HalloweenTime Trip + Surprise AP Purchases= TR 10/08, 12/08, 01/09 and PTR 06/09

[shishigirl]

Deleted

 

[shishigirl]

Before we left we had a countdown calender with Mickey Heads (thanks disboards) and the girls enjoyed taking them off each day! Though I think I was more excited than them each time they took one down!

DD1 Countdown:

DD2 Countdown:

Here was the Overall plan for Oct 2008 trip:
Day 1-Head from home to Las Vegas/Henderson
Day 2-Stop at Disney Store, Head into Anaheim, Check into HOJO, See Wicked!!!
Day 3-8 Disneyland/California Adventure
Day 9-Beach/ Drive back to Vegas for the night
Day 10-Head Home

Oct 10-Day 1

The plan for departure was for myself, my two girls, sisters 1 and 3 and disney niece to ride in my van, My Dad and Mom in their car and sister 2 and disney nephew in her car. We were trying to hit the rode by 10 am and pick up Bro-in-law 2 on the way. DH and Bro-in-Law 1 were going to drive down together after they got off work and meet us in Las Vegas, which was our stopping point for an overnight break. As you will learn as you follow along.. we are not the most prompt people when we are leaving on trips. After all was said and done we were on the road by 1 PM!!!! Yes..3 hours late!!
The drive was not too bad on the way to our first stop at Mcdonalds 5 hours from home. The only problem we had was that DD1 had driven with Grandma and Grandpa, and they said they kept needing to stop to use the bathroom. They kept asking DD1 if she need to go to the potty. Of course, if you ask a 3year old if she needs to pee...they will usually say YES! At least my kid will EVERYTIME!

Once we got on the road again...we had a slow time making it to vegas. We rolled in around 10:30 pm and check into the Henderson-Hawthorne Inn and Suites(Decent hotel-Clean with pool and Breakfast). Because we were sooo slow and DH and DBro-in-law were kinda fast (a bit to fast for a police officer if you ask me) they rolled in about 1 hour after us. The guys headed down to a small casino to fulfill Bro-in-law 2's desire for blackjack, but they were back about 1/2 hour later. I guess it was not quite the Las Vegas Strip! He was kinda bummed that we got off to a late start and had hoped to make it to a "real" casino! We all decided to hit the hay so we could get on the road in the morning ASAP!



Here is a pic of DD2 as we got ready to hit the road on Day 1!!

 

[shishigirl]

Oct 11-Day 2

We woke around 8:00am and grabbed breakfast. Some of the family took a swim and we all packed up and head out.

DNephew's head, DD2 and DD1 hanging out at the pool

My Disney-fanatic-sis-3 decided we needed our cars decorated to remind us where we were headed. Do we look a bit touristy??!! Is that even a word?

We headed to the Disney Store Outlet and found lots of goodies!! We spent about 1 1/2 there. We girls loved it! The guys...not so much! Then we were off again on our way to Disneyland!!

After a few near-accidents on the freeways of Southern California, we pulled into the HOJO parking lot at 5:15pm and check in! We were so excited by what we found there. The staff was great! The grounds were beautiful! The kids loved the pirate playground and the rooms were nice and clean. But the best part...the beds..they were to die for!! They are wonderful!!

That night some family members were going to Medieval times for dinner, some (including DH, DD1 and DD2) were staying at the hotel to swim and Myself, Mom and DSIS 3 were going to see Wicked in LA!!!! So Excited!!! My mom turned 50 during the summer and the daughters threw her a Wicked-themed Bday party and bought her tickets.
Mom's Bday with us girls:

My other two sisters didnt know if they were coming to California yet so they did not get tickets. We got to our rooms at 5:40pm and had to hurry and get ready to be on the road by 6. We figured two hours would be plenty of time to get into LA esp if we didn't do dinner. Little did we know that traffic on a Saturday Night in LA would be horrendous!! We crawled along the freeway for two hours! I thought we all might break down and start to cry because we were so excited to see the show and thought we may miss the first act! Then with 10 minutes left, the freeway broke open and we were able to find a parking space so fast! We ran to our seats, and sat down as the opening number started!!! Someone in our group must have been living right!! The show was so good!!! If you have never seen it, and get the opportunity to do so...take it!!! It makes me a bit teary just thinking about it!! Loved it !!

