Disneyland in May for 1st Times (LA and more also)

[jham]

Great TR so far! I was just at Santa Monica Pier yesterday, and it was funny to read about it in your tr today! I love that Mimi's, we usually eat there when we go to Disneyland. We usually stay at the Anaheim Fairfield Inn which is right there between Mimi's and McDonald's. We really like staying there. And for some reason, whenever I go to Disneyland in the spring it is cool and sometimes rainy so now we go in the fall a lot and rarely have any bad weather Glad Dallas got to do Jedi Training academy!

 

[Bloodhound]

what a great TR...were going to the Zoo this Oct...I will take good notes...thanks

 

[Brenna&Noah's Mom]

I am loving your TR and your pics!

 

[jessica52877]

Thanks for the info on R2 and 3PO's footprints. I can't wait to see them.

They are super easy to find! It just isn't as big as I had imagined at all.

Great TR so far! I was just at Santa Monica Pier yesterday, and it was funny to read about it in your tr today! I love that Mimi's, we usually eat there when we go to Disneyland. We usually stay at the Anaheim Fairfield Inn which is right there between Mimi's and McDonald's. We really like staying there. And for some reason, whenever I go to Disneyland in the spring it is cool and sometimes rainy so now we go in the fall a lot and rarely have any bad weather Glad Dallas got to do Jedi Training academy!

I was so jealous when I read you were back on the boutique thread. I forgot you were this weekend. Mimi's is so delicious! We also liked Millie's (the fairfield one I think). We only ate there one night but it was so good. I think because we were Mimi'd out! Do you like the Fairfield and how does it compare to Hojo if you have ever stayed there?

what a great TR...were going to the Zoo this Oct...I will take good notes...thanks

I hope you love the zoo! I just love zoos and on one hand I was so disappointed, but oddly loved it, so that doesn't make much sense.

I am loving your TR and your pics!

Thanks!

 

[jessica52877]

This is Dallas' legoland at home! It is quite messy right now and missing most of the cars and a few buildings! I keep moving it around the house trying to decide where I want it! Right now it is plopped smack dab in the middle of the living room!

 

[jessica52877]

May 15th - Thursday
Disneyland and California Adventure

My memory is getting bad and it has just been over a month! This morning was a magic morning and my goal today was to just get a cute picture of Dallas in front of the castle with no one around. Which never ended up happening. He isn't much into fantasyland rides but I figured we would head there next. He'll go if there isn't a wait. We were at the gates with a minute or two to spare! BUT I forgot our mickey ears. I really wanted them for this day because they would have gone the best! Oh well.

Atleast there is a good picture of Lin going through the castle!

The next picture I took because I thought the feather was so cute and made Dumbo so much more in character it seemed. They were made of wood, where as at WDW unless it has been changed recently they give you a plastic card. Dumbo at DL is also over water kind of. Very nice.

I took lots and lots of pictures of Fantasyland and Dumbo. I just thought it was cute.

Thought I would add another picture of feet! That way the first wouldn't look so odd!

We hit the tea cups next. Dallas LOVES them. I like them outside better! They rode 2x, I rode the first time with them. My mom and Richy were waiting for us and got some coffee while we were on dumbo and the tea cups. But as soon as we got off we saw storyland I think it is called opening up with no line! We weren't more then 20 feet away but let me tell you, everyone bee lined for it and by the time we got in line we had to wait for 4 boats which seemed like an eternity. It was cute, but nothing I would wait a long time for!

Here we are on it!

Right about the time we are getting on my mom and richy start looking for us. They thought we were only going on the tea cups, had seen us get off dumbo and let them know where we were going next. I wasn't about to get out of line after we waited forever, but they happen to see us!

Then Lin needed some coffee. We didn't have anything to eat before we left the hotel. I figured we would eat at the Tomorrowland Terrace. It had such a good breakfast when we ate there tuesday. So Lin and Richy go off and seem gone forever, so I decide Dallas and I will go on Snow White and Mr Toad. I didn't tell him that Peter Pan was there, the line was already long. I think we might have gone on the carousel too. Can't remember. We did all that by the time they walked back from getting Lin coffee!

