I’m Leaving DH and the Kids Home! An Aug 2019 PTR!

[momtohms]

Welcome to my PTR/future TR! It’s almost to the one month mark, and I couldn’t hold off getting this started any longer I figured since I didn’t have too much to write about for a separate PTR, that I would just do one thread. I’ll be posting a little bit before I go, and then update with my TR after I get back. I also just started a new Instagram account to document my trip in real time, so feel free to follow me there too - disneymomtohms

On to the details!

The Who:



Me! I turn 34 about a week before I leave, and I’m a huge Disney nerd! I’ve been married to my husband for 11 years this August, and we have three daughters (ages 10, 8.5, and 7). This will be my 6th trip to Disneyland. I went twice in my teens; the first trip was with my parents and younger siblings in 2000, and the second was with my HS choir in 2002. It would be 13 years until I was able to get back (though I did spend one college spring break at WDW in 2006!) and this will be my 4th trip in just over 4 years! I’m hooked! Our 2015 and 2017 family trip reports are in my signature, and DH and I went kid free for a long weekend in 2016.

Also coming along with me are my parents! Yep, I’m in my 30s and leaving my own husband and kids home to go to Disney with my Mom and Dad. Lol! I won’t be with them the entire time, and I’m doing more park days, but it will be fun to spend some time with them there. More on how this all came together later on

The When: August 19th through 22nd. I’m anticipating it to be crazy that week with AP blackouts lifted and D23 the following weekend. Hoping MaxPass and Single Rider will keep it from being too crazy I’ll be doing 4 days in the parks, but my parents are just doing 3.

The Where: We’ll be staying at the Grand Californian! So excited to check off a bucket list item and complete the DLR hotel trifecta!

The Why & How: I am still pinching myself that this trip is happening! My cousin is getting married in the San Diego area next month, and while kids in the family were invited, DH and I decided that it would be fun for me to have this time with my family and enjoy the festivities kid free. He is taking the week off work to spend time with our girls at home. I wish it could have worked out for him to come too, but our usual babysitters (my parents) will be with me and I know the girls are going to love a week with their Daddy home all day!

At first, I wasn’t really sure if it would work out to add a Disney trip in. Then my parents mentioned that they were considering going for a couple of days after the wedding, and I couldn’t pass up the chance! I decided to join them and got all the plans in motion. I’ve actually been hoping to take a solo Disney trip someday, and while this isn’t completely solo - I’ll be getting to spend quite a lot of time taking in the magic of DL on my own!

I’ll share more details about the trip soon! Hope you enjoy following along

 

[momtohms]

***reserved for future table of contents***

 

[momtohms]

Tentative Itinerary and Plans!

Sunday 8/18: Take the train up from San Diego, then use Uber or Lyft to get to GCH from the station in Anaheim. Check in to our room, and then explore DTD and have dinner! I’m not sure where we will eat yet, I want to try Black Tap but my mom is very allergic to dairy so picking a restaurant that has some good options for her is a priority and I haven’t done a ton of research on the DTD menus yet. I also want to try and get our tickets activated before we go to bed. We are using military salute tickets and my parents will need to be with me the first time we enter the parks since I have the ID, and I’m not sure that they are planning to be up for EE at DCA the next day like I am. I *believe* we can go to one of the turnstiles (maybe even the one at the GCH entrance into DCA) and exchange the vouchers for our tickets but not actually scan them in until the next morning! I’ll definitely have to call and ask if that’s possible If not, I can always meet up with them later in the morning on our first park day to get their tickets activated.

Monday 8/19: First park day! It’s EE for DCA so I’ll be up early to start there. This will be the first time I’ve gone to DCA first for a trip (all of our other trips we’ve started on an EMH day at DL). Before I hit the parks, I’ll be mobile ordering my morning Starbucks for DTD pickup (it’s become my tradition to hoard Sbucks rewards points and use them on our Disney trips for a free drink every day. I’m not a big breakfast eater so a nice cold brew or iced latte is all I need!) I’m planning to spend EE at DCA and do some of the bigger rides like incredicoaster, GOTG, RSR, TSMM, etc. and start racking up those max passes. Then I might hop over to DL shortly after it opens and take advantage of the lower morning crowds there. I have a feeling I will be a park hopping queen this trip. Haha! Tentatively planning on doing WOC this evening and then finishing off the night at DL. Monday is the only day of my trip that DL is open until midnight, so there will be at least a couple of hours after WOC ends to hit up some rides over there!

