. I also received a thank you card because I'm a Facebook fan. All very nice touches!!! The room was comfortable enough, but I probably didn't need to spend extra for the room.

 

[deesquared]

Great pictures Laurie! I love the one of Disneyland from the air. I've always wanted to see it from the plane, but I wouldn't know where to look! Did the pilot announce it, or did you just see it out your window?

 

[DizNee Luver]

Great pictures Laurie! I love the one of Disneyland from the air. I've always wanted to see it from the plane, but I wouldn't know where to look! Did the pilot announce it, or did you just see it out your window?

I'm always on the wrong side of the plane, so this time I made sure to be on that side.....in December, the pilot had announced it but this time I was on the look out for it. I just wish I had the time to focus in more. When I zoom in on the pic, I can see the DLH, PPH, Screamin' & Space Mtn.

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Great update! What an awesome pic of Disneyland from the plane! I can make out where most things are, it seems like a pretty clear shot to me! I can make out the hotels and the parkade, and also where Carsland is. Cool!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Great update! What an awesome pic of Disneyland from the plane! I can make out where most things are, it seems like a pretty clear shot to me! I can make out the hotels and the parkade, and also where Carsland is. Cool!

Its pretty cool to see it zoomed in too......just wish I had the time to do that before taking the pic....that would have helped...unfortunately it comes & goes so quickly once you find it from the air.

 

[kaoden39]

Great update!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Great update!!

Thanx Michele!! The good stuff is coming up next!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Tyler & I made our way from the Ramada Inn to the pedestrian crossing on Harbor Blvd. Here's a sign I'm always happy to see!!

I had handed Ty his home printed parkhopper but we got across the street & realized he didn't have it.....so as Ty ran back to the motel.....I stopped to smell the roses!!

(ok, the 2nd one wasn't a rose.....but it was pretty!)

Ty made it back & we started our walk in........it's Space Mountain!!

We made our way to the gates & went through the tunnel on the right......tradition!

Ty & I decided to take one of the vehicles up Main Street. We've never done this first thing....but just seemed like the way to go. We got on the horse-drawn carriage. Main Street was pretty busy for 10:30am on a Thursday.....I should have taken this as a warning for what the weekend would hold!!

While we were waiting to take off, I got a picture of the beautiful hanging floral baskets.

Next thing I know, the Dapper Dans are joining our carriage!! We got serenaded all the way up Main Street (with everyone stopping to look at us....lol)

So a large chunk of the left side of Main Street is under construction as they refurbish Coke Corner, expand the seating for Carnation Cafe by adding inside seating, removing the Blue Ribbon Bakery & the Gibson Girl Ice Cream & Candy Palace are also being refurbed. I was sad to hear Coke Corner was closed this weekend....but luckily it opened on Monday before we left.....we have to have our Cherry Coke!!

As we were reaching the castle......I looked over at our beloved Matterhorn.....it was sad to see it all wrapped up & under refurbishment. It will be amazing when it's all done....but heavy sigh.......

We stopped & posed with the Dapper Dans after our awesome ride!!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

That hotel looks just as I remember it back in '96! Except we stayed in the shorter building. I think the room was in the corner.

That room that you have doesn't look like there will be much for firework viewing though...

How cool that the Dapper Dans serenaded you down Main St. That had to be a cool experience!

 

[DizNee Luver]

That hotel looks just as I remember it back in '96! Except we stayed in the shorter building. I think the room was in the corner.

That room that you have doesn't look like there will be much for firework viewing though...

How cool that the Dapper Dans serenaded you down Main St. That had to be a cool experience!

The room was just ok....nothing fancy......Not really what I would advertise with a view of the fireworks though........

I LVE the Dapper Dans & getting an on-ride concert was cool!!!!

 

[kaoden39]

Oh my goodness!! It was busy on Thursday. Scotty and I were just looking at that picture and we think that there weren't that many people there any of the days we were there.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Oh my goodness!! It was busy on Thursday. Scotty and I were just looking at that picture and we think that there weren't that many people there any of the days we were there.

When we were sitting there getting ready to go....it looked really busy going up Main Street but then things seemed to disperse......but we found that they were all waiting in ride lines.......lol

 

[DizNee Luver]

As we exited Main Street, we headed towards BTMRR......no FP & the line was super long......so we decided to go check out POTC. The line for Pirates was ridiculously long......so we headed towards the HM. The sign said a 20 minute wait...so we got in line.

I'm thinking our wait was longer than 20 mins....but it was a beautiful day & we were able to get some pics while we waited.

Ty got a picture in the elevator room:

We got on the ride & we decided just to ride & not try & get pics.....but then we came to a stop....so I pulled out my camera & I got one pic before we started moving again.

When we got off the ride we headed back by POTC and the line had gone down quite a bit, so we jumped into that line.

We were in the left line, so we ended up back by Tarzan's Treehouse while we waited.

I love riding on Pirates.....but do I always have to get a soaking wet butt EVERYTIME?? I even looked to make sure it was dry when I sat down......I hate getting wet on rides......ugh!!!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Nice photo of the carriage! I had never noticed the harnesses for a possible "ghost horse" before that! Love the mailbox too.

20 mins is a long time for HM. In the summer when we thought it was pretty busy, the most we waited was 5 minutes.

I hate getting wet on rides too! Never stops me from going on them though, lol.

 

[kaoden39]

I hate the wet butt too. That just totally stinks.