Lots of Completed Trip Reports....Nov 2009 - April 2014

[deejdigsdis]

Love your snowman ornament.


I hope DS grows tall enough to be able to ride it. I know how tough it is when a child isn't tall enough. My middle child is petite and although the other two would be tall enough she wouldn't.

Thank you. I hope it survives a year in the Christmas ornament box. The non-Mickey snowmen my other 2 boys made for me were chipped before storing them away.

Great ornament and cookie pictures. Now I'm hungry

Thanks. I just looked your Ariel's pics and Bengal BBQ pics, so I'm hungry as well. (Does anybody really eat whole green onions like that?)

Loved your trip report. We are thinking of taking a trip to DL the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. I will have to check the Ramada out, I think we will spend most of our time in the parks, so would love a close, clean comfortable place to stay. I really enjoyed all your pictures of the holiday decorations. Thank you for taking the time to write the report.
I too bought a holiday mug when I was visiting WDW for our short November trip, two nights BLT. I just filled it today with coffee for my Mom, she loves to use it too. Sorry your mug was forgotten, and then disposed of, I'm sure it was the best thing to do...........

Thank you for reading and thank you for your comments. The Ramada Maingate is great. I have walked from Hojo a couple of times which was fine, but this location spoiled us.

I am not up to speed on WDW lingo, so when you mentioned BLT I wondered, "What's this about a BLT?" (as in a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich...)

I hope plans work out for your trip.

 

[tksbaskets]

Thanks. I just looked your Ariel's pics and Bengal BBQ pics, so I'm hungry as well. (Does anybody really eat whole green onions like that?)

LOL! I almost commented in that post that we kind of wished for the grape garnish instead of the green onions.

Great minds think alike.

When is your next trip? I think ours will be well over a year from now

 

[Sherry E]

I have rescued this TR from the murky depths of the Trip Report forum (a.k.a. Page 4)!

Inquiring minds want to know...are we getting a TR for your big family Halloween Time trip? Are we? Are we? Huh? Huh? I figured you were too busy to do a Pre-TR, but can we look forward to a TR?

I was saying to you in my TR that I am counting on you to take some unique photos - especially since it's looking less and less likely that I'll be doing a Halloween Time trip, and I will need to drown my sorrows in other DIS'ers' TR's. You are the only one who I can rely upon to take a photo of the sewing machine display!

Also, I will be very curious to hear what you think about the party (will it be too crowded compared to your last MHP?), and the overall Halloween-ness in the park (have the scaled back decorations made a big impact on the overall Halloween feeling, as I've been hearing?).

Plus, I want to hear what you think about DCA as an overall park now that Cars Land and Buena Vista Street are in the picture! I wonder if you will agree with me that DCA feels like a more well-rounded park now, and that some of those 'gaps in the magic' have been filled in. I wonder if you will enjoy Buena Vista Street as much as I do!

So...it's an order! You must give us a Trip Report! I insist!

 

[deejdigsdis]

I have rescued this TR from the murky depths of the Trip Report forum (a.k.a. Page 4)!

Inquiring minds want to know...are we getting a TR for your big family Halloween Time trip? Are we? Are we? Huh? Huh? I figured you were too busy to do a Pre-TR, but can we look forward to a TR?

I was saying to you in my TR that I am counting on you to take some unique photos - especially since it's looking less and less likely that I'll be doing a Halloween Time trip, and I will need to drown my sorrows in other DIS'ers' TR's. You are the only one who I can rely upon to take a photo of the sewing machine display!

Also, I will be very curious to hear what you think about the party (will it be too crowded compared to your last MHP?), and the overall Halloween-ness in the park (have the scaled back decorations made a big impact on the overall Halloween feeling, as I've been hearing?).

Plus, I want to hear what you think about DCA as an overall park now that Cars Land and Buena Vista Street are in the picture! I wonder if you will agree with me that DCA feels like a more well-rounded park now, and that some of those 'gaps in the magic' have been filled in. I wonder if you will enjoy Buena Vista Street as much as I do!

So...it's an order! You must give us a Trip Report! I insist!

OK, I just replied in your TR, but I thought of a couple more things to say and then I'll pull myself away from this screen that isn't helping my headache at all.

Yes, I want to do a Halloween Time TR. But things are BUSY, BUSY, BUSY (to be said in the voice/inflection/tone/you get the idea of the magician on Frosty the Snowman ). DS9 gave me a little vintage-looking Mickey and Minnie journal for my birthday specifically so I can take notes during the trip and write a Trip Report! So cute. I can't let that go to waste. I also thought about how my picture-taking will be different this trip. Three of my last five trips were childless. One trip with my mom and 2 sisters, and then 2 trips with just my husband. The other 2 trips were with 1 son and 1 sister. This time there will be 14 in our group. 7 adults and 7 kids. I think that will definitely have an impact on how often, how many, etc. photos will be taken. But rest assured, I WILL return with a picture of the sewing machine display. And possibly a picture of my brother's face when I suggest we go over and check out the sewing machine display right after we ride Space Mountain 3 times and before riding the new Matterhorn Bobsleds.

