Giving this TR thing a shot

[Briarrose1306]

I have been lurking on the TR board for quite some time now debating on whether or not to do my own TR. I know it will be one of those things that once I start, I will have to do one for every trip I take from here on out. As you can see though, I have finally decided to cave and enter the world of TRs. This is destined to be my first year with an AP, so I am anticipating at least five trips within the next year.

Here is a list of the possible trips I hope to be taking within the next year:

May 11-15: The most current trip, already in the works and booked. Will include myself, DH, DF and DB.

September trip possibly by myself or possibly with my twinner.

October or Mid November trip: more than likely a solo trip.

Early December trip to take in all the Christmas themeing. This will be the first Christmas trip since the engagement trip of 2005.

First week of March 2012 for DH and my fifth wedding anniversary.

The cast of characters:
(It appears as of now that I cannot post pictures, not sure how to fix this or what I need to do, but once I figure it out, I will try to post pictures.)

Myself, Briarrose1306 also known as Crystal. (26) I am a huge Disneyland fan and oddly enough have no desire to visit WDW. Although, I do one day hope to visit DLP. I am an Aurora lover, as I’m sure you can tell. Why Aurora out of all the princesses you ask? Well, my reasoning is simple, she was the first to have a prince with a real name, Phillip, because I’m sorry, Charming is not a name, it’s an adjective. Though Aurora is my favorite princess, Beauty & the Beast is my favorite movie. I have made 14 trips to DL at this point and can’t decide at the moment which ride is my favorite, Matterhorn or Space Mountain.

DF, my dad, also known as Mike. (53) Dad and I have only been to DL once together, when I was 7, and we have virtually no pictures of it as the gal he was dating at the time had a daughter that made the trip super difficult to say the least. But, I have finally convinced DF to take another trip.

DB, my little brother (and I do mean little, he is 11 years younger than me) also known as Curtis. (15) Side note of fact early on, DB is not DF’s son. We have different dads. DB can be a bit of a pain, but has gone through a lot in the last couple years and I’m trying to do something nice for him. (Sorry, this is the most recent photo I have of him)

Twinner, is my girlfriend Tamra. Tamra and I are so alike, it’s super scary. We even look like twins! I’m hoping to get her away on a girls trip before her little ones are old enough that she feels guilty for not taking them to DL.

Okay, so onto the PTR for the May trip!

This is a bit of an out of the ordinary trip for DH and I as we usually go in March for our anniversary. Unfortunately, the tax man was not as nice to us this year and we were unable to go for our anniversary. So, instead, I decided that with my cheer check (I coach cheerleading at a semi-local high school and get a nice little stipend at the end of the year) we would take DF and DB. Getting DF to agree to go was the first hurdle in my way. DF is a bit of a homebody and thinks he is the only one that can take care of grandma, so he is very hesitant to go anywhere. Grandma insisted that he go and yea! He agreed. The second hurdle in the way is my mother. I have to take DB out of school for three days and she is withholding permission for him to go at the moment. And the third and final hurdle in my way is that I want to have my car paid off before we go (and this is DH’s stipulation).

The plan at the moment is for everyone to stay at our home on May 10th and to be on the road, at the extreme latest, by 4am on May 11th. I will drive down to Anaheim and check us into BWPPI. Our room may or may not be ready for us, so we will either take our stuff to our room, or head straight to the park! We will be getting 4day PH, but DH and I plan on upgrading ours to APs. I’m having a bit of indecision on when to do this though as May 14th is a block out day. I’d like to use the discounts the whole trip though, so what I’m thinking of doing is upgrading mine on Wednesday and using the discounts the whole trip and buying a $50 one day pass for myself for Saturday and upgrading DH’s on Saturday so we only have to worry about one but still get the discounts.

I’m thinking we will do WoC either Wednesday or Thursday, preferably Wednesday, but that’ll depend on whether or not we can get the FPs that day. We will probably have dinner at CPK that night as DH and I have been dying to ea t there since ours closed down.

I have no real plan as far as which lands and/or parks to do at specific times because we usually just go with the flow. I’m not sure whether we will use our MM on Thursday or Saturday, though now that I’m thinking about it, if I upgrade to my AP right away, will I completely forfeit my MM? I’m thinking yes, but not certain on that fact. I may just let the boys go and sleep in.
There are a couple places that I would definitely like to eat at, but they are not all must dos. I would like to have the potato soup at the Carnation Café. I would like to eat at the Café Orleans and Blue Bayou (eaten at BB many times, but DF and DB haven’t). I would like to do Steakhouse55, as DH and I did it for our anniversary last year and loved it. I haven’t decided on whether to do breakfast at MSU or GK, but I think I prefer GK’s dinner, so again, indecision. I am also super excited to get a potato from the Troubadour Tavern.

