it was the best "pickle present" ever...our Dec 19-21 trip to Disneyland

[Speechphi]

I’m so glad you’ve decided to join me on my family’s most magical amazing Christmas trip gift ever...a TRIP TO DISNEYLAND!

First let me introduce myself. I’m Christine, better known as speechphi, around here. That’s “speech” as in speech-language pathologist (my day job) and “phi” (as in Alpha Phi, where it’s pronounced “fee”). I grew up in San Jose but made it to Disneyland over 10 times growing up (usually as a day trip while visiting family).



I’m married to David. Who grew up in LA but didn’t ever go to Disneyland! What?! We went together right before we got married in 2000 for one day. We didn’t make it back until 2010, when we were joined by our three little monsters:



Brandon is 9 1/2 and LOVES Disneyland, pin trading, and Stitch. He’s too cool now to admit he enjoys Disney movies, but watches them (and requests them) all the time.

Olivia is 8 1/2and can’t wait until she’s old enough to get a job as a dancer at Disneyland. She got to dance in a parade when she was 4 on her first visit. Like all girls her age, she loves Frozen. I know, shocking. She also loves Tinkerbell (dh's nickname for her), and ballet. So we spent most of Nov & Dec in Nutcracker rehearsals & performances.

Abbie is 6 and loves all things Disney. I think she has more Disney stuffed animals than Main Street! She too loves all things Frozen, and couldn’t care less if every ride was down, as long as she got to meet lots of characters.

***

Dh & I decided back in July that we wanted to go to Disneyland this Christmas time. And I decided that I was tired of buying the kids toys & stuff that just clutters up the house (especially since I spend most of December with dd8 in Nutcracker rehearsals & performances). So, if a trip to Disneyland was the Christmas present, I could get out of shopping and cleaning up their messes

Somehow we kept the secret all the way until it was time to pack!

 

[Speechphi]

We told the kids Thurs night, as part of their "pickle present" surprise. For those who've never done this, the tradition is to hang a pickle ornament on the tree, and whoever finds it gets an extra present. However, I have no desire to have 2/3 kids upset when they don't get a present, so in our family we do it a bit differently: 1) it's usually done before Christmas, as an activity on one of the first days of winter break, and 2) the gift is usually some sort of game or shared enjoyment thing, so really the finder of the pickle just gets to open the present.

After ds's rock concert, we came home with my parents & had the kids look for the pickle ornament. As usual, dd8 found the ornament & she got to open the gift.



(I had found the girls tops at Target & ds's at Kohl's)

I knew this wouldn't be enough of a clue, so I played dumb & said that I'd forgotten something, and they needed to open two more gifts. Of course, they were game. Gift #2, an autograph book I'd made, that they kind of threw aside, like "why is she giving this now when we aren't going to DLR until June." Then gift #3: three 2-day park-hoppers (dh & I just got APs).





Dd8 was like, PARKHOPPERS!!!! Are we going to Disneyland?!!! And dh & I said, yes we are, TONIGHT! Go pack your bags!

Can you tell they were excited?



We had mostly packed, so we helped them pack, let them go to bed, then grabbed them out of bed & hit the road at 11:30pm from Sacramento-area.

 

[Speechphi]

We arrived at the PPH at 5:30am (unless you work for the CHP, then I think it was closer to 7:30 )

Dh checked us in, told them it was his birthday, and got a signed print of Elsa & Anna. He was able to upgrade our room to premium (we paid for it), and our room was ready We got our bags up to our room, changed out of our sweats & pjs, and the girls decorated their bed (as they said, like the maids do)



We hit the gate at DCA at about 6:30 for a 7am entry. All 3 kids had Santa Mickey or Minnie hats on that dh got last month on a business trip. Between their outfits, total adorable-ness, dh's birthday button, and sheer good luck, we were chosen to open up DCA! What a great start to our Christmas Vacation!

 

[heaven2dc]

What an awesome start to your Christmas DL trip!

 

[Speechphi]

We hit TSMM first, then Carsland, and then Bugsland. Crowds were there, but not bad at all. Usually we go to DLR in mid-June, and I think the crowds were pretty similar to then. We walked into Elias & Co on our way out of the park, and were able to walk right up to Santa, no wait at all! In fact, we were the only family there for about 15 minutes, and had Santa all to ourselves. My kids were in heaven!

