It's our One Year Anniversary so we're going to Disneyland!! DAY TWO STARTED 7/24!

[tiggersam00]

Thats awesome Shannon!!!! Congrats!!! I can't wait to hear all about the upcoming trip (but please finish the X-mas trip too, it is making me realllllly want to go to DL)

 

[ariel1025]

Yay! That is wonderful!

YAY! thats great news

Thats awesome Shannon!!!! Congrats!!! I can't wait to hear all about the upcoming trip (but please finish the X-mas trip too, it is making me realllllly want to go to DL)

Thanks so much everyone!! The only reason I was worried was because it was Memorial weekend and it took them a lot longer to confirm than when we reserved the other two trips. I guess they are just on "overload" because Bay Lake Tower and the Treehouse opened for reservations and everyone wants them

Don't worry Samantha I will still finish my Christmas trip

 

[ariel1025]

Ok, so I am a crazy woman when it comes to planning trips. I don't even get upset if plans change when we get there (as they sometimes do) but I have to know that the plan is there to fall back on!!!

I have about a million questions but I will try to take them one step at a time It will be hard for me, but I know it will make the time go by faster if I stretch out the planning. So, I am going to attempt to do a "question of the day" type of thing.

With that being said...my first question is:

Where is a great place to go for our Anniversary Dinner? It doesn't necessarily have to be on Disney Property, but it's ok if it is too. I want somehwere that has good food and a romantic atmosphere. Possibly a restaurant overlooking the ocean???

 

[DizNee Luver]

The place everyone seems to rave about on property is the Napa Rose in the GCH. I haven't been myself, but have read some great reviews on the food & atmosphere.
Our romantic 25th Anniversary dinner is going to be at Hook's Pointe at the DL Hotel. Not near as fancy (as we're pretty much jeans & tee's people) but spending time alone with the one you love can even make McDonald's romantic (sorta)
Enjoy the planning stages.....so much fun!!!

 

[JennisSilly]

Honestly, Napa Rose is nice, but... for the price if you're willing to leave property you can probably find better.

On property there aren't really any restaurants that overlook the ocean.... being that Anaheim is inland But if you head down by Newport I'd bet you could find a ton of ideas- not that I can think of any right now.

Also in Down Town Disney, you have a few options depending on what you're looking for... House of Blues, then there's this other one that I cant think of for the life of me, they have the wine bar in the center of downtown disney but also a restaurant.

Now- it's not like uber romantic, but what used to be wolf gang pucks is now a character dining restaurant, that overlooks "paradise pier" and the water feature. You can actually eat outside over the pier, but the pricesses do then walk around to your table. Plus with the renovations, the water feature may still be drained.

Napa Rose like I stated is really nice, and the food is great, but I've also heard good things about Steak House 55 in the Disneyland Hotel.

OH and the Anaheim Garden Walk is now open, which is right down the street with tons of restaurants and trendy places! Currently these are their restaurants:

# Bar Louie Tavern & Grill
# Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
# California Pizza Kitchen
# McCormick & Schmicks Grille
# P.F. Chang's China Bistro
# Pop the Cork
# Roy's Restaurant Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine
# The Cheesecake Factory

Their website is: http://www.anaheimgardenwalk.com/

Good luck!

 

[ariel1025]

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in so long....unfortunately it wasn't for a good reason...

We are having to cancel our Anniversary trip to Disneyland...

I kept thinking that if I didn't come on here and say it then it wouldn't be true, but I have to face the bad news and get over it

I want to thank all of you for all your help when I started planning everything, I know one day we will have a Disneyland trip to plan and I hope to find all of you on here when we do

 

[DizNee Luver]

I'm so so sorry to hear that!! Its very hard to let go of something you've been planning & were excited to do. Hopefully this will only be a short set-back & you can still do a belated anniversary trip!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.....I wish you many more!!!!!

 

[kaoden39]

I'm sorry to hear that. I had to cancel an anniversary trip last year myself so I understand.

