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Our crazy Disneyland adventure – March 10 & 11, 2007
Cast of Characters:
Me, Tina, 38, official Disneyland Fanatic
Gerilyn, 48, becoming an official Disneyland Fanatic
Allonna, 7, my niece, has been to Disneyland 8 times in her 7 years, official Disneyland Fanatic
Mariah, 9, Gerilyn’s daughter, Disneyland Fanatic in training
Pre-trip:
We took the girls to Disneyland in June for the Baton Twirling Spectacular. Mariah hadn’t been since she was 3. It was an awesome 4 day trip. We already had plans to go back in June of this year for the parade again, but Gerilyn and I couldn’t wait that long! We decided to do a quickie weekend trip and surprise the girls with it.
We started planning a few months ago. It had to be relatively inexpensive, as Gerilyn is a single mom who struggles to do the best she can for Mariah! We ended up getting two free adult 2 day hopper tickets from her ex-husband (He is a DJ at a local radio station), so we only had to buy 2 kids 2 day hoppers. My mom was able to get them through work for only $87 each, so we saved a bit there. We booked the new Motel 6 on Disney Way (formerly the Red Roof Inn) for $60, which I thought was good for a Saturday night during Spring Break season! I started buying up a bunch of dollar store Disney items for the girls and got them each a princess backpack. I bought things like an autograph book, candy, a pen, a journal, and a few other small items. I also bought them both Disney Dollars and gift cards for Build-A-Bear. It was driving us crazy not to tell them, but we really wanted to surprise them.
A few weeks ago, I told my niece she would be spending the weekend at Mariah’s house and that there was a baton contest we had to drive far to attend. I told her they would go to bed early and we would wake them up and they would have to go to sleep in the car. They were cool with that!
The anticipation of the trip was killing us, but Friday March 9th finally came!
THE TRIP:
I left work at noon that day and drove to Sacrament to pick up my niece from school. We drove to Brentwood and stopped to pick up a pizza for dinner. We all went to sleep about 9pm. Gerilyn and I woke at 11:30 and we got the girls up at midnight. We got them in the car easily and they both fell right back asleep.
We took off about 12:15am. Of course there was no traffic and a couple of hours in I could tell we were going to get there at like 5 or 5:30. Mariah woke up once and had to go to the bathroom, but didn’t figure anything out. Allonna slept right through the drive. We did get into Anaheim about 5:30 and decided to try and check in if they would let us. Of course they had been full on Friday so there was no room available. If there had been, the nice lady was going to let us! Gerilyn decided to change in their bathroom so I waited by the car (I had to stretch my poor legs!!). Well, both girls woke up and started asking where we were. I told them we were just stopping to go to the bathroom, but in the lobby of the hotel was a big ole Mickey Mouse statue (I shouldn’t have parked in the check in area!!!). My niece is pretty smart when it comes to anything Disney and she asked why there was a Mickey and I said that the hotel must sell Disney stuff. She sort of casually asked me if we were in Disneyland and I said no and then Mariah said we couldn’t be at DL because there were no rides! It was funny! So then we decided to go eat breakfast at Denny’s across the street from DL and we knew they would figure it out. So I turned out of the hotel onto Disney Way, and Allonna said really loud, Oh my gosh, Disney Way! She said Auntie are we at DL and I said no! I think I had them convinced we weren’t until we got closer to Harbor and you could totally see Tower of Terror and they both started screaming and then crying! It was so cute. They were so excited! It made me and Gerilyn cry! They kept screaming OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, over and over!!!
So we went to Denny’s and we gave them the backpacks. They were so happy with their little treasures. We told them that we fibbed a little to them and this was a surprise trip and that it was a short one and we’d try to do as much as we could, etc… OMG, they were just so excited! We ate then went out to the car to get them ready. I had bought them matching Disney t-shirts as well! We got them changed and we headed to the parking garage. We got to the parking structure at 7am and got on a tram and got to the gates at about 7:20.