(we did get photopass plus, but I haven't even begun to edit/add borders yet, so I haven't downloaded them yet)

 

[Speechphi]

Next we went to DLR & ran right into Goofy! We took some photos with him, and then headed straight to Fantasyland (well, straight for me; my family would describe it as slowly meandering while mom takes pictures )















We stood in line for almost 30 min for PP when we were informed that the computer was down & it would be at least a 30 min wait. So we ditched the line even though we were nearly through it & hit a few other FL rides (including Alice which we had missed in June since it was in the middle of a refurb).













We had 11:30 reservations for BB to celebrate dh's birthday, so we headed over to PoC and rode that. We finished the ride at 11:25, went to BB, and sat waterside. AMAZING! We all loved our lunch & can't wait to go there again! The boys both had the beef loin, and the girls & I both had the salmon. Dd8 has celiac, so the chef came out & spoke with her so he could prepare her meal gluten free. She opted for warm GF bread & the GF penne in place of the regular pasta & bread. I had a mint julep with a glow cube with my meal too









Our waitress then brought out TWO desserts for dh's birthday; a Mickey-shaped chocolate covered cheesecake with a candle for us all to share, and some divine mango sorbet for dd since she couldn't have the cheesecake. Yum!

 

[Speechphi]

Dh's birthday was today, and he ALWAYS gets the shaft. Not just because it's so close to Christmas, but because it's in the middle of Nutcracker season (dd8 dances with a local ballet company), and the chaos of school & activities, and well, you get the picture. So I wanted to do something special, so I booked the holiday tour. Fortunately, dh had a business trip to Anaheim in Nov and I "made" him get our APs then so I could use them to get a discount on the tour.

During lunch at BB, I told everyone I had a special surprise: we were going on the holiday tour at 2:30!!!!



I made this autograph book on Shutterfly...I got the idea from another family eating at Minnie's a couple years ago. It's most of the character photos from all of our visits over the past few years. We get the most amazing interactions from all the characters & CMs from these books.



We had some time to kill between lunch & the tour, so we decided to meet some characters. First up, Pixie Hollow. The wait for Tink & Rosetta was about 15 minutes. I love the interactions from the fairies here! And the CMs in the area are fantastic as well. They kept teasing my son that the reason he didn't want his picture with Rosetta was because he had a secret crush on Tink, and he didn't want her to get jealous...and he was too shy to have his picture with Tink









After Tink, we went to Tomorrow land and waited to meet Hiro & Baymax. We did meet them, they are super cool, but the wait took forever! I think we were there an hour? I know we were getting nervous that we'd be late for our tour. I did get some photos of my kids with Baymax & Hiro, but they are on my Photopass...at some point I'll add them on here. For now, this is what I've got

 

[Speechphi]

So we all headed down Main St, and did a little window shopping on our way to the tour. As we hit City Hall, Mickey was greeting guests, so dh & the kids stood in line for that while I checked in for our tour.









I love our cook personalized nametags



My kids had fun with their "spectacles": aka the lanyards for our headphone system for the tour.





Our tour started at 2:55, and our guide was Brigham, and he was wonderful! Super peppy & knowledgable & didn't mind that my ds was walking right with him the entire time. We started in DL, then walked to Trolley Treats at DCA for our yummy minty caramel marshmallow treat. I never would've put those flavors together before, but it was delicious!











I wish this photo could fully convey how much of the sprinkles ended up on dd6! I think she had more on her face than had been on the treat to begin with...I know food can be messy, but this child never fails to get food all over her face. You can also see what the ear piece looks like. Mine fit fine, and I'm pretty sure ds, dh, and dd8 didn't have any problems. Dd6's kept coming off (I'm sure she had nothing to do with it ). I wish I'd remembered to grab our earbuds, I think they would've fit better. If we go on another tour, I'll definitely try to remember to grab them.



From DCA we went back to DL, and over to the Jingle Cruise. We hadn't been on this ride before, and it awesome! I love all the silly corny jokes, and ds is totally into bad puns, so this was right up his alley. Dd8 was excited to get the "Sugar Plum" boat...I just wish it'd been the "Sugar Plum Ferry"









Next up was HMH, which had a 45 minute wait...that we just skipped right past! Unfortunately, this is when I realized my camera battery was just about dead, so I only took I few pics. I was hoping to make it back here on Saturday, but that didn't happen. I did get a few photos on my camera of NOS & the ride, and then a few on my phone. I wanted to save the DSLR for the parade when I'd need manual settings.