Here's a brief Pre-TR:

THE WHO:

Me, my husband, our 3 Sons (6, 9, 12)
My 2 sisters
My mom
My younger brother, his wife, their 2 sons (12, 10) and 2 daughters (8, 7)

THE WHAT:

This trip has been 2 years in the making. My kids have known about it from the beginning. This will be DS12's and DS6's third trip, and DS9's second trip. My brother hasn't been in 16 years! I'm really disappointed (for his sake) that Indy will be down. This will be the first trip for his 4 kids. HIS KIDS STILL DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS! My kids have done a great job keeping quiet about the surprise for their cousins. DS6 almost slipped a couple of months ago when the cousins were visiting. We were talking about how we wouldn't be seeing them for a while. DS6 said something like, "We either won't be seeing you for a while...or we'll see you in 2 months. But we probably won't see you for a while." Wait...as of today the 12 year old cousin is in the know. He was running for Vice President of his student body, and was to give a speech on a day that he'd be in Disneyland. Since he wasn't going to be there...my brother and sister-in-law filled him in. He was very excited, and even more excited to find out that other family members would be meeting them there. I don't know when/how they will break the news to my other nephew and 2 nieces. I'm especially excited for my 8 year old niece. She often talks about saving up for Disneyland and how they will probably get to go in a few years. Little does she know!

THE WHEN:

Single digits until go time! (Had to put that dancing banana in there for my husband's sake...even though he doesn't read this. That was the first emoticon he noticed when he'd kind of read over my shoulder when I discovered the DIS. When he saw the dancing banana he asked, "WHAT is THAT?!?" Sometimes when anything exciting is mentioned -- nothing DIS-related -- he'll ask, "Yeah, but is it dancing-banana exciting?" )

We have tickets to MHP on the 23rd. I can't believe all the sold out parties. I'm definitely concerned about the crowds. I was disappointed how crowded the party felt 2 years ago and it wasn't even sold out. Ugh.

I told you, Sherry, that my sister CB Jamboree (who owes us several trip reports!) went to DL the first week of Halloween Time. (Remember, the Loaded Baked Potato Soup is no longer served in a bowl "because you can fit the same amount in a cup" according to Oscar who is still on the scene at Carnation Cafe.) She is very much a Disneyland girl like myself. She would text me often and keep me in the loop as far as what she was up to. I was SHOCKED when she said, "We didn't even go into Disneyland today. We were in DCA all day." So yeah, it could happen. Me not feeling like I needed to be over in Disneyland while I was in DCA, that is. We'll see! She loved RSR, thought MJJ was a lot more fun than she was expecting, and felt that LFT was a complete waste of her time. (Even after the fact, she and her friend would comment on how they couldn't believe they spent 30 min. (I think) of their time waiting for/riding LFT.) I'm really looking forward to Buena Vista Street. I would LOVE to see it all dressed up for the holidays. But seeing it that way won't happen for a while. This trip is it for a loooooooooong time. Money is being pulled in other directions -- you know how that goes.

Thanks for rescuing me from the murky depths of Page 4! Stay tuned for another episode of "WELCOME FOOLISH MORTALS" ------

 

[Sherry E]

It's a sure sign that the TR section of the forums is hoppin' when TR's such as yours - which may have ordinarily only slipped to the bottom of Page 1 or Page 2 in all of these months since you last posted in it - have drifted all the way to Page 4! In the 'old days' of this TR forum, you could leave a TR alone for months and it would still be on Page 1 or 2. Not anymore!

I can totally understand how your particular circumstances on this upcoming DLR trip will affect your photo-taking. I thought of that before you put it in print. You know how I have a hard time focusing on taking any pictures when there is even one person with me - well, I can't imagine trying to do it with 13 other people on the trip! It just wouldn't happen.

So I think it's totally okay if the 'quantity' of pictures is not there on every single trip, but we still get the quality! Even if you only came away from the trip with, say, 50 pictures that you can share with us on the DIS (meaning the photos that don't show any faces), I'd know that they would be 50 great pictures!!

Seeing that you've avoided looking at many of the Cars Land/Buena Vista Street photos up to this time, and may have very little of an idea of what you are in store for, I will be very curious to see what you hone in on as you explore! If you're going in with kind of a 'blank slate,' as it were, not having seen too many images of the new lands, it will be interesting to see if you kind of zero in on the same things that the rest of us did.

Bret and I both did Cars Land previews on the same day in June - although mine was first - and we had no clue what we were each taking photos of, so it was fascinating to me to look at his set of photos in comparison to mine and observe how many of the same things we got photos of, and which things were different!

One thing I'm going to point out to you - because these are easy things to overlook by many people, and we don't know when you will be back in Cars Land again after this trip - is the 'cement detail.' (A newly made-up term!) Notice the oil stains on the ground near the gas station/pumps, and the cracks in the ground along certain other parts of the road. Those stains and cracks are all deliberately placed - and I love the fact that the details literally go from the air to the ground, but I'd bet that a lot of folks just walk past them or over them and don't appreciate them!! You must embrace the oil stains!

I was laughing at the "Yeah, but is it dancing-banana exciting?" comment from your husband! It is such a silly emoticon - I mean, why is a banana dancing? And yet, it just seems to say so much!

Putting the soup in a cup instead of in the bowl at Carnation Cafe is a bad idea!