Then we were off to somewhere else. Who knows where! I think we decided we would head over to CA as the park was starting to get crowded and you could tell it was 9 am by then. On our walk though i decided we would check out pirates since we were going by with almost no wait. I didn't really make an effort to do things they have at WDW although I did want to if we had time. Pirates is WAY better at DL. We also then hit the Jungle Cruise.

On our way out we were checking out the little thing that says arcade I think.

 

[jessica52877]

Oh, I remember now! We decided to eat over by Pirates before we went over to CA. So Lin and Richy got soup bowls again, they were delicous! I got some fries from McD's while my mom went and chicken from Bengal's something or other. It is the same thing we ate our first day there but we really enjoyed it.

Okay, on to CA. Dallas is pooped by this point and needs a nap! I figure that he'll fall asleep if we do something fun first and then have him wait for us. So we went on Muholland Madness then Lin and I decided to go on the Orange Stingers and the other thing that drops you! I love the way it shoots you up! I have never been on one that shoots up like that. He was asleep within seconds of laying down.

We just kind of hung out in the area until he woke up. After that we went on the big sunwheel, the one that moves back and forth. It was alot of fun and quite different. I was a little perturbed though because in front of us were 2 boys about 10 and 12. Well, come our turn to get on they decide we are riding with them. They let everyone else in front of us have their own cars! There was practically no one in line and the kids weren't messing around or misbehaving or anything. They were nice and polite but it would have been nice to be by ourselves.

We caught the end of the parade again from a bridge and by then it was closing. We again didn't want to go into DL and fight the main street crowd for the parade or anything so headed back to the hotel. We probably ate Mimi's again. I don't remember!

 

[jessica52877]

Friday, May 16th
Our Last Full Day

All week long my mom and Dallas have wanted to eat breakfast at Mimi's, so this is the morning it finally happened! We don't like to eat early so eating and being at a park or leaving by 8 am just isn't something I like to do!

Here is kids menu. It is very nice and extremely reasonable. I was very happy about that! Lot of good choices too!

Dallas got chocolate chip pancakes!

After that we walked back to the hotel to get ready to leave. There wasn't much on our agenda today. We had plans to meet my cousin at their house in Sherman Oaks, right outside Hollywood/LA a little after lunch time. They had a baby that born the friday before.

So I decided I would take some hotel pictures for my friends. Then I decided once I got home I could do a review on it!

We went to the front desk to ask which beach was nice, so Andrew, the manager, suggested Huntington Beach! What a great choice! He also told us what type of beds the newer redone rooms have, Simmons beautyrest is what my mom told me! I of course couldn't remember two seconds after walking out of there.

Nice little gift shop with food and anything you might have forgotten along with some souveniers.

Our room! I know messy! I never think to take pictures before we make a mess!

Guess, I'll stop there I don't have any more pictures uploaded yet!

 

[jessica52877]

Let's see, more about the hotel since I was kind of not really being too detailed! We LOVED it! It was the Howard Johnson which I think most of you know. It was not a bad walk at all. By looking at a map it looks like it is pretty far up the street, it is the farthest hotel in that direction but each hotel front is maybe 35 yards if that. I don't know, guessing, but I mean it was a hop, skip and jump and you were crossing the street, walking through the bus drop off area and at the gates. Walking slow I would say 7 minutes if that.

We had a premium disney view room, 3rd floor in building 1, that is the front building so if you count up three and over 4 that was our room. The view from the balcony was amazing. There is a picture somewhere. We could see the monorail, matterhorn and fireworks when they went off, along with hearing the music to wishes. I loved being at the hotel to watch them. No dodging a head or anything, no one stepping front of us. The room was $74 a night which was an awesome value. I would pay more. Really I would and I am not much on splurging. There was a balcony so we could go out on it to see the fireworks.

It must have had 2 queen beds since they didn't seem small, a nice chair, some had an ottoman, but not all, huge desk with chair and free internet! In room safe (laptop fits inside but we just leave it out) and it was done with a code, not a key like at disney. Nice place for luggage, fits 2 suitcases, it was sturdy bench. It also had double sinks and the BEST orange citrus smelling shampoo, soap, etc. Although the citrus mouthwash I just couldn't handle!