After the show, we headed back to anaheim, did drive-thru at the Mcdonald's(classy for a night at the theatre huh?!) by HOJO's and then drove around the Disneyland resort as people were walking back to their hotels all excited and smiling (well some weren't too smiley as they limped back to their hotels) We then headed to our rooms for MM hours the next day!

 

[shishigirl]

Oct 12-Day 3

Disneyland Today!! This was the thought that entered my head as the alarm went off at 5:30 this morning! We had MM entry at 7:00am and still had to exchange our GetAway Today Vouchers for our real tickets before we could get in. We all got ready and were actually out the door at 6:30 am! **Note to Remember**We can be on time if we are going to Disneyland!!**

Here is a pic of my little family before the park opened (It was so cold!):

One person from each couple went to the window to get our tickets and the rest went to stand in line to get in. Little did we know that the person who bought the tickets had to be the one to pick up the tickets and show id!!! Well my DBIL had his ID by my DSIS was the person who purchased the tickets!! Oh great! Well after about 25 mins of discussion and running back to the hotel room, we all got in at 7:15am. So much for being early!! But the crowds at the park were not bad at all. We stopped to get pictures by the Mickey Pumpkin head:

Here is the answer to the game in the first post (like you really played HAHA)..in case you tried to match up cartoon faces with real ones...
DH is on the left holding DD1, Im in front in Blue Shirt with DD2. DMom,DDad and DSIS3 are in the middle. DSIS2 is in Black and Green with DBIL2 in front of her, holding DNephew. DBIL is the really tall guy on the right with DSIS1 and DNiece in front on right! Did you get it right?! Umm sorry..no prizes here Just a pat on the back from me to you! Ok back to the trip report! I warned you I ramble! Dont you feel for my Hubby!

I had purchased the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2009 and had the tour plan out and ready. We continued down Main Street and on to Fantasyland to ride the all-time classic: DUMBO!!!

After a few spins on Dumbo, the plan called for us to head to Peter Pan....With 13 in the group do you think this happened??? No! The plan was shot to heck when some decided that the carousel was to be next!!! WHAT??!! Stick to the Plan!! The book SWEARS we will never get on any other rides the rest of the day and we will go to theme park H*LL!! Ok so Im exaggerating (a bit ), but Im a plan it out kinda gal and when the plan went south, it took a moment to readjust! Needless to say, we did not end up in theme park H*ll and the rest of the day was perfect! The plan was also retired after just one ride! Go figure!

So the Carousel it was!

Is Grandpa having fun yet?

Peter Pan was Next:

The Kids loved this ride and wanted to go again by the lines were starting to grow so we had to save it for another time.

We then headed to Alice, but it was down. We backed it up to the tea cups and went crazy!

 

[shishigirl]

We saw a short line for the Storybook Canal boats and thought the kids would like all the little storybook scenes and riding in a boat. You can't beat that right?! Well, you can if Monstro the Whale's huge mouth is the first thing you see when you head out on your morning boat ride! The look on the kids' faces say it all!

DNephew keeping crying "Don't eat me! Don't eat me! Stop!" This ride DID NOT receive a thumbs-up from the little ones, but I enjoyed myself (Whether is was the ride or the reaction, I'll let you be the judge!)

 

[Sherry E]

Yay! Hi, Karalee! I am the first one to post (other than you!!). Since you were kind enough to join in on my ongoing saga of a Trip Report, I wanted to pop in over here! Plus, I remembered we had established (in my TR) that you were at DLR pretty close to when I was there in October, so I had special interest in seeing the pictures.