Your DS9 will be very happy to see that you're using the journal he gave you for note-taking! He'll feel like he contributed in some way to your TR. So sweet.

I may still get to DLR for Halloween Time. I'm not ruling it out entirely quite yet, but I may not come up with a sudden plan of action until you're gone - so you wouldn't know if I am going or not. But even if I do go, my MHP plan may be off the table until next year - so I will anxiously await your trip recap!

 

[tksbaskets]

Deej,
SO sweet that your DS got your a journal to take notes so your TR can be exciting! I love that your DH says that.


My DH doesn't read the DIS either (but he's a wonderful man in spite of this little flaw) but he's been known to lurk over my shoulder at certain posts of food....

Your trip sounds wonderful. Lots of kids, first time visits, visits after a long time away from DL and your first look at BVS and CL.

I'm so excited about your trip I think I'll bash myself in the face with some pixie dust

I'm also hope that Sherry is able to sneak a trip in soon....

Living vicariously through my DL DIS friends.... why am I now thinking of Professor Hinkle?

TK

 

[deejdigsdis]

It's a sure sign that the TR section of the forums is hoppin' when TR's such as yours - which may have ordinarily only slipped to the bottom of Page 1 or Page 2 in all of these months since you last posted in it - have drifted all the way to Page 4! In the 'old days' of this TR forum, you could leave a TR alone for months and it would still be on Page 1 or 2. Not anymore!

I've noticed that the TR section is a lot more hoppin' than it used to be. Not as hoppin' as the WDW side TR-wise, though. Man, the few times I've ventured over there (shout out to TK and Bret) I can't believe all the action.

I can totally understand how your particular circumstances on this upcoming DLR trip will affect your photo-taking. I thought of that before you put it in print. You know how I have a hard time focusing on taking any pictures when there is even one person with me - well, I can't imagine trying to do it with 13 other people on the trip! It just wouldn't happen.

So I think it's totally okay if the 'quantity' of pictures is not there on every single trip, but we still get the quality! Even if you only came away from the trip with, say, 50 pictures that you can share with us on the DIS (meaning the photos that don't show any faces), I'd know that they would be 50 great pictures!!

Well, I sure hope to come away with more than 50! But yes, I know what you mean. I think I will have a lot more people pictures (aka non-shareable) given the group we will be with. Who knows if the cousins will ever make it to Disneyland again, or the grandchildren with Grandma, etc. My oldest sister (50) is very excited to be at Disneyland with kids again. It has been quite a while.

Seeing that you've avoided looking at many of the Cars Land/Buena Vista Street photos up to this time, and may have very little of an idea of what you are in store for, I will be very curious to see what you hone in on as you explore! If you're going in with kind of a 'blank slate,' as it were, not having seen too many images of the new lands, it will be interesting to see if you kind of zero in on the same things that the rest of us did.

It has been very hard to avoid pictures of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. I am anxious to see Bret's pictures, but I've been avoiding his TR because I didn't want to see his pictures JUST YET. I'm sure he has some great ones. Hopefully he has some flowers mixed in there as well.

Bret and I both did Cars Land previews on the same day in June - although mine was first - and we had no clue what we were each taking photos of, so it was fascinating to me to look at his set of photos in comparison to mine and observe how many of the same things we got photos of, and which things were different!

One thing I'm going to point out to you - because these are easy things to overlook by many people, and we don't know when you will be back in Cars Land again after this trip - is the 'cement detail.' (A newly made-up term!) Notice the oil stains on the ground near the gas station/pumps, and the cracks in the ground along certain other parts of the road. Those stains and cracks are all deliberately placed - and I love the fact that the details literally go from the air to the ground, but I'd bet that a lot of folks just walk past them or over them and don't appreciate them!! You must embrace the oil stains!

I will embrace the oil stains! I love that! I love that attention to detail as well. I like the seashell imprints in the concrete over by Jumpin' Jellyfish.

I was laughing at the "Yeah, but is it dancing-banana exciting?" comment from your husband! It is such a silly emoticon - I mean, why is a banana dancing? And yet, it just seems to say so much!

A few days ago DS6 came up to me and asked "Who am I?" as he kind of bounced around. I wasn't sure who he was trying to be. Then he said, "I'm that banana that dances!" So funny!

Putting the soup in a cup instead of in the bowl at Carnation Cafe is a bad idea!

Your DS9 will be very happy to see that you're using the journal he gave you for note-taking! He'll feel like he contributed in some way to your TR. So sweet.

I may still get to DLR for Halloween Time. I'm not ruling it out entirely quite yet, but I may not come up with a sudden plan of action until you're gone - so you wouldn't know if I am going or not. But even if I do go, my MHP plan may be off the table until next year - so I will anxiously await your trip recap!

I don't have a smart phone, but my husband does so I will check in to see if your plans change.

Deej,
SO sweet that your DS got your a journal to take notes so your TR can be exciting! I love that your DH says that.


My DH doesn't read the DIS either (but he's a wonderful man in spite of this little flaw) but he's been known to lurk over my shoulder at certain posts of food....

Your trip sounds wonderful. Lots of kids, first time visits, visits after a long time away from DL and your first look at BVS and CL.