There was also a cute little bag when we arrived in the room. I am not sure if it is for all guests with kids or if Lorealle had something to do with it or not. Dallas' was Pooh and mainly clear but there was a twinge of pink on the handle. He never really noticed and we didn't mention it. It was just too cute. It has the cutest luggage tag, magnet or something (it doesn't really stick to the fridge but will stick to something non porous), a stuffed little turtle, activity book and markers and then a map. Dallas was super happy with it. He isn't used to getting things like that. Upon check out we saw totally cute red and blue mickey ones which I would have much preferred but you can't complain!

Hmm, what else did I forgot about the hotel? I was just really impressed with it. The hotel grounds were beautiful and staff was extremely nice and helpful all the time!

 

[jessica52877]

View from hotel room, this is NOT zoomed in. It really wasn't far at all.

 

[jessica52877]

After leaving the hotel we headed towards Huntington Beach. My mom is NOT a beach person. She does NOT want even a GRAIN of sand on anything (and yep, she lives in FL near the beach).

Little things entertain me, so this is where you pay for your beach parking. There was tons of parking right on the beach which was nice, not hard to find a spot at all. It was also friday mid morning though.

You could rent bikes or what not on the beach. We weren't really there for a beach day, more or less just to see it so we didn't even have swim suits or anything on.

There was a kids surf competition going on, they had to have been 11 at the most. Real cute to watch and they were good.

A pier to walk out onto.

And then a nice street with shops and restaurants. We didn't go up the street for some reason.

Dallas from the pier.

Looking at the water and the beach makes you wonder if anyone in Southern California works! Tons and tons of surfers.

That was the non competition side.

Of course ocean and beach to Dallas mean swimming, so we went down to the water.

It was a bit nippy (cold) but once you were in it you got used to it. I only got wet up to about my knees, but Dallas had his entire shorts wet by the end.

The sand was kind of odd, it had tons of gold flecks in it. Lin tried to capture it in a picture although you really can't quite get a good idea.

it was very pretty though.

 

[jessica52877]

We decided to continue on our way about noon thinking it would take about an hour to get where we were going. On our way we drove by the Goodyear Blimp! The Blimp brings back good memories for me! I grew up in Akron, Ohio, home of Goodyear where there was always a blimp. Almost every day of my life I could walk out the door and see it flying. We quite often would go and watch it land and have ice cream, it was about 10 minutes from our house. So whenever I see a blimp I just love it!

You never realize how special things are until they aren't anymore. At one point I lived in Florida and there happen to be hanger in Pompano Beach, again about 10 minutes from where we lived, so until I was 18 and moved to Atlanta I always got to see it!

Next up, a visit with my mom's 1st cousin. They are an extremely close family so this didn't seem like some far off distant relative. They lived in Sherman Oaks, in what looks like just a cute normal house.

But once inside it was just beautiful. Totally expected though, he builds houses!

That is the view from their living room and office, a whole wall of windows. Just beautiful! They have lived there less then a year and gutted the whole place. The last thing they are doing is still have yet to put up a glass fence and redo the pool. If you walked over to the edge you would fall straight down! They pulled out tons of trees to get the beautiful view back. The 405 or one of the highways is right below. I forget which one now, but you wouldn't even know it. You can look out each morning and get a traffic report though.

The visit was really nice. We didn't stay too long, a little over an hour I would say. She just had a baby and we didn't want to over stay our welcome with a newborn. After leaving there she gave us directions to a wonderful place to eat in Malibu. So went down the hill and ended up at Muholland Drive, could have walked. And went through Malibu Canyon as they called it. I don't know what constitutes a canyon but it was really pretty! I tried to get some good pictures but sitting in the middle of the backseat wasn't the easiest place to get them from.

Straight ahead, Malibu!

We ate at Coogie's. It sets right on the beach in a plaza, but what beautiful wasted beach area because you can't see the beach or anything. It is behind the plaza.

They had the most wonderful food!