We got in right at 8 and practically ran to Pirates. During breakfast we had all decided this is what we were doing first! So we get there and there are two people standing there and they tell us it’s closed!!! I was like, WHAT???? Then he said it would be open in a bit. Good thing or I might have gone postal on him!!! So the girls went into the Tarzan Treehouse and then we decided to do Indy. Well, Allonna freaked out and said she wouldn’t go on it, she doesn’t like it! The child has been on that ride a million times and all of the sudden doesn’t like it anymore. Ok, whatever! I was not going force her to ride it (when we went on HM after that, there was a kid about 10 or so that was screaming because he didn’t want to go on it. The dad was dragging him in the lobby. The kid was kicking and screaming and finally the dad grabbed him by the shirt and yelled right in his face that he was being a big baby. I was appalled! If the kid doesn’t want to go on the ride, please don’t make him! I felt so bad for that little boy) . So Gerilyn and Mariah went on it.
Then we went to Haunted Mansion and when we came out Pirates was open!!! We got right on and it was great! When we were there in June it was the weekend of the Pirates 2 premiere and the ride was closed so we hadn’t been on it with the changes. I loved the changes!! The jewel room looked fantastic and I loved the addition of that Davy Jones screen and the 3 Captain Jack’s!
Next we went to the Tiki room and had a Dole Whip. YUMO!!! Then we headed over to the Princess Fantasy Faire. We spent a long time there! There was storytelling and a coronation ball and all kinds of crap and the girls didn’t want to leave! We finally dragged them away and we were going to go on Small World but the line was all the way into Fantasyland, near the Matterhorn! DL was packed! I mean it was wall to wall people! So we headed over to the Pizza Port and had lunch. That took forever because it was so crowded in there. After lunch, we were waiting in line for Buzz, but it was so long and taking forever and then Mariah saw Ariel in her shell and starting having a melt down. Ariel is her favorite Princess! So we got out of the line for Buzz and waited in the line for Ariel. That took over an hour! Of course as we got close, she went on break. But we had to see her. Mariah was crying the whole time we were waiting for her! So we saw Ariel, then went to the Happiest Birthday’s on Earth party. The kids loved that! It was hot and the park was a madhouse, so we headed to DTD to do some shopping!
We shopped at the World of Disney! I got these really cute Minnie Mouse sunglasses for my other niece Lexi! She is only 8 months old, but they were too cute! I bought a few pins, a shirt, a Tink antenna topper, and some other small things! Then we went to Build A Bear and the girls made bears. Of course Mariah made an Ariel bear! After that we had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. It was delicious! Gerilyn and I were exhausted! After dinner we went to check into the hotel and took a nap until 7:45.
We went back to DL at around 8 and went on Small World. Then just as we got off the ride the fireworks were starting so we watched those. They just make me want to cry they are so cool. After the fireworks we took the kids on the tea cups, then the rockets, then we did Pirates again, and then I finally convinced Allonna to go on Thunder Mountain and she loved it! It was 11:30pm so we headed down Main Street and walked through the stores, then got on the tram and we got back to the hotel at 12:15.
Since it was Daylight Savings, we set our watches and cell phones ahead and went to bed. I was so exhausted! When my alarm went off at 6:45am I just didn’t want to get up, but we did! We got ready, loaded up the car and headed back. We stopped at McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat then headed to the parking garage.
We went into DL first. I didn’t feel good. I think the lack of sleep and heat were getting to me. I decided to take it easy so Gerilyn took the girls to ride some rides. They ended up going on Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain. I shopped a bit and sat on a bench on Main Street drinking coffee and people watching. We met up at 10:15 and headed over to DCA. It was so freaking hot on Sunday! And, DCA was packed! The girls were dying to see the High School Musical show so we got Fast Passes for Soarin’ and watched HSM. When it was over we went to Soarin’ and it had broken down for a while. The regular wait was 105 minutes and the fast pass line wait was 45 minutes! So we skipped it and went over to Tower. That ended up being the only ride in DCA we went on. That took us about 45 minutes and by then it was 12:30. Our plan was to leave at 1pm. It was so hot, the girls were dying so Gerilyn took them over to Flik’s Fun Faire and they played in the water. They finally met me up front at 1:30. We went to the car and by now it was almost 2. We went to Subway for lunch and got on the road after 2:30. Traffic was horrible through LA so it took us forever to get home!
We had a lot of fun, but because it was so freaking busy we just couldn’t do everything. We were really bummed about DCA. It was the busiest I had ever seen it. We had to keep promising the girls that we would do everything in June that we didn’t do on this trip. I guess March is now a bad time to go. Plus it was the weekend!
It didn’t matter though, because we were at Disneyland!!!!