We just can't wait! 5 days until go time! My family will just spend time in DTD on Saturday, but then after the kids are settled in for the night my sister and I will head out to DL for the last few hours. I want to ride IASW before it goes down for the holiday overlay and see the RDTC fireworks.

I'm so excited about your trip I think I'll bash myself in the face with some pixie dust

I love that description! That gave me a good chuckle when I read that from one of Sherry's TR readers.

I'm also hope that Sherry is able to sneak a trip in soon....

Me too. It would be so fun to meet her someday. And swing scarves around together if we could gt some true fall-like chilly weather down there! Which reminds me...I need to check the forecast. A while ago, when I think it was too far out to really tell, it said 90 degrees for the week. Ugh. Miserable.

Living vicariously through my DL DIS friends.... why am I now thinking of Professor Hinkle?

Professor Hinkle! Thank you...I couldn't remember his name and didn't take the time to look it up.
TK

I leave you with a favorite memory from my Oct. 2010 trip...

We were hoping to catch the Dapper Dans singing "Grim Grinning Ghosts." I can't remember what they were singing, but that wasn't it.

All of the sudden, Random Dancing Guy appears in the doorway of City Hall, trying to get my attention while taking pics of the Dans. I think he wanted to give me something else to take a picture of, so what was a girl to do... take a picture, of course!

The Dapper Dans stopped singing and one of them asked if I knew the guy that I had taken a picture of. I said, "No, he's just some Random Dancing Guy that seemed to want his picture taken." The Dans found that to be amusing and laughed.

After the performance, one of the Dans that I see most often came over to me and asked if he could see the picture of Random Dancing Guy. I showed him the picture and then took a close up picture of him.

Ahhh...good times!

 

[Sherry E]

I remember the Random Dancing Guy! He will live on in history, along with Halloween Lady.

The WDW side of the board is very overwhelming to me for a few reasons, not just in the TR section. There are too many sections and sub-sections. Even though I see why things are set up that way, I hardly know where to look for anything. Even in the TR section, they have the Pre-TR's, the active TR's and the Completed TR's. Plus, there seems to be a lot more arguing on that side of the board!

Yes, Bret has taken a lot of Cars Land/Buena Vista Street photos (with flower pics mixed in, just for you) over the course of a couple of different trips that you've missed. I took some too (but I took my photos in less than a couple of hours), and you didn't see those, either.

Basically, all of the Cars Land photos (from everyone who has posted any) are starting to look alike to me now - and that's no one's fault. It's not a bad thing. It's just that everyone tends to zero in on the same things and I am starting to feel like I've seen it all. So that's why I'm curious to see if you come up with anything different, deej-style!

Speaking of photos, even though you have probably not had any time to join in on the Theme Week Countdown in the Christmas thread this year, when we get to the Frontierland portion of the countdown you should pop over to post a few of your photos - because you've gotten some really interesting Frontierland shots!

 

[deejdigsdis]

I'm back.

It feels like I should be saying, "I'm back!!!" In a "Let's get this party started!!!" kind of way. But I'm just not feeling it. It was a REALLY GREAT trip. Don't get me wrong. Something just feels off. I think it's a combination of things. On one hand I sort of feel empty and unsatisfied as I think about all the stuff on my list that I didn't even get to. Embracing the oil stains in Cars Land (as Sherry suggested) or even looking around Cars Land in general eek, having a treat at Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop (didn't even see where it was!), riding Mark Twain, taking pictures of window displays (I KNOW!! How could that escape me?!?), taking my kids to Toon Town, using my new vintage-looking Mickey journal to take trip report notes -- it was too big for my purse , exploring the Halloween Time Carnival or whatever it's called, treating Buena Vista Street as more than a corridor to pick up Fast Passes, watching the Flag Retreat ceremony, catching Voices of Liberty, listening to the Dapper Dans, taking lots of flower pictures, riding Peter Pan (2nd trip in a row I've missed out on this!), and sitting on my beloved Main Street Front Porch...just to name a few. I feel guilty and selfish even typing all of this, as this trip wasn't even about me. I've had several childless trips to Disneyland in the past 3 years, so I knew this trip would be more about what the kids wanted to do. This was the plan all along, but somehow I thought with being there for 7 nights instead of 2 nights (like my last 3 trips) I would be able to fit "their stuff" and "my stuff" in and then some! My sister and I were stunned as we closed our Disneyland trip together on Saturday morning -- just the 2 of us, as we have APs -- and talked about all that we didn't get to. We planned this trip to be during the Halloween season. Who does that and then doesn't even go over to the Halloween Carnival? Apparently us. This was most definitely a trip all about the rides...going from ride to ride to ride. Quite different from my mosey-mode, childless, picture-taking trips.

Another reason for the emptiness... this trip is it for a few years. I had a 13 year drought, then I took 7 trips in 3 years. Another drought is in the forecast as money is being pulled in other directions now. Also, my kids took quite a liking to Disneyland this trip. My oldest liked Disneyland from the get-go 3 years ago, but my younger 2 were more take-it-or-leave-it types. My youngest -- then 5 -- actually cried when I told him I was taking him to Disneyland. Just me and him. And my sister. He didn't want to go. I couldn't even convince my middle child to take a trip alone with me and my sister. So it was easy to do childless trips because they honestly didn't care. Now they would. I'm still not opposed to doing childless trips, as I know some people are. But it would be much harder to do so now since the kids might not be as keen on the idea of mom going without them.