 

[ariel1025]

I'm so so sorry to hear that!! Its very hard to let go of something you've been planning & were excited to do. Hopefully this will only be a short set-back & you can still do a belated anniversary trip!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.....I wish you many more!!!!!

I'm sorry to hear that. I had to cancel an anniversary trip last year myself so I understand.

Thank you both for your kind words, that's exactly why I love the DIS ... everyone on here understandds the way the "Disney lovers" feel I'm sorry I didn't comment sooner..when we cancelled the trip I didn't check this thread for a while because I was too upset...guess I was kinda being childish

If by any chance your still reading...check for an update coming soon...

 

[kaoden39]

I totally understand. I was the same way. I avoided Disboards for a while even.

 

[ariel1025]

Well, last I left off on here I was bawling my eyes out because we had to cancel our Anniversary Trip to the place where it all began ... DL I'm not sure I ever explained what happened but I'm sure you can all understand with this one evil word...

TAXES!!!!!

Long story short they claimed that my Husband didn't file his taxes a couple years ago and said we weren't going to get our refund this year because they were taking it to put towards those costs and fees and late penalties....ugh!! Well, we knew that he did file his taxes but couldn't find any of the documentation that they required to prove it.

Then to make our current life situation even sadder we found out that his parents could no longer go with us to WDW for the trip we are planning in September

For a couple of weeks all I felt like doing was crying. We had spent so much time planning both of these trips and were so excited about them. Well, we knew that we had to cancel one of them so we ended up canceling the DL trip...we knew that we had more time to save money for the WDW trip at the end of the year.

And then the Angels finally smiled down on us ....

We got a call from my MIL and she said that she was very upset that they couldn't go to WDW like they had planned (they couldn't get that much time off of work) so they wanted to take us on a shorter trip this summer so we could still have a family vacation

In the end we all agreed that we would go to ..........
















Yep, you guessed it DISNEYLAND!!!!!

So now the trip is back on....for the same dates and the same hotel but there are TONS of other changes coming

I am so super excited and it's helped me to realize that dreams really do come true you just have to believe in them first

 

[kaoden39]

Wow! I am so happy for you! Everything is going to work out for you.

 

[DizNee Luver]

That's Awesome!!!!! Can't wait to hear the old/new plans!!!!! Isn't it amazing how a little Disney Magic can totally change your outlook on reality?!!!

 

[Sarah84]

Thats such fantastic news that your Disneyland trip is back on

 

[ariel1025]

Wow! I am so happy for you! Everything is going to work out for you.

Thank you very much

That's Awesome!!!!! Can't wait to hear the old/new plans!!!!! Isn't it amazing how a little Disney Magic can totally change your outlook on reality?!!!

Thanks!! Disney Magic might control my outlook on life a little too much sometimes But it helps bring me back to the simple things that make life worth while

Thats such fantastic news that your Disneyland trip is back on

Thank you very much

 

[ariel1025]

Well, like I said some of the plans have changed and some of them have not. We were lucky enough to be able to "re-book" our room without any complications and we even found a flight that makes us very happy So, without further ado ... our plans so far ....

Dates: May 21-25

Hotel: Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel

So that information is completely the same. Only difference is we have new members of our traveling party.

We are going to be flying Southwest because, well, they are the cheapest tickets we could find and we haven't ever had any problems with them. We will be flying into LAX instead of Orange County for several reasons. Flying into LAX allowed us to get a nonstop flight (both ways) and since we are all (especially my FIL) a little nervous about flying (will not think about all the plane crashes this year, will not think about all the plane crashes this year ) we figured it was better to not have to take off and land multiple times . It was also cheaper to fly into LAX, and really, how much more reasoning does a person need

Ok, now here is where we really don't know how to plan anything...

Our flight will be landing around noon and then we plan on renting a car instead of getting the Disney shuttle (this is due to other plans for the trip). We were thinking of using Alamo?!?! Any opinions on this?