So, those are my tentative plans for now, and I will update as new things come along. I hope you all enjoy going on this trip with me!

 

[Sherry E]

Woo hoo! A Trip Report!! I told you I'd follow along if you started one!

I'm glad to see that there are so many trips in the works, and it appears as though at least 2 of those trips will include the wonderful Halloween and Christmas seasons (both of which are my favorite times of year at DLR, especially Christmas time).

You should be able to post photos. Do you have a free Photobucket account? I find Photobucket to be the easiest way to share photos.

Next to each picture you upload to Photobucket, you will see a series of codes, one of which is the IMG code. Click on it to copy it (the entire code - don't leave any part of it out), and then paste (Ctrl V) it right here in your post. No extra steps needed.

 

[Briarrose1306]

Thanks for being my first guest Sherry! Yes, I'm hoping for trips at both Halloween and Christmas. I've done Christmas once and really enjoyed it, but would like to do it again, but I have never experienced Halloween. Being a cheer coach, just about every weekend in the fall involves football, but I'm hoping to do like a Sunday-Wednesday trip or something.

As far as posting pictures, yes, I do have a photobucket account, but when I look at the posting rules, it says that I may not post attachments. Not sure how/when that changes.

 

[Sherry E]

Oh, mine says that too! I have no clue what "attachments" anyone would be posting if not photos, but I can definitely post photos!

Try copying an IMG code from Photobucket and pasting it in your Intro post - I bet it works!

 

[Briarrose1306]

You were right! I was able to post them!

 

[Briarrose1306]

A bit of good news, I think...I'm crossing my fingers. Went on a bike ride and walk with DM last night and I mentioned wanting to get another pic of DB biting Goofy's nose (we have an adorable pic of him as a baby doing it and I just thought it would be funny to get a now version) and she said that would be fun to do for his 16th b-day, a then and now. So, I think it sounds like she's leaning towards letting him go. Crossing fingers!

 

[TheColtonsMom]

I too promised to hop aboard if you did a TR so here I am

 

[Briarrose1306]

Welcome ColtonsMom! I hope you enjoy my adventures, thanks for joining!

 

[Briarrose1306]

So we are almost exactly a week away from our departure date, so I thought I'd update a little since I haven't in quite sometime, due to the fact that nothing of interest has happened. Car is almost paid off! Waiting on this week's check and the check I get from the side work I do and then it will be completely paid off!

Slightly nervous about my cheer check though (the money I'm using to pay for the trip) as it did not come in April as previously planned due to the school board saying that my season does not end in February with the winter coaches, but in April after I hold tryouts. So, I will not get my check until a week from today and we leave a week from tomorrow. Nothing like a little waiting til the last minute type situation.

Unfortunately, little brother will not be going on the trip with us. He signed up for Relay for Life, which will take place the same weekend we are gone and DM and I both agreed that this was an important thing that he had dedicated himself to do and should therefore follow through on his commitment. DM did hint at taking a trip this summer, just the three of us though, so who knows what'll happen.

I'm super excited and counting down the days!

 

[Briarrose1306]

Another new development as I begin the final countdown (only 5 days to go!). DH has gotten super busy at work and will not be able to take the days off to go to DL. Oddly enough, I am not super bummed about this development. With DB already not being able to go, I was thinking things might get a little stressful having to divide my time between DH and DF, but now that has been fixed. It's been so long and it's so rare that DF and I get to do anything just the two of us that I think this is still going to turn into a great trip and I am beyond excited for it! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[smile4stamps]

That is cool that you get to do a Mother Father trip!

My dad I believe is the one who influenced our trips to WDW when I was younger so I think it would be fun to do but probably only a short trip!

 

[Briarrose1306]

It's really kind of funny, everyone I tell that I'm going to DL with my Dad are like, "Wow, I could never do a trip like that with just my dad." We're really close and always have been, so I'm really excited and I think we're going to have an amazing time!