You can see how crazy it was by HMH! The time stamp on my phone says 5:30pm.











From HMH we walked by JJJ, but didn't stop in. We did get to shout "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" a few times along the way, which was fun. I'd read other tour reports saying that they'd been able to sing; I can see other people not enjoying that, and I don't know how thrilled I'd be to be singing in public, but my kids would've had a blast!

 

[Speechphi]

Now it was time to head over to IASW holiday. Love this ride. Again, we were able to bypass the line, which was over 45 minutes. Honestly, the only real crowd I noticed on this day was for the holiday rides & Baymax; otherwise everything was manageable.

I love how IASW looks at night! This next photo was actually taken from our parade seats...like I said, nearly dead battery. And we've been on IASW Holiday before, and I was planning on riding it again (which we did on Sat with a fresh battery).



I didn't know it when I took this photo, but my son was coming down with a little bug. So he was FREEZING & thankful that dh had bought the Jack Skellington blanket so he could wrap himself in it .



After IASW, it was time for the parade. Yummy gingerbread cookies & hot chocolate for us all, and a delicious OMG It's Gluten Free brownie for my dd. We all love our mugs & the pins are adorable! The tour was a surprise gift for dh's birthday, so he doesn't know what I spent. So I asked him when it was done if he would do it again, and got a resounding YES! from my whole family (dh, ds9, dd8, & dd6). I think it was worth every penny! We did get an AP discount, but I had to buy 5 tickets, so this wasn't a cheap afternoon by any means. But I think it's a holiday must do!

(not the best photo of the pin we received)


dd8 enjoying her hot chocolate in her new mug (which my kids LOVE & use daily, because "since it has a lid, we can drink in the family room!!!" )


and another so-so photo, this time of the gingerbread cookie, aka "lebkuchen" as it was called on the tour


And I can't leave out parade photos:













One of the other great things worth mentioning, was that the tour guides requested that the adults sit in rows 2 & 3 (there were three rows of seats), so that the kids could sit in the front row. Thank you. The parade performers really paid a LOT of attention to the kids in the front row which was awesome!

As I said, I HIGHLY recommend this tour and if/when we go back to DLR at Christmas time, we will go on the tour again. So worth it!

 

[Speechphi]

We took the train back to Main Street after the parade, and bought a popcorn bucket. I only saw the generic "Happy Holidays" buckets for sale, except in NOS where they still had a Zero bucket. While waiting for popcorn, we saw Pluto, so we snapped a few pics with him.



At this point we were all beat, and ready to eat & go back to the hotel. We all agreed that Whitewater Snacks sounded best, so we stopped there on our way back to PPH. Originally I had planned on watching the fireworks this night, but it just didn't happen. We usually take a mid day break, but we went on a tour instead. I took a pic of the gingerbread house at Whitewater Snacks while the kids were picking out their dinners: dd8 grabbed a Chicken Caesar salad, dd6 grabbed some fruit, and dh, ds, & I all had nachos.



As we walked back to our room at PPH, I spotted the carolers in the lobby of the Grand. Unfortunately by now, my camera was completely dead, so I had no choice but to use my iphone. At least I got a picture...it probably won't make it into our trip album, but I will be able to use it for the superthread photo challenge next year if Sherry E does that again



We had a view room at PPH and watched WOC from our room with the music from our TV. Since we'd skipped fireworks tonight, I figured that we'd skip WOC & see fireworks on Saturday. But hearing the music & watching the water from our room sealed the deal & we all decided we were going to WOC Winter Dreams instead of the fireworks on Sat night.

We made it thru the show, and by then we we were all ready for bed! Ds hadn't even made until WOC was done But that's okay, because we had a LONG day ahead of us, and we knew we wanted to be at the gate at RD again.

 

[Speechphi]

Saturday morning we were up bright & early for EMH. This morning it was available at both parks, but we wanted to make sure we could check out the new "Frozenland."