However, we don't know how long to give ourselves to get from LAX to DL at "noonish" time on a Thursday Again, any opinions or advice?

At any rate we figure we will either

1. Check into the hotel, get some lunch, rest and then hit the parks for the night

or

2. Get some lunch, enjoy the parks and then check into the hotel, get dinner and call it a night

This will be based mostly on what time we get to DL (before or after check in time). I am predicting that we will already be allowed to check in since check-in starts at 3:00pm.

So, that's all we have planned for our arrival day. We are thinking we might like to eat dinner at the Blue Bayou, but aren't too sure yet. We've never eaten there before but it sounds good. Feedback anyone?? This will probably depend on what time DL closes this night. If they close too early then we will grab dinner in DTD somewhere.

I also had a question about park tickets. We definitely want to get park hopper tickets and we want to go ahead and get tickets for all five days (even though we have other things planned on certain parts of other days). Currently the DL website has 5 day park hoppers for the price of 3 days ($179.00 per person). Does anybody know if this is the best deal I could get???? Any secrets anyone knows about?

Thanks everyone for jumping back on board I promise future updates will be more fun-filled

In case anyone needs a reminder (and because this TR needs some pictures ) here is our new travel party

Awww, aren't they cute That's my Husband's parents (Flora and Candido)

And of course me (Shannon) and my Husband (Candido or Candi for short - and the purpose of not confusing him and his Dad when they are in the same room ) **Sorry about the super huge picture of us compared to them, photobucket is acting silly and it won't go smaller

 

[DizNee Luver]

We've never flown in so can't really help on estimating the times...but since we drive from the North thru LA, I will tell you it took us 2 hours from the time we hit LA to get to Anaheim & that was on a Saturday at 5pm.....so plan on it taking quite a while mid-week during the day. My guess is you are looking at getting in around noon & it will take you about an hour to get luggage & rent your car (that's an estimate based on a Hawaii trip & doing the same). I would get lunch before going to far, otherwise you all could be famished by the time you made Anaheim. Check-in is at 3pm, but if you arrive prior, they will pre-check you in & hold your bags....so you don't have to leave them in the car.

If you want to do dinner at the Blue Bayou or any of the other sit-down restaurants, I'd suggest you decide where & when & make your PS for them now. 714-781-3463 for Disney Dining

The Blue Bayou was very, very, very good but pricey! We shared an appetizer, split an entree & shared a dessert (2 of us & it ran us $70). The setting is relaxing & beautiful & we found the service to be very good, but you definately will need a PS for here....they are very popular.

Other suggestions for a sit-down meal would be the Rainforest Cafe or House of Blues in DTD (also have heard that the Jazz Kitchen is excellent) or the PCH Grill at the Paradise Pier Hotel. Those are just a couple, but there are tons of choices & you could peruse the menus on the dining thread to get a better idea of types of food & prices.

The parkhoppers are a good deal right now but I know others get tickets thru Costco & other places & maybe someone will be able to advise you better on that.

Looking forward to more!!

 

[ariel1025]

We've never flown in so can't really help on estimating the times...but since we drive from the North thru LA, I will tell you it took us 2 hours from the time we hit LA to get to Anaheim & that was on a Saturday at 5pm.....so plan on it taking quite a while mid-week during the day. My guess is you are looking at getting in around noon & it will take you about an hour to get luggage & rent your car (that's an estimate based on a Hawaii trip & doing the same). I would get lunch before going to far, otherwise you all could be famished by the time you made Anaheim. Check-in is at 3pm, but if you arrive prior, they will pre-check you in & hold your bags....so you don't have to leave them in the car.

If you want to do dinner at the Blue Bayou or any of the other sit-down restaurants, I'd suggest you decide where & when & make your PS for them now. 714-781-3463 for Disney Dining

The Blue Bayou was very, very, very good but pricey! We shared an appetizer, split an entree & shared a dessert (2 of us & it ran us $70). The setting is relaxing & beautiful & we found the service to be very good, but you definately will need a PS for here....they are very popular.