Sheesh...enough of that depressing start. I just had to get it all out.

If I had such a looooooooooooong list of stuff I didn't get to...what exactly DID I do during my week at Disneyland??? Let's find out...

FRIDAY OCTOBER 19TH

Disneyland Eve. We excitedly packed our bags while "The Brady Brides" TV movie played in the background. My kids are big Brady Bunch fans, as is their mother, and were fascinated to see the Brady kids all grown up in this movie where Jan and Marcia have a double wedding. Everyone looked different to them...except for Alice. DS9 said, "Wow! Alice looks exactly the same! She looked like a Grandma then and she still does!"

My SIL called and put my 10 year old nephew on the phone. He wanted to tell me that they found out the big surprise. They would be missing a week of school to go to Disneyland for the first time! Honestly, he didn't sound too terribly excited. In his words, "I wasn't excited at first because I thought mom and dad were pranking me, but now I'm excited." So the cat was out of the bag. All 7 children and 7 adults knew about the trip.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 20TH

Go time! We finished up last minute packing and headed to the airport. My family of 5 was going to fly, the other 9 people were driving in 2 separate groups. One group had a 4 hour drive, the other group had a 17 hour drive. This would be my middle son's (DS9) first flight. He was nervous, to say the least. As we boarded the plane the flight attendant asked if this was my boys' first flight. I said it was a first for my middle boy. Then the pilot invited all 3 boys into the cockpit. This shocked me, as I thought this practice was done away with post-9/11. It sure was a treat, though! Very cool. My husband didn't dawdle and watch the boys. He wanted to snag seats for the family to be as close together as possible. (We were flying Southwest.) We were happy to indeed be able to sit together. When the pilot was giving his spiel before take-off, he added, "And today we have a first-time flyer with us...make sure you get a window seat, buddy." I loved that. I thought it was so nice of him to recognize DS9 like that. He wouldn't look out the window for the longest time, but finally worked up the courage to do so. (This is a child who didn't venture out to ride the "bigger" rides during his 1st and only DL trip at age 6. He loved Thunder Mountain but wouldn't do Matterhorn, Space Mountain, etc. He has -- or I should say, HAD -- a fear of heights and fast-paced rides.) So eventually DS9 began to enjoy being in the air. The flight attendant came around and gave him a little certificate, which was nice.

OK, getting a little wordy.

I love the look of a blanket of clouds in the sky.

We had an hour layover in Las Vegas and ate lunch in the airport. Then we were off again. 45 minute flights are the best! Here we are, descending into Orange County.

We gathered our plethora of bags and headed to Budget Car Rental onsite at John Wayne airport. We decided we'd rent a car since we planned a couple of beach adventures. We picked up our rental and began the drive to HoJo. My husband wasn't looking forward to driving in CA, but Harbor Blvd. is such a quick jaunt from SNA that he ended up being pleasantly surprised at how "no big deal" it was.

Catching our first glimpse of DLR. When I was growing up, that first glimpse seemed to always be the Matterhorn. These days it seems to be Tower of Terror.

Continuing on our way, excitement builds as we can hear the Mark Twain and Disneyland Railroad whistles as we drive by.

We drive past our hotel so we could do a quick shopping trip at Target down the street, much to the chagrin of the boys. I told them it would be better to get that little errand out of the way, rather than go to Target later. As we were about to turn into the Target lot, my sister texted me saying that she and my mom and other sister had just passed HoJo, so they were right behind us! I asked if they had any Target requests -- water was the only thing. I was surprised at the grocery selection at this Target. It was great. I was expecting just a few items, but they had everything. We stocked up on water, Crystal Light packets, pb&j, bread, granola bars, cereal and milk that would fit into the HoJo fridges.

Finally, we reached HoJo and checked into our Kids' Suite right away. We were excited to see that we got the exact same room (6th floor/near freeway) that we had 3 years ago.

(Which reminds me...let's pause while I call HoJo to see if my son's Star Wars wallet containing $100+ was found in the room safe after we checked out on Saturday...)

Our first order after checking in was to go to the Castaway Cove since the boys didn't get to do that 3 years ago. Again, my boys are 6, 9, and 12. My 9 and 12 year olds were a little leary...they thought it might be too baby-ish for them and wanted to go swimming instead. I told them we'd save the pool for another day, and that some adults enjoy Castaway Cove. They ended up having a really great time. My mom and 2 sisters ended up coming over to watch the boys as well. The other 9 people in our party had reservations at Desert Inn and Suites, but my mom and sisters ate at Mimi's next door and then hopped over to the office, grabbed a pool key, and let themselves in. It was a great reunion. We watched the kids and laughed a lot. The kids enjoyed the hot tub as well.

Finally it was dark and we needed to continue on with our plans for the day. A trip to the newly remodeled Lego Store in DTD was promised, as well as Wetzel's Pretzels. The kids changed into warm clothes (it was cloudy and a bit chilly) and we headed out. DS9 complained of sore feet on the way over to DTD. Hmmm. Just a couple of hours into our week long trip and his feet were already sore.