 

[smile4stamps]

My last time going to WDW before I went with hubby for my 5 year anniversary I was a senior in college and my brothers did not have any interest in going to WDW so I went with my parents. We did one day with the 3 of us and then I did one day by myself. The only thing I remember from the day by myself is having to call my dad to come pick me up early because I was FREEZING!!

My mom tends to get motion sick so a lot of rides are out for her so more fun with my dad.

 

[Briarrose1306]

Day 1 - Part 1​

I know I have been a bit of fail at keeping my PTR updated as time went along, but in truth, there really wasn’t a lot I could add to it. Since I have been to DL so many times, I didn’t really need to plan a lot of stuff out. I hope you will all forgive me of this as I head into the actual TR.

Originally, my dad and I had planned on me picking him up Tuesday night to stay at my house since we were leaving so early Wednesday morning and he wanted me to leave my car at his house with my grandmother so that anyone driving by wouldn’t think she was alone. Apparently they decided she would be fine and that it would be a waste of a trip for me to come get him when he could just come out in the morning to pick me up, so that’s what we did.

When I got up at 3am Wednesday morning, I unlocked the front door so DF could just let himself in without knocking and waking up DH. I was ready to go and all packed up at 3:30 as we’d planned and DF loaded my bags into his truck while I grabbed my bag and locked up. Then our first mini adventure started, DF needed coffee for the long drive. I am never up this early and since I don’t drink coffee, I suggested the only place I thought would be open. We pulled up and they were open, but unfortunately as DF told me upon coming back out to the truck, they didn’t have any decaf. So, we went down the highway a little ways to a Chevron I knew of and pulled off. They weren’t yet open, so it was back on the freeway we went. DF finally pulled off in Lodi, his hometown and only 15 minutes from mine, to a place he knew had his coffee. As he climbed back into the truck, coffee in hand, it suddenly occurred to me why he didn’t get coffee at the first place we stopped.

“Wait, you needed decaf coffee to wake up?” I asked.
“Yup,” he replied with a grin.
I couldn’t help laughing hysterically at him for this. The thought that someone needed decaf coffee to wake up made absolutely no sense to me. Turns out, it was more of a head thing than anything else. After years and years of having coffee as soon as he got up, he still needed it even though he no longer crank caffeine due to heart conditions. Why it took me so long to realize we were looking for decaf to being with, I will never know, but for now, I am blaming it on the early hour of the morning.

The 6 hour drive to Anaheim wasn’t that interesting but did have a couple things of note. The first was the fact that we seemed to be playing tag with a mini van almost the whole way there. They would pass us and get in front of us and then eventually slow down to where we would need to pass them. This went on for quite some time and was slightly annoying. IMO, if you’re going to pass me, then you need to be going faster than me. We stopped for gas only once and when I went in to pay for the gas, my card came up declined. Talk about a mini heart attack. I knew it wasn’t possible though as there was more than enough in the account for the whole trip. The clerk suddenly realized their internet connection was having issues and that’s why it declined my card. I went back out to the truck and got cash to pay instead. We also decided to hit up Denny’s for breakfast since we had stopped.

We arrived in Anaheim right around 11 and checked in to the BWPPI. U love this hotel and when I stay off property, I always try to stay here. The clerks at the front desk were very nice and welcoming. Unfortunately, our room was not ready yet, which I hadn’t really expected it to be and had warned DF of, so the clerk asked for my number and said he would call if it was ready before 3. (He never called, so I assume it wasn’t, but it really didn’t end up mattering).

I grabbed my Disney bag complete with all my pins that don’t fit on my lanyard (that’s a lot of them), threw my lanyard around my neck and we were off! We started with DCA as I’ve heard their AP processing is much quicker than DL’s and because we wanted to try to get WOC for that night. The AP processing went quick for me and the CM was nice enough to call to see if there were any WOC tickets left so I didn’t have to waste time going over there if there weren’t. Unfortunately, they were already out for the day, a bit of information I filed away to remember when I tried to get them Thursday.

This, of course, began that ‘what to do first’ debacle. Since it was the closest and one of the must see items for DF to do (my list, not his, he didn’t really have one) we headed to Soarin. Everyone had been telling me to take DF on Soarin and that he would absolutely love it. I’m not super crazy about the ride myself, but it is something I will do once a trip and thought he would enjoy. We waited in a 25 minute line, not bad by Soarin standards and then boarded the ride. Things seemed to be fine at take off and DF was enjoying the beautiful clouds in front of us, but as the clouds dispersed and gave way to the Golden Gate Bridge, I realized there was a problem.