We decided that next time we do a quickie trip we need to do it in like January or something!!
Cast of Characters:
Me, Tina, 38, official Disneyland Fanatic
Gerilyn, 48, becoming an official Disneyland Fanatic
Allonna, 7, my niece, has been to Disneyland 8 times in her 7 years, official Disneyland Fanatic
Mariah, 9, Gerilyn’s daughter, Disneyland Fanatic in training
Pre-trip:
We took the girls to Disneyland in June for the Baton Twirling Spectacular. Mariah hadn’t been since she was 3. It was an awesome 4 day trip. We already had plans to go back in June of this year for the parade again, but Gerilyn and I couldn’t wait that long! We decided to do a quickie weekend trip and surprise the girls with it.
We started planning a few months ago. It had to be relatively inexpensive, as Gerilyn is a single mom who struggles to do the best she can for Mariah! We ended up getting two free adult 2 day hopper tickets from her ex-husband (He is a DJ at a local radio station), so we only had to buy 2 kids 2 day hoppers. My mom was able to get them through work for only $87 each, so we saved a bit there. We booked the new Motel 6 on Disney Way (formerly the Red Roof Inn) for $60, which I thought was good for a Saturday night during Spring Break season! I started buying up a bunch of dollar store Disney items for the girls and got them each a princess backpack. I bought things like an autograph book, candy, a pen, a journal, and a few other small items. I also bought them both Disney Dollars and gift cards for Build-A-Bear. It was driving us crazy not to tell them, but we really wanted to surprise them.
A few weeks ago, I told my niece she would be spending the weekend at Mariah’s house and that there was a baton contest we had to drive far to attend. I told her they would go to bed early and we would wake them up and they would have to go to sleep in the car. They were cool with that!
The anticipation of the trip was killing us, but Friday March 9th finally came!
THE TRIP:
I left work at noon that day and drove to Sacrament to pick up my niece from school. We drove to Brentwood and stopped to pick up a pizza for dinner. We all went to sleep about 9pm. Gerilyn and I woke at 11:30 and we got the girls up at midnight. We got them in the car easily and they both fell right back asleep.
We took off about 12:15am. Of course there was no traffic and a couple of hours in I could tell we were going to get there at like 5 or 5:30. Mariah woke up once and had to go to the bathroom, but didn’t figure anything out. Allonna slept right through the drive. We did get into Anaheim about 5:30 and decided to try and check in if they would let us. Of course they had been full on Friday so there was no room available. If there had been, the nice lady was going to let us! Gerilyn decided to change in their bathroom so I waited by the car (I had to stretch my poor legs!!). Well, both girls woke up and started asking where we were. I told them we were just stopping to go to the bathroom, but in the lobby of the hotel was a big ole Mickey Mouse statue (I shouldn’t have parked in the check in area!!!). My niece is pretty smart when it comes to anything Disney and she asked why there was a Mickey and I said that the hotel must sell Disney stuff. She sort of casually asked me if we were in Disneyland and I said no and then Mariah said we couldn’t be at DL because there were no rides! It was funny! So then we decided to go eat breakfast at Denny’s across the street from DL and we knew they would figure it out. So I turned out of the hotel onto Disney Way, and Allonna said really loud, Oh my gosh, Disney Way! She said Auntie are we at DL and I said no! I think I had them convinced we weren’t until we got closer to Harbor and you could totally see Tower of Terror and they both started screaming and then crying! It was so cute. They were so excited! It made me and Gerilyn cry! They kept screaming OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, over and over!!!
So we went to Denny’s and we gave them the backpacks. They were so happy with their little treasures. We told them that we fibbed a little to them and this was a surprise trip and that it was a short one and we’d try to do as much as we could, etc… OMG, they were just so excited! We ate then went out to the car to get them ready. I had bought them matching Disney t-shirts as well! We got them changed and we headed to the parking garage. We got to the parking structure at 7am and got on a tram and got to the gates at about 7:20.