Tuesday 8/20: EMH at DL so I’ll start there! If I didn’t get to Galaxy’s Edge on Monday, it’s definitely a priority on this day! Also getting a Cantina reservation if that hasn’t happened yet either. More park hopping and pool breaks all morning & afternoon. That evening we have a dining reservation at Lamplight Lounge!

Wednesday 8/21: EE at DCA, so starting there. No other set plans for the day - just hitting up favorites and stuff I haven’t gotten to yet and pool time of course. Maybe see the MSE parade that evening? My Dad remembers it from his visits for DL years ago so I think he is looking forward to seeing that again!

Thursday 8/22: Check out day and my last day in the parks! My parents are heading to one of the local beaches for the day instead of doing a 4th Disney day, and then will be flying a different flight home so I’ll say goodbye to them this morning. It’s EMH at DL, but I’m not sure if I’ll be up to make it or not - going to have to play that one by ear with how I’m feeling after 3 other early mornings and long park days. Haha! I have an afternoon reservation at Carnation Cafe for a late lunch, but otherwise no plans until I have to head to the airport! My flight home is pretty late so I will still have almost a full day at the parks to enjoy! Then it’s a Lyft or Uber ride to the airport and back home!

Stay tuned for more! Thanks for reading

 

[theluckyrabbit]

This trip sounds like it's going to be great!
Any possibility you could squeeze in one more day to hit D23 Expo for Friday, 8/23? For a self confessed Disney nerd, Expo is heaven! There are still tickets available for the Friday, so even if you just roam the show floor (vendors galore!) and soak up the Disney vibes, Expo is really fun. If you can hit a few panels, it's even more fun. You can get more info on the D23 website and there is a Superthread going on the Disneyland (California) forum.

 

[momtohms]

This trip sounds like it's going to be great!
Any possibility you could squeeze in one more day to hit D23 Expo for Friday, 8/23? For a self confessed Disney nerd, Expo is heaven! There are still tickets available for the Friday, so even if you just roam the show floor (vendors galore!) and soak up the Disney vibes, Expo is really fun. If you can hit a few panels, it's even more fun. You can get more info on the D23 website and there is a Superthread going on the Disneyland (California) forum.

Thanks! D23 sounds amazing and I did try and see if I could stretch out my trip for it - but it just wasn’t meant to be this year I am hoping to go to the next one though! I’ve been reading the thread about it over on the DL forum and it sounds like it will be a great time!

 

[momtohms]

Outfit planning!

I love planning & shopping for Disney trips! If you’ve read my family trip reports, you probably can tell by all the matching & coordinating I do with my girls.

For this trip, I wanted to get at least one new tank with a fun slogan on it. For my 2016 trip with DH, I bought this one from Etsy seller MouseApparel:


Well one turned into three pretty quickly, whoops! There are so many cute sayings and designs and I do have 4 days (5 if you count the day we travel to Anaheim and spend time in DTD, that definitely needs a Disney themed shirt, right?! Haha)

The tank on the left is by Etsy seller TshirtBabe, and the two next to it are by Etsy seller LBFMagicCo.



If it wasn’t obvious, I’m a non-morning person who loves to eat & drink ;-)

Can’t wait to wear these in the parks!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Thanks! D23 sounds amazing and I did try and see if I could stretch out my trip for it - but it just wasn’t meant to be this year I am hoping to go to the next one though! I’ve been reading the thread about it over on the DL forum and it sounds like it will be a great time!

D23 started putting up videos of the panels (you can still find the videos from the last Expo online), so start looking for those soon after Expo starts. If you can't be there, you can still attend vicariously! (And get your Disney nerd on!)
Keep following the Expo Superthread -- it will really help you get prepared for the next time!

 

[Jaina]

So much fun!!! It makes me want to go to Disneyland with my parents. <3 <3 I hope you have the best time! What are you most interested in doing during your solo time?

 

[momtohms]

So much fun!!! It makes me want to go to Disneyland with my parents. <3 <3 I hope you have the best time! What are you most interested in doing during your solo time?

I know! They came along for our 2015 family trip, but it is definitely going to be different not having the kiddos. Thanks, I am sure it is going to be so much fun - keeping fingers crossed for great weather and not too crazy crowds. So far things are shaping up to be awesome with MSEP running (haven’t seen it live yet!), no big ride refurbs, and it will be fun to see Soarin CA again! I have a bucket list of things to do that I’m going to post about next, and a lot of those are things I’ll end up doing on my own. Mostly though I’m looking forward to just letting the “Disney winds” (to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite YouTube channels) take me wherever I care to go and enjoy the parks my own way!