We gave the boys some spending money, and they added their own money to the amount, so they had a good chunk to spend.

Lego Store:

I think this was the only thing I liked better about the remodel. This huge wall of Legos. The boys all agreed they preferred the old store.

We walked around, then walked around some more. The boys wanted to make sure they were choosing just the right set(s). At some point my sister got hot and went to sit outside, and my husband joined her after a while. He couldn't take anymore of the "Hi Guys! Welcome to the Lego Store!" that was repeated every 2 seconds by the girl greeting people as they came in.

I loved this little Christmas Cottage. So cozy with the lights, wreath and lamppost.

DS12 decided on a Technic set. He bought batteries at Target just in case he decided to go with a "function" set.

DS9 got 2 sets and DS6 actually got 3 sets. (One of his was 50% off -- a very good deal when you're talking about Legos!)

It was around 9:30pm by this time. My sister and I had plans to spend the last 2 to 3 hours at Disneyland on Saturday night. I really wanted to ride IASW before it went down for the holiday overlay, and I was hoping to catch RDTC as well.

We'll pick up there when I come back!

 

[Sherry E]

I loved seeing the pictures taken from the plane - the white cloud blanket is lovely - although I hate heights, too (like your DS did), and I get a little of that 'uneasy' feeling in the tummy when I see the photos!

I was also very happy to see the Lego Store pics - I've not yet made it in there (the new version of the store) - so all of it was totally new to me. I really like the Christmas cottage too!

Well, I'm sad on your behalf that you skipped over a lot of things on this trip (including the oil stains!), because I know how sad you are about not getting back to DLR for a long while. It's not like you can just run back to DLR tomorrow and see the Carnival (which didn't look all that exciting anyway), explore Cars Land, eat a snack at Ghirardelli and spend more time looking around Buena Vista Street, etc.

BUT, that said, I'm not surprised. I had a feeling that the family reunion would kind of be the primary focus and that it would really end up being a much more family-centric trip rather than a 'take lots of flower pictures' trip...as it should be! This was an important and (I'm guessing) momentous occasion for your family. The important thing was to really spend time with them. The window displays will be there again in another few years!

I am anxious to see what you did do, though!

 

[deejdigsdis]

I loved seeing the pictures taken from the plane - the white cloud blanket is lovely - although I hate heights, too (like your DS did), and I get a little of that 'uneasy' feeling in the tummy when I see the photos!

I was also very happy to see the Lego Store pics - I've not yet made it in there (the new version of the store) - so all of it was totally new to me. I really like the Christmas cottage too!

Well, I'm sad on your behalf that you skipped over a lot of things on this trip (including the oil stains!), because I know how sad you are about not getting back to DLR for a long while. It's not like you can just run back to DLR tomorrow and see the Carnival (which didn't look all that exciting anyway), explore Cars Land, eat a snack at Ghirardelli and spend more time looking around Buena Vista Street, etc.

BUT, that said, I'm not surprised. I had a feeling that the family reunion would kind of be the primary focus and that it would really end up being a much more family-centric trip rather than a 'take lots of flower pictures' trip...as it should be! This was an important and (I'm guessing) momentous occasion for your family. The important thing was to really spend time with them. The window displays will be there again in another few years!

I am anxious to see what you did do, though!

Thanks Sherry! Yes, it was all about being with the family, which really was so much fun. It really was a wonderful trip. Looking back, I am amazed at how well everyone got along. No squabbles that I can think of. I had envisioned going our separate ways somewhat regularly so everyone could do their own thing and follow their own interests. It turned out that all the kids pretty much wanted to stay together the whole time, so that's what we did. They were all about the rides. The trip in 3 years will hopefully be another "family reunion" trip.

I guess 7 nights -- THREE times what I've been used to of late -- sounded like an eternity to pack in the things I'm more inclined to do now. Stop and smell the roses types of things. So when our time was up and I thought of all that stuff I didn't make it to...it was a little sad.

HoJo called me back and said they do have my son's wallet. They told me I could come pick it up. If only it were as simple as that! The crazy thing is...I actually put the wallet in the suitcase the night before we left, when I was packing everything up. Then I took it out, for fear a TSA person would steal it, so I put it back in the safe with plans to take it out again the next morning and put the cash in my purse and empty wallet in the suitcase. Crazy me. I completely forgot about it, which is very unlike me to forget such a thing. That kind of forgetfulness is par for the course with my husband -- which I am not always patient about. But he was patient with me...which is also par for the course. He's a pretty even-tempered, go with the flow, doesn't get upset too much kind of guy.

 

[tksbaskets]

Welcome back!! I'm anxious for more! At class so I will be wordier next time. Funny that your boys liking DL now is a kind if negative. I had to re read that a few times

 

[Sherry E]

Is HoJo's going to mail you the wallet since you can't get there to pick it up? (The Disney hotels will usually mail items left behind by guests, but I don't know if the off-property places do the same thing.) If not, is there anyone else who can pick it up for you? I could always pick it up for you when I go to DLR, but that will be another 12 or 13 days from now. That's a long time for them to hang on to a wallet!