First of all, I love the name Karalee - it's very pretty. Then again, my middle name is Lee, so I might be a tad biased to 'Lee' names! Next, you have a lovely family - and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the South Park-esque Disney family members. Too cute! You are very clever and creative. How did you do those? Photoshop or some other type of similar program? I was chuckling about the monobrow, by the way. We typically just see regular photos of people in the introductory part of a TR, but this was a unique way of presenting the family to the DIS-ers here!

Second, those Disneyland or Bust vehicles with the Mickey icon look SOOOOO familiar. Not that other folks couldn't have done the same thing to their cars, but I mean the way it is 'written' out and the Mickey icon look just like what we saw on the freeway and, also, if I recall, parked in one of the DLR hotel lots. (We saw two different vehicles.) I know you didn't go to DLR at the exact time my friends and I were there (I think your trip was a little bit after when we went), or else I would think that I saw your group's cars! But my friend even pointed the one on the freeway out to me and then we saw the second one in the hotel lot later on the next day, I think. I guess it couldn't have been you guys but we had never seen any cars done up like that prior to our October trip so it is coincidental that your group went in October and just happened to do that as well!

I really enjoy the sort of 'collage style' in which you posted your Dumbo ride pictures and your Teacup ride shots. Again, very clever. For some reason - I think because Fantasyland is so colorful - I love seeing on-ride pictures from any of the outdoor rides there. They always look so festive and 'alive' and whimsical. That is the same reason why I enjoy ToonTown and A Bug's Land - everything is kind of colorful or oversized or wacky and exaggerated.

Your Giant Mickey Pumpkin pictures look so much more uncluttered than mine. Because you got there when the MM had just begun (well, 15 minutes in), there were not as many people milling about by the pumpkin and you could get an almost people-free shot. We took pictures by that pumpkin like at 5:00 p.m. or something - when there was a huge line on both sides of it for PhotoPass pictures (one was the winking Mickey side and the other side was regular Mickey).

Anyway, I am here for the ride, so I look forward to the next post. Oh and by the way - informal poll: do you prefer DLR during the Halloweentime season or during Christmastime. As much as I love Halloweentime, it is not as fully engrossing and immersive at DLR as the holiday season is. So my vote for most magical and encompassing is definitely Christmastime, but I love that they are getting more into Halloween as the years go by. I wish they would do more for Halloweentime and really get the parks ALLLLLL decked out, but then I guess it would take too much time to get the decorations down in time for when the holiday ones have to go up!

 

[shishigirl]

Yay! Hi, Karalee! I am the first one to post (other than you!!).

Thanks Sherry for reading!! I have one reader! Yea One of the reasons I was hesitant to start a report is that I though no one would read it!! Is that lame?!

First of all, I love the name Karalee - it's very pretty.

Thank you!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the South Park-esque Disney family members. How did you do those? Photoshop or some other type of similar program?

I saw someone's avatar and found the website where you can make the characters look like anyone you want! It was so fun and addicting! Let's just say I didn't get a thing done the day I made them Here is the website:
http://www.sp-studio.de/index.htm Just as a warning there is some, ah questionable characters one can create there! Just a heads up for those that try!

I really enjoy the sort of 'collage style' in which you posted your Dumbo ride pictures and your Teacup ride shots.

Thanks! I used Picasa. I thought I had read in other trip reports that there was a limit to the number of pics one can upload per day. I thought this would let me show more of the Bazillion pics I took!

Your Pumpkin Mickey was so cute also! One thing about being so early was that there wasn't a photopass photographer to take pics with their nice camera. Luckily, a nice castmember was walking by and asked if we would like a group shot!