 

[momtohms]

D23 started putting up videos of the panels (you can still find the videos from the last Expo online), so start looking for those soon after Expo starts. If you can't be there, you can still attend vicariously! (And get your Disney nerd on!)
Keep following the Expo Superthread -- it will really help you get prepared for the next time!

Awesome! Attending vicariously sounds like a great idea I’ve seen highlights form the last expo and definitely plan to catch ones from this year too!

 

[momtohms]

Trip Bucket List!

I have my little list of Disney related things that I want to do in my lifetime; ranging from totally achievable to going to need some major magic to accomplish (*cough cough* club 33 *cough cough*). Since I get to make my own schedule and rules, I thought this would be the perfect trip to check a bunch off my list!

1. Ride Jingles! I’m a huge Julie Andrews fan, and I just love that they dedicated a carousel horse to her. I’ve ridden the carousel on every trip, but have yet to ride Jingles. Definitely planning to make this happen, even if it takes a few attempts. I’m thinking one morning during EMH will be my best bet since most people go for Peter Pan, Matterhorn, Space Mtn, etc.

2. Walk the “secret path” by Harbour Galley that looks over where people come by in their logs after the big drop on Splash. I heard about this from Fresh Baked on YouTube and have been meaning to grab a snack and go people watch!

3. Ride everything I haven’t ridden yet. It’s not a very long list, and a lot of it is on the Rivers of America. Haha! At DL: Smuggler’s Run, obviously! I also still need to do the canoes, Tom Sawyer’s Island, ride on the Columbia, ride a loop on the DLR, and Roger Rabbit. Over in DCA: Goofy’s Sky School, and then the new re-skins of rides I’ve done before: Incredicoaster, Jessie’s Critter Carouse, and Inside Out. Totally doable as long as none of those are closed, I think!

I did consider trying to do every attraction at least once on this trip, and it may happen - but there are a few rides that are super low priority for me. Star Tours is the only ride in the park that gives me really bad motion sickness so that’s an easy skip. Also, I’m very “meh” on Storybook Canal and Nemo subs - both rides I’ve done before and feel like I spend forever in line, and then the rides are pretty long, and I just don’t get a ton of enjoyment out of either for the amount of time it takes out of my day. Maybe if I catch them as walk ons, but otherwise I think I’ll save the time to ride my favorites again

4. Meet a Disney Vlogger! I watch several on YouTube and would love to meet any of them in the parks. Unfortunately a lot of them only seem to go on weekends (and I’ll be there Mon-Thurs). It’s also like finding a needle in a haystack even if you are there at the same time. Haha!

5. My stomach may not be up for this one, but it would be fun to try and get all the songs on GOTG. I’ve done the ride once and got my favorite (the Jackson 5 song), so I wouldn’t mind that again - but I also want to experience the other 5 too so we’ll see how many I can knock out on this trip!

6. Have one EE/EMH to closing down the DL mainstreet shops day. No hotel breaks, just straight park hopping magic from open to close! I’m thinking I’ll do this one on Monday since it’s the first day where I will have the most energy, and it’s the longest day (the only day of my trip DL closes at 12am, the rest of the week it closes at 11pm). Go big! Haha! DH and I did this when we went in 2016 and managed almost 30 rides and walked like 15 Miles. It was an exhausting blast and my favorite day of that whole trip.

There are probably others I’ll think of, but those are my main ones! Also, like I mentioned in my first post, I get to check off staying at all 3 DLR hotels too! PPH in 2015, DLH in 2017, and now GCH in 2019.


ETA: Remembered one! See a Disney cat! I’ve seen them on every trip, so it should be pretty easy to accomplish. My middle daughter is cat obsessed so I promised to take pictures of as many cats as I could find.

 

[momtohms]

I got my last two shirts for my trip in the mail today and had to share!

Toy Story Alien! This is my Dad’s favorite character , so I thought it would be fun to rep it on our trip. I’m planning to wear this one the evening we have our Lamplight Lounge reservation


And this awesome Captain Marvel shirt. I love love love the slogan!


The back is the best part ;-)


The Alien tee is from the site Jane.com, and the Captain Marvel tee is from Etsy seller stylishslothdesigns

Less then a month until my trip! DH asked today “how many days until Disneyland?” And was shocked I didn’t have it memorized down to the second

Anyone else start stalking the weather for Anaheim weeks in advance? I always do even though my dates aren’t even in the extended forecast and even if they were it’s not super accurate until right before. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for low 80s and lots of sunshine!