On our way through DD, I stopped in Starbucks to grab some coffee & hot chocolate while dh took the kids to the gate. We'd done the same yesterday too, but the hot chocolate was AWFUL. It tasted like they'd added water to it or something. Kids were bummed yesterday, but, being way-too-regular at Starbucks, I knew that getting the drink fixed today wouldn't be a problem. So I told the barista of the issue with the drinks, and she said, "They don't use water, they couldn't be watery." Well, we buy hot chocolate at Sbux all the time, so we know what it's supposed to taste like, and this was gross. "Well, you should've come back right away to have it fixed." Um, we were in DCA, I wasn't about to head back to have it fixed because I've always been able to have it fixed the next day. And with that she charged me for another round of hot chocolate. Needless to say, they were gross again. Only this time instead of complaining at Sbux, I emailed them.

Well, at least dh's & my peppermint white mochas were good!

First stop in the park: Candy cane wrist bands from Trolley Treats! Both girls & I got wristbands ...score!



Next stop: Hollywood, err, Frozen-land.

I wanted to make sure we met Olaf, since we met the princesses when we were at DLR in June. We could see Olaf, so I asked if that was where we were supposed to go, and the CM said, "Yes. Would you like to be the first family to meet Olaf?! Ever?!"

Um YES!!!!

So we were the first family to meet him! Tons of suits were there, taking selfies with him...so cute! The PP photographer wasn't even there yet. Olaf is adorable! His autograph is a self portrait since he doesn't know how to write his name





So cool!

After Olaf we walked across the street & got our FPs for Anna & Elsa. I had already warned the girls that we might not meet them, and that was okay since we just saw them in June. I wasn't sure how crazy it was going to be since it was the first day of them being in DCA. It was actually pretty quiet, but it was also only 7:20am.



We had 20 minutes to kill, so the boys went to ToT (dds don't like that ride, and I do, but sometimes moms have to make sacrifices), and the girls went inside the Animation building to get out of the cold. We also took a few pictures outside just for the fun of it.









We had fun in the Library...this was my first time in the building, and we'll definitely return. I had really wanted to go into the Animation "class" & draw Olaf or Marshmallow, but that wasn't starting until 9am. I was told they were bringing in classes 4x/hour instead of 2x, and that they were alternating which character they were drawing.

At 7:41 we were led down the hallway to meet Anna & Elsa. There were two groups ahead of us, and a few sets of doors down the hallway. Of course dd6 tried to open one, and since I wasn't sure how many sets of A&E were greeting guests I got her hand off the doorknob ASAP! Once in the room to meet the princesses, we realized dh had the autograph book! Boo! I had our sharpie in my pocket, so the girls decided that the princesses could sign their hands...oh boy. Dh arrived just as we were finishing up, so the girls got their autographs after all.







Next stop was Soarin'. We all rode it & everyone but dh & ds loved it. Ds loved it last summer, but was feeling under the weather so that didn't help today. While us girls rose Soarin' again (no line either time...love EE!), the boys went & got FPs for WOC. At this point, we decided to head back over to DL since we wanted to hit a few FL rides before our breakfast reservation at Minnie's.













We were able to ride PP within 30 minutes, and we didn't even get in line until about 8:30! We rode a couple more rides and then made our way to Minnie's for breakfast.

 

[tksbaskets]

What a great trip report! I followed your link from the Christmas super thread. Your pictures are wonderful with just the right amount of journaling. I busted out laughing when I read this:

'Next we went to DLR & ran right into Goofy! We took some photos with him, and then headed straight to Fantasyland (well, straight for me; my family would describe it as slowly meandering while mom takes pictures )'

My family would say the same about me.

The tour looked like a great time. We've done it twice and this past December I was bummed I hadn't booked it again.

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. So great that the castmembers took your DD's dietary needs into account.

 

[Speechphi]

What a great trip report! I followed your link from the Christmas super thread. Your pictures are wonderful with just the right amount of journaling. I busted out laughing when I read this:

'Next we went to DLR & ran right into Goofy! We took some photos with him, and then headed straight to Fantasyland (well, straight for me; my family would describe it as slowly meandering while mom takes pictures )'

My family would say the same about me.

The tour looked like a great time. We've done it twice and this past December I was bummed I hadn't booked it again.

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. So great that the castmembers took your DD's dietary needs into account.

Thank you