 

[deejdigsdis]

Welcome back!! I'm anxious for more! At class so I will be wordier next time. Funny that your boys liking DL now is a kind if negative. I had to re read that a few times

Hi TK!

Oops! I didn't mean to imply that the boys liking DL now is a negative. I want them to love DL. The negative was not being able to go back for a while. There's a big cost difference between 2 people going for 2 nights (me and my husband/me and 1 child) and 5 people going for 7 nights.

Is HoJo's going to mail you the wallet since you can't get there to pick it up? (The Disney hotels will usually mail items left behind by guests, but I don't know if the off-property places do the same thing.) If not, is there anyone else who can pick it up for you? I could always pick it up for you when I go to DLR, but that will be another 12 or 13 days from now. That's a long time for them to hang on to a wallet!

Thank you for that kind offer Sherry! But yes, they said they would mail it out today. It sounds like they mail forgotten items often. They just charge the credit card they have on file for postage. Do the Disney hotels pay the postage? I wouldn't expect them to by any means...just curious.

Off to the next installment...

 

[tksbaskets]

I knew what you meant Deej! DH and I laughed when my sister said 'Why would you buy into a Disney Vacation Club when your sons are 15??' We both said, 'when they are older we will only have to pay to take ourselves to Disney so we can go more often'.

I totally get it! I'm happy for you that the love of DL has started to sink in with your sons. A commando attack of all the fun rides helps promote Disney-itis. Not a lot of stopping to take artsy pics. When your boys are older you'll be able to let them just go ahead without you while you feed your inner shutterbug.

It will be fun following along on what is shaping up to be an action packed TR!

TK

 

[kaoden39]

I love the Lego Store. All of the great colors and displays. What I don't like is that it is so packed in there, I have never been in there when it wasn't wall to wall people.


I am glad to hear they found your sons wallet.

 

[deejdigsdis]

I love the Lego Store. All of the great colors and displays. What I don't like is that it is so packed in there, I have never been in there when it wasn't wall to wall people.


I am glad to hear they found your sons wallet.

So good to see you Michele! I noticed your ticker is gone. Does that mean the trip is off?

I wonder if this new layout in the Lego Store is supposed to help with those crowds. It's definitely more open.

Yes, I was panicky about that wallet. Makes me nervous having them send cash through the mail like that, though.

 

[deejdigsdis]

So. Time to part ways with my family. My husband traded places with me in the Lego Store. The boys had picked out their sets and my husband got in line with the boys to pay for them. I headed over to Disneyland with my sister. RDCT was going on when we got there. I had hoped to get there before the show started. It's my favorite fireworks show. It's a total trip down memory lane for me, complete with tear-stained cheeks. But, we didn't make it until after it began. We parked ourselves at the nearest spot in Town Square and enjoyed the audio and what fireworks we could see.

Meanwhile my husband texted me, saying that the credit card and debit card were both declined for the large purchase at the Lego Store. My sister suggested that he buy each set separately, or buy 2 sets at a time rather than make one large purchase. (She's privvy to these things, being the District Manager of a retail store.) Thankfully that did the trick and he was able to leave the store with all planned purchases. Later he notified our c.c. company that we were on vacation. We've never had issues with the card being declined before, but I don't mind that happening, as it is in our best interest.

More fireworks.

Besides riding IASW, I really wanted to see the 80s band (can't remember the official name) perform at Tomorrowland Terrace. I'm a huge fan of 80s music. ("We Got The Beat" by the Go-Go's is playing as I type this...with Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" preceding it, and Erasure's "A Little Respect" following.) So that was our next stop. I asked a CM at Tomorrowland Terrace when they'd be playing. The next show was in 5 minutes. I grabbed a table and my sister went to get hot chocolate for us. I only got one picture, and a terrible one at that.

I'm not sure if the lead singer guy was meant to be a specific 80s guy, or just some random 80s-looking guy. I was thinking Rod Stewart and my sister was thinking A Flock of Seagulls. The other band members were "Slash" and a "Devo" guy, both complete with the trademark hats. The guy on drums was wearing a sleeveless shirt and an extra wide headband tied in the back. I asked my sister who he was supposed to be. I said, "He looks like The Karate Kid to me." She laughed, and then we laughed some more later in the performance when the lead singer referred to him as The Karate Kid. Mmmmmm...The Karate Kid. One of my biggest crushes ever. (Ralph Macchio, not Jaden Smith...just so we're clear! )

I'm trying to think of the songs they played. Hmmm... "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners, "A Little Respect" by Erasure, "Jump" by Van Halen, maybe a Blondie song? Wow. Why can't I think of any more? I was dancing in my seat, singing along with all the songs. Maybe my sister (CB Jamboree) will chime in with more. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and the show wasn't nearly long enough.

During the show our SIL texted to let us know they had arrived at Desert Inn and Suites. Wow! We couldn't believe they drove the entire 17 hours in one day. Craziness.

After the show we went to ride IASW. It was after 11pm by this time. We had a 20 minute wait.