My first worry was that something was happening with his heart due to the elevation (we were in the top row) but he quickly assured me that his heart was fine. This did not however stop my worry as his hands continued to shake and he gripped the handles for dear life through the end of the ride. It turns out that sometime over the last 7 years or so, DF developed a fear of heights and I had no clue. I, of course, felt awful. I never would’ve taken him on that had I known. He continued to shake after we were off the ride and we decided he needed a drink to calm down.

Luckily, the GCH is right next to Soarin and so we made our way to Hearthstone Lounge. It was a very nice and comfortable bar and we relaxed a little so DF could calm his nerves. I ordered a white wine sangria and it was absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, this was DF’s first experience with DL pricing and he was a little surprised at how much our tab was. I said, “Hey, that’s Disney for ya.” But it did limit our in park alcohol consumption quite a bit, which I considered a good thing.

[/IMG]

***Up next, the trip gets a lot better for DF but we almost lose our tickets.

 

[reyasmommy]

Enjoying your TR! Hoping you'll decide to share some pictures with us.

 

[carnival kid]

Loving sharing your journey!!

 

[stubby]

Wow losing tickets is a huge fear of mine. I keep them for everyone and am so scared that I will somehow lose them all.

 

[CandyMouse]

That was scary about your dad. I can relate to the fear of heights. Soarin makes me nervous, but I still went on it when we were there a couple months ago. I was glad when we got off! Look forward to your TR.

 

[Briarrose1306]

Day 1, Part 2​

I want to thank all of you who are reading my TR and extra bug thanks if you're still out there! I find myself apologizing once again for not keeping up with my TR. Shortly after I posted the first installment of my trip, DH and I decided to separate and get divorced and I just haven’t felt in the mood to write. It was a long time coming and I feel really good about it, but I just hadn’t been in the TR frame of mind. As the DL bug has bitten me once again, as it does to all of us before very long, I have decided that I really should finish this TR. Unfortunately, since it has been so long, the details are no longer fresh in my mind. I do still have all my notes though, so I shall try to do my best.

When we last left off, DF and I had just had a drink in the Hearthstone Longue after a shaky ride on Soarin (shaky for DF as he doesn’t do well with heights, in case you’ve forgotten). We made our way back into DCA by use of the ever so easy GCH entrance and made our way to Paradise Pier where we got in line for Toy Story. I absolutely love this ride; it is by far one of my favorites in DCA and I will brag and say that on a previous visit, I actually scored the 3rd highest score of the day! It was at 2pm so I’m sure it didn’t last all day, but I was proud nonetheless. I tried my best to explain to DF what to expect on the ride, using my hand gestures of trying to pull the little string on the cannon type thing which I’m sure looked very odd now that I think about it. Then we made our way through the poster area of the line which started DF asking if we got rings and darts and baseballs as the posters showed. No Dad, we still just use the little cannon thing and pull the string. We eventually made it onto the ride with 3D glasses in place and the fun began. I think DF was slightly disoriented at first with the jerking and spinning of the toy box, but he soon got the hang of it and enjoyed the ride. He was a bit disappointed with his score though if I remember correctly, he did have pretty good accuracy. For some reason he was thinking that he only had so many shots, but this wasn’t the case and Woody even told him so.

We wandered into the gift shop and stumbled onto what is now the title of this TR. For any of you who are long time SF Giants fans, you know that Kirk Reuter, who is a former pitcher, was referred to as Woody by Kruk and Kuip the Giants announcers due to his likeness of Woody from Toy Story. So we’re in the gift shop and I can’t help but point to a bin full of Woody dolls and say, “Hey Dad, look, Kirk Rueter!” My dad chuckled and shook his head at me. But mark my words, it wasn’t long before he was pointing out his sightings of Kirk Reuter too!

We decided to hit up Screamin next because it was right there and as with all the other rides in DCA, DF had never been on it. We were both looking at the height of the track as we stood in line as neither of us wanted a Soarin repeat. He was a bit worried about the first climb but figured he’d be okay if he sat on the left side as there was an awning of sorts that would block his view of the ground. I also tried to point out that the coaster is launched at the start instead of doing a normal climb. Turned out that she should have had him sit on the right side since the launch went so fast he didn’t have time to really look down, but there’s a second climb that does go slower where he did see the ground because that awning was on the right side. Thankfully, he was fine and loved the ride but we made sure he sat on the right every time after that.