Other suggestions for a sit-down meal would be the Rainforest Cafe or House of Blues in DTD (also have heard that the Jazz Kitchen is excellent) or the PCH Grill at the Paradise Pier Hotel. Those are just a couple, but there are tons of choices & you could peruse the menus on the dining thread to get a better idea of types of food & prices.

The parkhoppers are a good deal right now but I know others get tickets thru Costco & other places & maybe someone will be able to advise you better on that.

Looking forward to more!!

Ok...if you are still reading....thanks so much for all the advice!!! I have been a bad, bad DISer but am getting ready to post a new update. As you stated, I assumed it would take a while to get through LA mid-week in the afternoon Thanks for the advice on tix through Costco, I actually have a membership and didn't even think about it. However, for those who want to know, it's actually cheaper to go through DL directly with their current deal ... scary isn't it...Disney AND cheaper in the same sentence

 

[ariel1025]

Hey everyone!!! First and foremost, my biggest apologies for not posting in almost a month Unfortunately, life just seems to think it's more important than Disney planning I wish I could say that things have calmed down, but they have not. However, with less than a month until our trip the "OCD" in me just cannot avoid planning any longer. Holy cow...did you catch that?

LESS THAN A MONTH UNTIL DISNEYLAND!!!!!

Now, this makes many people super excited, and don't get me wrong, I am, but I have SO much stuff to do to prepare and I am WAY behind. Did I mention that I am normally an over (the top) planner???? My Husband swears it's a disease...but you know he thinks me for it when we are enjoying the vacation

So, where do I even begin??? Let's see....you already know the cast, where we are staying, the dates...hmmmm....well, let's start with the "To Do" list. I'm sorry if this bores anybody...feel free to take a nap and jump back in later it's just that putting it on here will help me feel more organized and if I feel more organized I will feel more calm Anybody out there feeling sorry for my Husband having to put up with a crazy person for a Wife yet??? Come on, don't be shy, it won't hurt my feelings

To Do - Week of April 26:

1. Clean the house for the folks ... oh yeah did I mention my parents are coming to town for my Birthday this week??? I'm super excited and it will help this week go by faster, but it means a SUPER DUPER cleaning is in order. And...yes, I realize that my Mom doesn't really believe that my house is ALWAYS as clean as it is when they visit, but it won't stop me from pretending she does

2. Go through and figure out what summer clothes still fit the both of us from last year. This could mean adding shopping to my list of things to do...but we will hope not...I HATE to shop for clothes!!!

3. If the above does not go as planned....go shopping for summer clothes. It will be warm when we are there right??? What are the average temps??

4. Order park tickets for Candi and I...his parents said they just want to buy theirs when they get there.

5. Find out about transportation from LAX...we have decided not to rent a car the whole time we are there...will update ya on that when I post the itinerary.

6. See if and where the traveling party wants to eat...if it's necessary to make ressies add that to the list...and hold my breathe hoping that it's still available. Did I mention how much it stresses me out to travel with three procrastinators

7. Make an "itinerary." Now, I understand we won't stick to it and I don't care I just want the comfort of knowing we have some sort of an idea of what is going on.

Ok, so that's my list for this week. If I conquer one a day we should be good, but we'll see how that goes

I "pinky swear" that I will post A LOT more frequently from now on

Lots of fun stuff coming up.....

But for now, I leave you with my favorite picture from our "beach day" the last time we went to Disneyland together

 

[DizNee Luver]

Hooray you made it back!!!!! Life does have a way of taking us away from the important things......like planning Disneyland trips!!!!

Disney has a great deal with the 5 for 3!!! Glad you were able to take advantage of that!!!!

Can't wait to see what you get done this week......you have lots to do!!!

By the way !!!!!!!