After eating we went in Ralph's (grocery store) looking for something for breakfast and to snack on. I also wanted to get another card for my camera. I had taken 800 pictures and didn't want to erase any of them yet. Silly me! So I ended up paying $40 for 2 GB's! Ralph's didn't have any and the CVS next door was out of the one on sale. I knew I should not have bought it because i ended up taking maybe 7 pictures on it, but if I hadn't it would have been the other way around! Oh well!

There were lots of little shops and a starbuck's and EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE had their little (and big) doggies with them! It was kind of freaky to me, yet Malibu-ish. Each shop had a water bowl outside for the pets and yes, the dogs were in the stores. I don't think starbuck's though, we didn't walk in. No idea why I didn't take a picture since that is not normal to us. Dallas thought it was funny.

Just a picture of the plaza area. I thought it was pretty.

I just love hollywood type palm trees though!

This is once we are back in the car again heading towards the hotel.

More of Malibu

That is our last picture of the day. It was rush hour by the time we left, on a friday night and that was the worst traffic we hit. We drove along the PCH for a while up until Santa Monica and the pier, since we had been there the week earlier they had the new ferris wheel up. Not sure if it was running or not. At that point we got on the highway, but honestly probably should have stayed on PCH. It was a pleasant drive and less traffic-y.

It was friday so disney would be shooting the fireworks off and I was happy to be back in time to see them again!

 

[jessica52877]

Saturday, May 17th
Going home day

Our flight left around noon. So we left the hotel around 9, just to make sure we were there in time. No issues what so ever. Why is the atlanta airport the only place there are ever issues!!! We had a nice long wait in the terminal.

They had power stations for the computers, phones, etc. And some sort of wireless but nothing Lin could get into.

He wasn't too prepared to try and didn't try for long, otherwise he probably could have. Who knows.

Our flight left on time and the snafu was they changed our flight time by about 6 minutes and so I had to confirm that it was okay and we still wanted that flight. I originally had one leaving at 3 pm, but once my mom and Richy decided to join us they could only get on the 12 pm to catch their connecting flight in Atlanta, so we were able to switch for free when I called (good part), she assigned my seat over the phone since I paid for seating selection on the other flight and gave us the row in front of the emergency exit. I guess when flying with a carseat you cannot sit in that row, but no one tells you that. And the stewardess' wait until you are about to back up from the gate to tell us! She kindly offered to gate check it under the plane! Uh, MUST HAVE BEEN DREAMING! I didn't buy a freakin' new car seat for the plane to have it gate checked, especially after I lugged it through the airport. I was also a bit miffed because Dallas was about asleep in it!

So she says she ask 3 people to switch with us, the poor unsuspecting people in front us. They were from India and the parents didn't speak much english, but the kids about 17 and 19 did so the son told them what she said and they happily switched. She neglected to tell them that their seats did not recline. I felt really bad, but was also really mad at airtran. Of course everyone is staring at me as I am trying to unhook and rehook the carseat on the plane, not the easiest task! With 5 people standing in the aisle, all on top of each other it seemed.

I was grateful the people switched and felt bad for them. I don't think they cared one bit quite honestly though.

We arrived back in Atlanta around 7 ish. Said our goodbyes and got our luggage. Stopped for dinner on the way home and arrived around 10 or so. Long day of traveling! Time difference messes things up!

 

[jessica52877]

A few links to live reviews on Mimi's, Legoland and Howard Johnson Anaheim!

Mimi's Cafe
http://www.expotv.com/videos/reviews/10/121/MiMis-Cafe-Belgium-Waffles-Chocolate-Ch/265986

Howard Johnson Anaheim
http://www.expotv.com/videos/reviews/21/188/Howard-Johnson-Anaheim-CA/265980

Legoland
http://www.expotv.com/videos/reviews/21/188/Legoland-California/265950

 

[HeatherSue]

WOW! I didn't even realize you'd updated and you already finished your TR!!

Seeing your pictures makes me want to go to Disneyland so bad!!

How cool that your family is really close! I don't know my mom's first cousins very well, but they do come to family reunions every once in a while.

I'm gonna PM you a question about expotv. I watched your reviews, great job!!