 

[Jaina]

I love those shirts!! And those are great bucket list items. I the Davy Crockett canoes and the Columbia are on my list, because I've never done them! I have been lucky enough to ride Jingles 2-3 times. You just have to be first-ish to be let in (pay attention to where the gates open) and if you find and watch where Jingles stops, you'll have an idea where to head first.

 

[momtohms]

I love those shirts!! And those are great bucket list items. I the Davy Crockett canoes and the Columbia are on my list, because I've never done them! I have been lucky enough to ride Jingles 2-3 times. You just have to be first-ish to be let in (pay attention to where the gates open) and if you find and watch where Jingles stops, you'll have an idea where to head first.

Thanks! And thanks for the tips about Jingles, it shouldn’t be too hard of a Bucket List item to check off thankfully - but definitely one that is easier when I am by myself! Haha! Watching where Jingles is when the carousel stops is a great idea!

 

[momtohms]

Three weeks! Hooray!

I’m a little bummed because I found out that I can’t activate our military salute tickets the night before our first day. They activate at first entry and apparently have to be done together. This might put a wrench in my plans to hit up EE at DCA on that first morning since my Mom will probably not be getting up that early. I wish they would let me do mine early and my parent’s later in the day, maybe they will and I’m just not finding the right info. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now so i’ll ask when we arrive and if I have to miss that EE, I still have one other early DCA day to enjoy (plus the two DL EMHs)! Or maybe I can bribe my mom with coffee

Next week I’ll get to make my Oga’s Cantina reservation! Planning to do this on Monday and schedule it ahead of the Fireworks since I love the view of them that I’ve been seeing from Batuu in pics & videos. I also really love the look of the land at night and plan to make MFSR my last ride of the evening that day. Mostly because I can get sick on rides like that (ahem Star Tours, lol) so saving them for last is best - if I get sick, I’m already leaving right after anyway and won’t ruin the rest of my day feeling queasy - I can just go back to the hotel and sleep it off. Ha! And if I don’t get sick, i’ll have the rest of my trip to ride again.

Also made a small change to our Tuesday evening Lamplight Lounge reservation. My Dad loves the neon lighting in Carsland and our former dinner time was too close to sunset time, so I was able to switch it to a bit earlier so we have plenty of time to eat and then make our way over there! Not that we couldn’t have done it on a different night, but it seemed fun to plan them back to back for a very Pixar themed DCA evening!

Did I mention 3 weeks?! Woohoo!

 

[momtohms]

My final Etsy purchase came in the mail today, and it’s not a shirt this time



A super simple Mickey hat by Etsy seller, LuLusCoutureBoutique

Other than a few random odds and ends, I’ve basically finished getting everything I need for the trip. It’s almost time to start packing, although funny story - I still need to get a suitcase. I’m borrowing one from a family member and should be getting together with them to pick it up sometime next week.

17 days until my first park day (but less than 2 weeks until I leave for CA!) woohoo!

 

[Jaina]

So exciting!! We went with my uncle and used those military tickets once, and I remember we did all have to go in together the first day. I hope the weather and crowds are decent for you!!

 

[momtohms]

So exciting!! We went with my uncle and used those military tickets once, and I remember we did all have to go in together the first day. I hope the weather and crowds are decent for you!!

I got to talk to my mom about it this weekend and she is on board with being up early our first day. She even remembered we all had to go together at first from four years ago when they came with us, and figured I would want to do that early morning hour! Haha! I always feel bad asking people to wake up early on vacations, so I was going to be fine either way since I want my parents to have a great trip too Definitely planning to treat her to breakfast or something!

 

[momtohms]

I’m down to just a week and a half before I leave, and two weeks from today is my first park day! I was up just after 7 this morning to make my Oga’s reservation. Picked the 8:30pm time slot at first since the plan is to get drinks and then finish up just in time to walk out and watch the fireworks from Batuu. Then I saw a post on the main DL board where people were saying that there was often a wait to get in at your reservation time. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to give myself more of a window, and was able to change it to a little bit earlier

Almost time to start packing!

 

[momtohms]

10 days! 10 days!

DH surprised me with the potion purple water bottle that I’ve been wanting for months to take on my trip. I was planning to buy it there, so now I’ll have to put that money I was planning to use for it towards something else. Oh darn. Lol!