Anyway, I am here for the ride, so I look forward to the next post. Oh and by the way - informal poll: do you prefer DLR during the Halloweentime season or during Christmastime. As much as I love Halloweentime, it is not as fully engrossing and immersive at DLR as the holiday season is. So my vote for most magical and encompassing is definitely Christmastime, but I love that they are getting more into Halloween as the years go by. I wish they would do more for Halloweentime and really get the parks ALLLLLL decked out, but then I guess it would take too much time to get the decorations down in time for when the holiday ones have to go up!

I agree with you! Christmastime was so magical. I enjoyed Halloweentime and the party was great and so much fun, but the feeling and decorations are spectacular during christmas. The only thing I would say is Disney needs to get a christmas party going like the Halloween party!! That would make it all the better! Thanks again!!

 

[shishigirl]

We decided we would try to conquer Nemo next! The wait was 1 hour so some of the group went to go stand in line and the rest of us went for a potty break and DH ran to get fastpasses for Splash Mtn. DD1 and I went to the restroom and guess who we ran into?! Our first character sighting:
Pinocchio! (Looks like DD1 slept through the entire thing! Haha!)

While over in fantasyland, I saw the lines were small for Snow White and Pinocchio, so since I can't resist a small line...we rode them and ran back to nemo! We "politely" jumped in line and waited out the rest of the line.

The kids loved this ride. I actually enjoyed it as well. I think I had read some so-so reviews on the ride, so I wasn't expecting too much. But I thought it was really cute...though I didnt stand in line the whole hour so maybe that would have changed my mind

We then took a food break at the Tomorrow Land Terrace and watched the Jedi Training Academy while eating. We then decided to head to ToonTown and see about riding Roger Rabbit and see if we could spot any characters! Well..we did!! Minnie and Pluto were there! We went to get their pics and meet them and we look in the stroller and this is what we find:

A sleeping child!! Her first character interaction!! Oh well!
Pluto and Minnie were cute with the kids!

DNiece did not want a thing to do with them! Too Funny! Luckily she got over her fear the next day !

"Dont Touch Me Minnie!"

Roger Rabbit was a pretty long wait, so we let the kids work off some steam on all the toys in Toon Town. We then headed over to Splash Mountain by way of Woody's Halloween Roundup. We caught part of the show:

Then the kids got to meet them. DNephew would not take his eyes off Woody long enough to look at the camera. He love him!

We then headed to Splash Mountain to use our fast passes and take DD1 on her first BIG KID ride.
We split into two groups to take turns with the little kids and they rode Pooh a few times. We took DD1 on the ride and she enjoyed it....

till she got wet!!!

Oh well at least she tried it! Next time we will bring a rain jacket!!

 

[WA Kay]

I love the car décor and yes it does look a bit touristy but that’s ok. It is fun and that kind of thing makes people smile when they see it, besides “tourist” is not a 4 letter word. According to dictionary.com the number one definition is: a person who is traveling, esp. for pleasure. Sounds about right to me.

Thanks so much for this trip report. You do a really good job of bringing your story to life. What a great family you have. It is nice that you could get so many together to share Disneyland. I can’t wait to read more.

Kay

 

[chickyann]

LOL @ your cars.... I love it

 

[Dizneydaz]

Hi shishigirl! Enjoyed your TR so far. Who's going in June? Would love to read your PTR. Oh, and thanks for all the pictures-now I'll know who you are in the PP share!

More please!

Only 15 days to go........

ADDED-we're going to be at WDW for free DDP too! We'll be at POP sometime between 9-11 and 9-23 (I will be narrowing it down to 10 nights soon)

 

[raftislander]

I am signing on for this TR!. We have just decided on an October trip so I am looking to learn all sorts of things about DL at Halloweentime! Your daughters are so cute. More Please!

 

[blabbermouth]

Ok, I'm in. I hope you're getting enough people to read so you won't stop in the middle.

How great that you can get your whole family to go. The kids are so cute, and all the girls look so much alike!

 

[DisDancerina]

Wicked is amazing!!