When we had been sitting in the Hearthstone Lounge earlier, I had noticed a slight tear on the plastic that connected my ticket holder to my pin lanyard and made a mental note to keep an eye on it. As I have a ton of pins both on my lanyard and on my backpack, I try to do a quick survey of the ride carts just in case one has happened to come off during the ride. (I have actually saved myself the loss of 3 pins this way) As soon as the restraint bar was lifted, I noticed my lanyard wasn’t as long as it should be. Yup, that’s right, the little tear in the plastic had become a full tear and had fallen off. As if it wasn’t bad enough that I was holding my own brand new AP, I was also holding DF’s ticket so he wouldn’t have to get his wallet in and out all the time. Luckily, the plastic holder had fallen directly down and was located under DF’s foot. Big thanks to the Disney Gods for saving our tickets!

With our tickets securely in my pocket and after snapping a quick picture of our ride picture, we headed to DL! I love the feeling I get the first time I step back through those gates at DL after a long absence. Just the feeling of finally being home. I take a deep breath and let the Disney feeling wash over me. The other feeling that washed over me was one of hunger as we hadn’t eaten since Denny’s that morning. I had heard great things about the potato soup at the Carnation Café and since it was 3pm, I didn’t figure there’d be much of a wait. Thankfully I was right and we were seated right away. I got the half sandwich and potato soup (pictured below) and I think DF got a sandwich and potato salad if memory serves. The soup was every bit amazing as I had read and I wish I would’ve had a chance to go back for it again, but alas, it was not meant to be. While the food was great and decently priced, the service did leave something to be desired. I don’t know if it was just our waitress or if it was because we were coming in after the big lunch rush and the staff was tired, but the service was pretty crappy. We had to ask for silverware 3 times and she never refilled our drinks. I took it in stride though since the food was so good and I tried to error on the side that she was just exhausted after a lunch rush.

We decided to head over to SM and figured an hour wait would be okay as our food settled. After rounding the corner and seeing an over 2 hour wait time we decided to get FPs instead. Then came the ever fun question of what to do next. DF said it was up to me and trusted in my judgment. Since we were right next to Captain EO and DF loves Michael Jackson I decided that was where we would head next as it would still give us some digestion time. I hadn’t seen the show since they’d brought it back and DF hadn’t seen it in years either, though he hadn’t been since they’d put in HIStA. It was still good though a bit cheesy and we both enjoyed it.

With our food settled and our need to ride back in place we headed over to what is fast trying to push SM out for my favorite ride, the Matterhorn! DF wandered around to the smoking area while I got in line and was just finishing up as I approached the part of the line where you can actually see the ride. He told me he kept hearing these weird noises but he couldn’t figure out what it was or where it was coming from. Then he heard it again. It was the seagulls in the Nemo lagoon with their incessant chant of “mine, mine, mine.” I pointed them out and told him what they were saying but since he’d never seen the movie he had no clue what I was talking about. Nevertheless, he got a kick out of it and it quickly became on of our catch phrases from the trip that we still randomly shout out.

After the Matterhorn we made our way to NOS by way of the route behind FL I’m sure as there is a smoking area on that path. I do believe there was also another Kirk Reuter sighting there in doll form being carried by a young boy. According to my notes I bought a frozen cherry lemonade and we did some browsing in the NOS shops before boarding POTC. DF loved POTC and was not upset at all with the Jack additions though I can’t remember if he’s actually seen the movies. After POTC we headed over to HM as it is right there and road that as well. DF wasn’t too impressed with it though and if memory serves, it was our only ride on HM the whole trip. Oh well, different favs for different people.
We were starting to get a little tired by this point so I checked the time on our SM FPs and discovered that it was almost time when we could use them. I opted to take DF on the train as it is the easiest way to get from NOS to TL in my opinion. The FP line was pretty quick and we even got to sit in the front!

After SM we walked back to the hotel and got our room and got settled in. I unpacked a little but DF was anxious that the mini market store would close before we had a chance to get there so off we went. We loaded up on soda, water, snackies and I got a couple of the portable cereals so I didn’t have to worry about making the continental breakfast. We came back and dropped off our stuff before heading to Denny’s for dinner. I was pretty wiped by this time so I had no problem with an early bedtime. I had been feeling a little off the day before but had drank some tea and felt better so I didn’t think too much of my exhaustion considering the lack of sleep and the busy day.

***Next up, the long night of coughing and almost falling asleep on the table in the PFF.