We got in right at 8 and practically ran to Pirates. During breakfast we had all decided this is what we were doing first! So we get there and there are two people standing there and they tell us it’s closed!!! I was like, WHAT???? Then he said it would be open in a bit. Good thing or I might have gone postal on him!!! So the girls went into the Tarzan Treehouse and then we decided to do Indy. Well, Allonna freaked out and said she wouldn’t go on it, she doesn’t like it! The child has been on that ride a million times and all of the sudden doesn’t like it anymore. Ok, whatever! I was not going force her to ride it (when we went on HM after that, there was a kid about 10 or so that was screaming because he didn’t want to go on it. The dad was dragging him in the lobby. The kid was kicking and screaming and finally the dad grabbed him by the shirt and yelled right in his face that he was being a big baby. I was appalled! If the kid doesn’t want to go on the ride, please don’t make him! I felt so bad for that little boy) . So Gerilyn and Mariah went on it.
Then we went to Haunted Mansion and when we came out Pirates was open!!! We got right on and it was great! When we were there in June it was the weekend of the Pirates 2 premiere and the ride was closed so we hadn’t been on it with the changes. I loved the changes!! The jewel room looked fantastic and I loved the addition of that Davy Jones screen and the 3 Captain Jack’s!
Next we went to the Tiki room and had a Dole Whip. YUMO!!! Then we headed over to the Princess Fantasy Faire. We spent a long time there! There was storytelling and a coronation ball and all kinds of crap and the girls didn’t want to leave! We finally dragged them away and we were going to go on Small World but the line was all the way into Fantasyland, near the Matterhorn! DL was packed! I mean it was wall to wall people! So we headed over to the Pizza Port and had lunch. That took forever because it was so crowded in there. After lunch, we were waiting in line for Buzz, but it was so long and taking forever and then Mariah saw Ariel in her shell and starting having a melt down. Ariel is her favorite Princess! So we got out of the line for Buzz and waited in the line for Ariel. That took over an hour! Of course as we got close, she went on break. But we had to see her. Mariah was crying the whole time we were waiting for her! So we saw Ariel, then went to the Happiest Birthday’s on Earth party. The kids loved that! It was hot and the park was a madhouse, so we headed to DTD to do some shopping!
We shopped at the World of Disney! I got these really cute Minnie Mouse sunglasses for my other niece Lexi! She is only 8 months old, but they were too cute! I bought a few pins, a shirt, a Tink antenna topper, and some other small things! Then we went to Build A Bear and the girls made bears. Of course Mariah made an Ariel bear! After that we had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. It was delicious! Gerilyn and I were exhausted! After dinner we went to check into the hotel and took a nap until 7:45.
We went back to DL at around 8 and went on Small World. Then just as we got off the ride the fireworks were starting so we watched those. They just make me want to cry they are so cool. After the fireworks we took the kids on the tea cups, then the rockets, then we did Pirates again, and then I finally convinced Allonna to go on Thunder Mountain and she loved it! It was 11:30pm so we headed down Main Street and walked through the stores, then got on the tram and we got back to the hotel at 12:15.
Since it was Daylight Savings, we set our watches and cell phones ahead and went to bed. I was so exhausted! When my alarm went off at 6:45am I just didn’t want to get up, but we did! We got ready, loaded up the car and headed back. We stopped at McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat then headed to the parking garage.
We went into DL first. I didn’t feel good. I think the lack of sleep and heat were getting to me. I decided to take it easy so Gerilyn took the girls to ride some rides. They ended up going on Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain. I shopped a bit and sat on a bench on Main Street drinking coffee and people watching. We met up at 10:15 and headed over to DCA. It was so freaking hot on Sunday! And, DCA was packed! The girls were dying to see the High School Musical show so we got Fast Passes for Soarin’ and watched HSM. When it was over we went to Soarin’ and it had broken down for a while. The regular wait was 105 minutes and the fast pass line wait was 45 minutes! So we skipped it and went over to Tower. That ended up being the only ride in DCA we went on. That took us about 45 minutes and by then it was 12:30. Our plan was to leave at 1pm. It was so hot, the girls were dying so Gerilyn took them over to Flik’s Fun Faire and they played in the water. They finally met me up front at 1:30. We went to the car and by now it was almost 2. We went to Subway for lunch and got on the road after 2:30. Traffic was horrible through LA so it took us forever to get home!
We had a lot of fun, but because it was so freaking busy we just couldn’t do everything. We were really bummed about DCA. It was the busiest I had ever seen it. We had to keep promising the girls that we would do everything in June that we didn’t do on this trip. I guess March is now a bad time to go. Plus it was the weekend!
It didn’t matter though, because we were at Disneyland!!!!
We decided that next time we do a quickie trip we need to do it in like January or something!!