One of our favorite characters is that nutcracker guy that raises his arms and shows his teeth. We always have to act him out when we sail by him. We are discreet if we are in the front of the boat, just moving slightly so as not to disturb other guests. But if we are in the back row, like this night, we are a little less discreet. Since no one is behind us, no one is bothered. It's just one of our little traditions. I'm sure it's an interesting sight to see a 40 year old (me) and a 38 year old (my sister) imitate the nutcracker guy. Here are some pics from a previous trip in case anyone can't quite place him.

I remember we rode BTMR as our only other ride tonight. I can't remember what else we did. I do know we used our go-to restroom in Adventureland. I had a funny experience in the stall. I reached for the TP and the entire roll came off the holder and went flying under the stall door out into the open aisle. My sister was next to me and I told her to look at my toilet paper. We had a good laugh and she asked me if a could spare a square. (I'm a Seinfeld fan, too.)

A picture of the fly away toilet paper roll...

Disneyland was closed by this time, so we made our way out. I thought of TK when I saw the lit up character pumpkins as we exited.

We walked back to HoJo together. My husband drove her (and her case of water that we bought at Target) back to DI&S.

That concludes Day 1!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 21ST

This was a rest day for us. My husband, sister and I have APs, but everyone else in our group got 4 day park hoppers. Ours were to be used Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday -- with Tuesday being our MHP night. My brother's family decided that since they pushed it all the way to Anaheim in one day (Saturday), they would use Day 1 of their park hoppers on Sunday, and then travel home on Friday. I thought this was a good plan for them. My brother would be able to take his family to Disneyland for the first day with just their family of 6 experiencing it together for the first time. With the extended Sunday hours they were able to experience things they wouldn't have been able to experience on the following Friday with DL closing at 7pm for MHP.

The kids spent time Sunday morning building their Lego sets, then we decided to go to Newport Beach that afternoon. This is where we took the kids 3 years ago for their first ever ocean experience. We were hoping to find the same exact spot from 3 years earlier, but had no success. It took quite a while to get there. There were freeway closures with people lined up along the freeway as if waiting for something. We wondered if the Space Shuttle was due to drive by, but never confirmed that.

We finally got to Newport Beach. I was missing the original area from 3 years ago. There were restrooms and outdoor showers/faucets where you could rinse off. This area had neither, plus it was a further walk to the ocean from the parking area. The kids had a lot of fun anyway. For me, the best part was the sunset. I realized it had been more than 15 years since I'd seen the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. So beautiful! I love how you can see the bird in the cloud in that first picture.

I didn't want it to end. I just love ocean sunsets.

After attempting to clean up the best we could, we headed back toward HoJo. We tried to figure out dinner plans on our way back. We gave the options of McDonald's and Mimi's. My husband would go to McD's with whoever wanted to go, and I would go to Mimi's with whoever wanted to go. The 2 younger boys fell asleep on the way to the hotel, so my husband just dropped me and DS12 off at Mimi's. He took the other 2 back to the room, showered them, and then took them to McDonald's soon after DS12 and I returned to the room. The corn chowder is really good at Mimi's. I ordered a bowl of chowder and a heavy pasta meal. I was starving. My growing 12 year old was even hungrier, though. I shared my chowder and pasta with him after he ate his roast. He's quite the growing boy and has grown 7 inches in the past year. I left town for 2 weeks a year ago to help out my parents when they were both in the hospital for major things. (Double bypass for mom and terminal cancer surgery for dad -- but I'm happy to report they are both doing really well right now.) Anyway, when I left town I was taller than DS12 (who was 11 at the time). When I returned home 2 weeks later he was taller than me! So crazy.

So DS12 had his fill, J took the other boys to McD's and then we all settled in for the night while visions of Disneyland danced in our heads!

That concludes Day 2 of our vacation. Stay tuned for more later. Not sure I'll get around to posting on Halloween. We'll see how the day pans out.

 

[tksbaskets]

What fun! A beach day and some DL time with your sister I'm looking forward to the rest of your trip.

Happy Halloween! I just loved your character shot a night above the DL turn styles.

 

[Sherry E]

Deej -

To answer your question - the one and only time I left something behind at a Disney hotel and they had to mail it back to me, they paid for the postage. That was a long, long time ago though, so I'm sure by now they have implemented some fees for returning lost merchandise. In a place like DLR, with so many people from all corners of the world staying onsite, I'm sure there are people who leave things or lose things in their hotel rooms all the time - probably on a daily basis. And at the rate people are staying off-property these days, it's probably happening regularly in those hotels too.

I love your beach/sunset pictures! Sunsets are truly one of nature's best gifts. (Did you ever look at my very short, 4-page Catalina day trip photo report? Ummm...No! Anyway, I took some sunset photos while I was there and they did not come out anywhere near as nice as yours did. The lighting was odd and I couldn't get to a good spot to really get the best photos. Go look - you'll see what I mean! You got the exact right location, the right vantage point and the exact right time of day to catch the sunset!)

Newport is one of the prettiest places in SoCal. If I'm not mistaken, Newport also now offers a "haunted cruise" during Halloween season, with all of the same monsters, killers, maniacs, etc. that you'd find in a really scary haunted house or along a haunted hayride path...except you're trapped with them on a boat in the middle of the ocean. (I think it's Newport. I don't think it's another marina/harbor.) They even chase people into the bathrooms and scare them!